The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1900-01-05
II fraud lVitbin a fraud


IOHN WILD had lived for several
ii years in Kimberley at the palmy
period when sovereigns were literally
as plentiful as shillings are to-day in
many an English town of similar popu-
lation. He had been engaged in a man
agerial capacity, from which he real
lied fair income.
Thirty pounds month was not con-
sidered an extravagant salary to men
of a class who in this country would
consider themselves we'll recompensed
at 30 shillings. a week. When he
reached the fields from England he was
as hoAest as the average clerk, and
fully meant to remain so. But every
body lived high" in those days. The
clerk and the shop assistant ate, drank,
dressed, smoked and otherwise recre-
ated after fashion which in these
isles would be considered the height of
folly to anyone with an income of less
than 6 1900 year. Extravagant hab-
it's were everywhere engendered. Men
who had previously considered bottled
ale luxury got used to dry cham
payne at IS shillings per bottle.
The result was inevitable, and might
have been foreshadowed. Indulgence
in alcohol, except in strictest modera-
ton, almost invariably induces some
loss of self-respect, and it is not sur
prising that Johns moral principles
degenerated during his residence on
he al c ,fof 70 ch Nv
in illicit diamond dealing lurked at al
most every corner, and many erstwhile
good men, in their haste to become rich,
fell and are to-day leading the con-
vict's life, among some of the vilest on
earth. on the Cape Town breakwater.
John Wild had many a burst and
committed many peccadilloes, but of
actual crime against the law he kept
aloof. Still, when he got to the end G.
his tether-that is, when fast living
had rendered him so nerveless that his
occupation was gone, he experienced
pang at the sight of persons around
him in the height of prosperity who
had neither toiled nor spun, and who
of natural ability had less than him
self.
Everything, however, impelled him
to leave the perilous place before he
was left, like hundreds of others, COM
pletely on the rocks or Micawberizing,
and with only few pounds in his pock
ct, but trifle better in health, he
found himself. in London again. There
it was neither easy to reenter his
former groove nor to adapt himself to
his former surroundings.
What he was able to obtain as remun-
Grafton for his efforts seemed pittance
after the high living to which he had
got accustomed on the diamond fields.
He soon grew dreadfully discontinued,
and open to almost any opportunity
that would land him back again in the
glamour of fast life. That opportunity
soon came.
John was just the man for whom a
Syndicate" was looking. They had
learned how diamonds of the value of
scores-sometimes hundreds of thou
sands of pounds-were lodged in the
miserable galvanized iron Office of Kim
beriey diamond merchants. The latter
knew well enough themselves that their
tenements were no protection whatever
against the midnight marauder, but
they felt they could rely upon their
safes, of which each had at least one
of the best. And their confidence was
justified, for although attempts at bur-
glary were, despite elaborate police pro-
lection, frequent, rarely were they sue
cessful.
So the plan of the syndicate" was to
export to kimberley a number of safes
of approved pattern and with the Gus
tomary kind of keys. Only of the lat
ter the syndicate was to retain dupli-
Gates. These safes were to be sold to
diamond dealers, if necessary, at a
heavy discount. When these safes had
got into use and had got lodged in them
a good stock of the glittering gems the
offices were TO be raided by two expert
enced craftsmen sent out with the Tex
petition" who, with the duplicate keys,
would easily make grand haul.
John was not long in tumbling to the
plant" and he was just the man to go
out as salesman of the safes. The
scheme was deliberately planned, and
with six safes the expedition" of three
persons was soon en- voyage. There was
of course much delay in getting the
heavy safes from Cape Town TO Kimber-
ley. a distance CT Goa miles. the greater
part of which had then 10 be covered
by the cumbersome ox-wagon.
Once on the fields. nevertheless, John
speedily es'nyed business. He an
nounced in the Advertiser and Ihde-