The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-02
SHE WORKED ALONE
DIAMOND QUEEN ADMITS SHE HAD
NO ACCOMPLICE.
JEWELS ALL RECOVERED.
PENDANT PAwNED WHILE DETEC-
TIVE SHADOWED THE WOMAN.

Those She Knew and Displayed
Gems That She Had Secured on
FORCED Orders-POIice Investigate
ing PawninE of ArtfcIes-WOman
Had an Account with Van Keuren
and Paid PrOmptIy-SOme Think
Her Insane Detective Murphy
viii Get the Reward.
After assisting Detective ]. J. Muir
ply in recovering every piece Of the
$500 worth of jewelry secured from
Theus Bros. and Desbouillons on forged
orders, Mamie DeCris, woman of mys-
terry and constructor of romantic fam
cies, admits with perfect candor that
no person assisted her, or was in any
way connected with her, in one of the
most remarkable diamond robberies Of
recent years.
She planned the daring swindle, wav-
cred several days before putting her
scheme into execution, worked it sue
cessfully alone, walked with the treas
ure into the office of Solicitor General
Osborne, discussed the topic of the day
with those she met; wore and displayed
the blazing gems on the streets, and
actually disposed Of some of her plum
der in a pawnshop, and too, in the pres
ence of a member of the city detective
force. For cold. unadulterated nerve
her conduct stands unequaled in the
history of the police department.
Pnwned stolen Gems.
A.. tI,o ctr
Almonds in public even when the city
was in a turmoil over the thefts, is an
undisputed fact. Not only did she
make a show of the gems. but she
called the attention of her friends to
them, of course. inventing some pref
~ romance to account for her possess
sion of the articles. The woman even
went further. Despite the fact that
a complete description of the stolen
property had been made public and
that the pawnbrokers We're supposed
TO be keeping a sharp lookout for it.
she boldly entered a pawnshOp and
disposed of some of the ill-gotten
gains.
In the name of Mrs. Nina Shellman,
and with the ever ready fairy tale on
the tip of her tongue, she visited the
pawnshop of E. Muhlberg and secured
loans amounting to more than $500. A
valuable solitaire ring secured from
Desbouillons was put uD as security
for $25 at the loan office of Arthur
Deutsch, and in the two pawnshops
more than half of the stolen property
was pledged.
But for the fact that Detective
Frank Wall was thrown off his guard
by a clerk in Muhlberg's place. the
DeCris woman would have come to
grief much earlier in the game. On
the day upon which she disposed of
the pendant containing seventeen dia-
monds. she aroused the suspicious of
that plain clothes man and was shad-
owed. She went into Muhlberg's place,
and Detective Wall entered the store
a few minutes behind her.
Swallowed by Detective.
She was visibly embarrassed when
the officer walked to the rear and took
a seat. He had his eye on the CASH
ier's desk for the purpose of discover
Ing just what the woman was about
to pawn. His presence in the place.
however, stopped the negotiations. Wall
says that Louis Muhlburg told him,
through the clerk, to lam" meaning
to run" or leave the place. The clerk
explained to the detective that the wo-
man was perfectly straight lady of
good standing-and did not care to ne
gotiate loan with persons watching
her.
The detective accepted the statement
of the clerk and left the place. Then
under the name of Mrs. Shellman, and
claiming that her husband had been
shot, she secured a loan on the hand
some piece of jewelry. The matter did
not entirely escape the attention of De-
Tective Wall, and at police headquarters
on the following morning, he says he
asked Detective Murphy to look over
the Muhlburg report carefully. He did
not suspect that the woman was the
Diamond Queen" but thought her ac-
lions suspicious. and determined to
learn what she had pledged.
The detective says that the report
for the day before could not be found
at that time, and that with the turn
ing up of other matters the incident
escaped his attention. He never
thought of the affair again until Sun
day afternoon, and yesterday morning
positively identified the prisoner as
the woman who was pawning a piece
of the jewelry while she was being
Swallowed by him.
Arrest n Big Sensation.
All of these startling facts came to
light yesterday morning when it was
announced in the Morning News that
and on her way to Savannah with De-
fective Murphy and representative of
the Morning News. The story of the
capture of the woman with a part of
the stolen property caused a profound
sensation, and upon the arrival of the
Central train from Atlanta quite
to get a glimpse of the Diamond
Queen"
Few OF them saw her and those who
did only caught sight of a rapidly
moving figure. Before the train had
come to a standstill Detective Murphy
alighted and secured a cab. The fair
prisoner and the Morning News man
followed closely upon the heels of the
detective and in a moment the trio
was being hurried to police headquar-
tiers.
The detective and the newspaper
man sat together with Miss DeCris
and those who had faced a fine, pene-
tratlng rain were rather disappointed.
The woman was shielded, and attract
cd no attention as the cab dashed down
Liberty street to police headquarters
Sat IN All Night.
The party made the trip from At
lanta in the day coach, and Miss De-
Girls did not close her eyes during the
entire journey. She passed the time
away in telling fairy tales of her life
TO the newspaper man and in wonder
ing just what the outcome of the case
will be. She told a pretty little story
OF her alleged accomplice from Balti-
more and declared that unless ne should
be caught there would be no chance of