, 1902-08-22
The Stolen Diamond

~
81 CRIMINAL who has any pecu.
/\ liarity about his person, such as
$500 a missing finger, a club foot, or
any mark made by his trade, such as
the mark on the hand Of a 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
have come under my notice have been
cases where the culprlt has had some
bodily deficiency which has left It's
mark on something with which he has
come In contact. The experience
which l am about to relate embodies
this truth, and had not the criminal
In the case had the misfortune of los
ing one-half of his-but l am anticipat-
Ing events.
l had just returned from the contl-
nection with the Duchess of Mentone's
stolen Jewels, and was prepared to en-
joy a rest, when l received a wire from
my chief asking me to report at once.
Upon arriving at the office he told me
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, a magnificent stTpe of
pAntss Lac 49, ~ g.
culab1e worth to the family as an heir
loom.
Mr.. Middleton's place was somewhere
up the Hudson and l set out at once.
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 1t had been SO long In
the family and had so much to do with
the history of the family, having been
generation to another, that he Viewed
the loss as a 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 1t to some of his guests, and Mrs.
ball ON the following night, had taken
1t from him, and, not thinking 1t nec-
essary to place 1t in the safe for so
short q time, had taken 1t to her bed
room and put 1t In a small casket on
her dressing table.
The next morning before going down
stairs she thought she would see If it
was all right, and was astonished to
find the casket empty. There were
many guests In the house, and at my
request l was to be introduced as a
friend of Mr.. Middleton. Before going
into the drawing-room l asked If he
would be good enough to give me some
particulars about his guests. Let me
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 u kindred
tastes led me to invite him here a few
weeks; the other is a gentleman from
town, greatly interested in dynamics,
and whom I met In my club. These are
the only acquaintances that are here.
whom / have met during the last year."
l was then taken to the drawing
room and introduced to most of the
guests, among them the three new &C.
quaintances. / gained nothing that
night and noticed nothing suspicious
about any Of the guests. l 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 n knew that the dia-
mond was In the house lit 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 l asked the
servant WHO brought me my coffee and
rolls to come in, and l questioned him
as to the guests, and If he had noticed