Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1902-08-11
The Stolen Diamond


E\ liarity about his person, such as
a missing finger. club foot. or
any mark made by his trade, such as
the mark on the hand of barber.
where the scissors had constantly
pressed against the roof of his thumb,
should be careful lest these means OF
identification are not the means of his
downfall. Most of the cases which
have come under my notice have been
cases where the culprit has had some
bodily deficiency which has left its
mark on something with which he has
which l am about to relate embodics
this truth, and had not the criminal
In the case had the misfortune of los
ing one-half of his-but am anticipat-
ing events.
had just returned from the CONT
ncnt. where l had been sent in con-
nection with the Duchess Of. Mentone's
stolen jewels. and was prepared to en-
joy rest, when received a wire from
my chief asking me to report at once
that robbery had been committed at
the summer home Of Mr.. George Mid
dleton, the millionaire oil magnate, and
that a detective had been wired for. AS
to the particulars. only one diamond
had been stolen, magnificent stone of
great value intrlnsicaly and of meal
culable worth to the family as an heir
loom.
Mr.. Middleton'S place was somewhere
up the Hudson and set out at once.
When | arrived was at once taken
to Mr.. Middleton. who appeared very
much upset over the affair. not so much,
he assured me. on account of the value
Of the stone, but it had been so long in
the family and had 50 much to do with
the history of the family. having been
passed down as an heirloom from one
generation to another, that he viewed
the loss as very great calamity The
points of the case were briefly as fol-
lows: On the previous night he had
taken the diamond from the safe to
show it to some of his guests. and Mrs.
Middleton, who was to wear it at
ball on the following night had taken
1t from him. and. not thinking it nee
essary to place it in the safe for SO
short time. had taken it to her bed
room and put it in small casket on
her dressing table.
The next morning before going down
stairs she thought she would see ii it
was all right. and was astonished to
find the caskct empty. There were
many guests in the house, and at my
request | was to be introduced as Il
friend of Mr.. Middleton. Before going
into the rawing-rOom | asked if he
would be good enough to give me some
particulars about his guests. Let ma
see" he said; there are about twenty
guests mostly gentlemen. With the
exception of three they are old friends
OF the family and above suspicion. The
remaining three are gentlemen of high
character. One of them Is a Russian
count. who came to me with letters
from intimate friends abroad. and one
Of the others is an Englishman whom
l met in New York, and our kindred
tastes led me to invite him here few
weeks; the other is Il gentleman from
town. greatly interested in dynamics.
and whom met in my club. These are
the only acquantances that are here
whom have met during the last year"
| was then taken to the DRAWING
room and introduced to most of the
guests. among them the three new ac-
quaintances. | gained nothing that
night and noticed nothing suspicious
about any of the guests was rather
inclined to think that the robbery had
been committed from the inside. by
either one of the servants or one Of the
guests, as all the doors had been found
fastened on the morning after the rob.
berry, and no one knew that the dia
mond was in the house Git was always
kept at the bank but the members OF
the household and the guests to whom
it had been shown on the night of the
robbery. In the morning | asked the
servant who brought me my coffee and
rolls to come in, and I questioned him
as to the guests. and if he had noticed
any Of the servants were in trouble
over money matters.
snow" said ia him. 'have you no.
ticed anything peculiar about any Of
the guests? No matter how triding It