The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-06-07

proprietor seeing his wealthy customer TO
the door, and after it has been gone an
hour or maybe less the jeweler discov
ers that one or more of the valuable dia-
monds which were n the tray is gone He
is loath TO suspect the lady. He searches
everywhere, takes out the little box to
see if he put too many in it, counts the
remaining diamonds again and again to
satisfy himself that some a-e really miss
ing ard at last it dawns upon him that
he must have been robbed.
The Alarm lis Spread.
But what can he dc? He quietly sum-
mons the police and tells them the story.
In answer TO their inquiries he describes
as clio ely as he can the man and woman
who were in the store The description is
vague and might fit a th0usand people.
There is no way of tracing the rig or
learning from what stable H. was rented.
AT the &C DIR IS given of course, no one
ever heard of the woman whose name the
police have take from the little box in
the safe. It. looks like no thor
oughfare. Usually 1t is. Even before the
police have been sunlmoned-before the
jeweler has eenvinc. ID himself that the
missing diamond has not been mislaid in
the store-the Boosters have dismissed
their carriage and are on train, bound
for anywhere out of town. A diamond
worth $50 or $500 is worth the risk and
he expsnse of "a carriage for an hour.
How Gems Are "Switched."
Another trick of Diamond thieves of this
character is known as "switc ching gems.
| This requires perhaps even more nerve
than boldly taking a diamond from its
place on the tray In this practice the
makeup and general plan of approach
is the same, calculated to throw the jew
eler off his guard and make him think
he is dealing with a wealthy couple who
desire to buy a few thousand dollars
worth of diamonds. The man who intends
getting the stone has a i'phony'' diamond
concealed in one of his hands-a paste
affair which presents a good appearance
to a casual glance, but viii not stand the
tests While examining the tray of dia-
monds the thief gets his eye on stone
resembling as much as possible in size
! and cut the one he has in his hand and
at favorable opportunity, when the pro-
prietor is talking with the woman con-
! Tolerate for instance, he switches" the
! aste diamond to the tray and gathers in
| the genIinA STONE The most watchful
dealer may be victimized in this way, for
IL he knows how many diamonds he had
in the tray and takes mental survey
| of them before his customers leave there
| are all the stones apparently just as they
| were when he showed the tray He cannot
detect the substitution at a glance and
| often after the customers leave there are
| all the stones apparently just as they
| were when he showed the tray. He cam
! not detect the substitution at a glance
| a ID often after the customers have decid-
! ed not to buy and have driven away he
puts the tray back in the safe without a
suspicion of anything wrong, and it may
he a week later that he discovers a
| ''phony' diamond in the lot. Then, of
/ course, pursuit is almost hopeless. =
Operations Are Isfrequent.
These thieves are the kings of the dia-
Misunderstanding business. They do not have
| to operate very often in year to make
a good thing out of it. AS they circulate
over the country, the chances of their
arrest are very sman. There are jewelers.
! in all the cities to be "wor6ed" and a dia-
mond here and there makes the game pay
well. Most of the boosters" have extrav-
agant habits, however. They stop at the
| best hotels, wear costly clothing, drive in
fancy livery rigs and otherwise squander
| their money right and left. These habits,
indeed, sometimes lead to their discovery
| and arrest for the detectives who are
nearly always on their trail know their
methods so well that few inquiries at a
first-class hotel made in the way detec-
tiveS know how 10 make them, will some
times reveal the fact that a strange cou-
pie who appear TO have plenty of money
are spending it plentifully. If the detec-
tive suspects they are his people" he
has them pointed out to him in the dining
room or lobby of the hctel and then it is
al. eff, for the chances are he knows one
or the other by sight from past expert
enc
OF different grade entirely are the dia-
mond thieves who nip" the valuable
gems from rings, shirt bosoms and neck
| ties on the street. They are fully as ex-
| pert in their line but in the category of
the police are classed as pickpockets. To
get a diamond in a crowd is not so hard
as 1t might seem. If the stone is large
ard looks like a good one the thief some
times shadows and follows its wearer for
days until a favorable opportunity is pre-
scented for getting 1t. Again, 1t may be
''nipped" FIVE minutes after the thief
spies 1t. Usually a big diamond stud or
scarf pin is spotted" on someone in a
hotel lobby-some well-to-do traveller,
stockman, gambler or politician who has
put 500 of $500 into a diamond and is
proud of it. Suppose he wears it as a shirt
stud, as nearly all the aldermen OF this
city did few years ago.
The thief spies IL and keeps his eye on
its owner, waiting for chance to get
next to him. He may have to wait for
hours until the owner decides to go to
the theater or to make call and starts
for street car. If he is smoking he
jumps on the front platform. The thief
is right behind him. or, If he is morally
sure his victim is to take certain car,
he is on the car ahead OF him. On the
|, platform the diamond "nipper" "opens a
newspaper, IN WHICH ne pecVthes intensely
interested and spreads one sheet OF II
so that IL covers the shirt front and the
diamond OF his neighbor, apparently acct
dentally The owner of the stone, uncon-
scious OF what is going on, smokes tran
gully and looks up at The tall buildings. 4
Under the newspaper the hand OF the
thief slowly approaches the diamond stud.
In the hand is a strong but small pair Of
Steel nippers. The delicate touch of the
thiefs fingers reveals the exact position
of the stone as though he were looking
at It. While apparently buried in the news
paper he squeezes the nippers on the gold
wire spiral of the stud and the steel Jaws
sever Il as though IL were paper. The dia-
mend falls into his hand. for the little
nippers are almost entirely covered by
its Palm. When he has the stone II is
time to do a getaway" Hastily glanc-
ing at a street corner sign as though he
had passed his street In his abstraction,