The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1907-06-21

The Hindoo Idol That Nine. Garnet
Ordered Destroyed-A Grim Exhibit
In a London Museum-A Ring That
Brought Its Owners to Suicide.
OF course the psychologists have OK
plantations for them all, but there
are lots Of things that happen that
somehow do not respond readily to
these so called explanations of purely
mental effect" or accidental colnci-
dences" and all that sort of thing.
When Nine. Garnet, widow of Sadi
Carnot, died and her will was read, a
clause in 1t caused considerable COM
ment. This was to the effect that
certain small Hindoo idol carved from
hard stone which would be found
among her property must be taken out
and crushed until completely destroy
ed. Many marveled at this apparently
singular request, for the idol seemed
q harmless, ugly little thing, but her
instructions We're carried out to the
letter.
The idol had been presented to Sadi
thought Of the presidency Of France
by friend who had brought 1t from
India. Later he learned that there
was legend attached to 1t which as
serted that whatsoever would retain 1t
in his possession would rise to the
fullest height of power In his chosen
profession, but die Of stab wound
when at the zenith of his career. Car
not traced the history of the idol and
found that for 500 years the rulers
who had possessed it had all died
either In battle or by assassination of
stab wounds Yet he laughed at the
| story, called the facts adduced by his
search a mere chain of condolences
and retained the idol. He died by
dagger In the hands of an assassin;
hence Mime. CarnOt's strange request.
In Chicago pawnbroker has queer
looking old turnip Of watch that he
will not sell and will not wear, for he
knows its history. He bought 1t at
sale of accumulated police property,
and after the sale as q warning one of
| the police officials related three coin
| cidences" in connection with 1t. The
| first Chicago man to own the watch,
so far as the police knew, had been
| killed by burglar, and the watch was
one Of the few things the thief got
| away with. A few weeks later the
| burglar, with q party of his pals, pur-
sued by the police for another crime,
| took refuge in house on the outskirts
| Of the city and sought to hold the Off
GERS at bay. All were taken alive ex-
cept the burglar, and he was shot dead.
The watch was found on his body. 1t
was around the detective bureau for
| long time, and one day one of the
| force asked permission to take it home
| to show some friends, his description
| Of its quaint curious case having
aroused their curiosity. On his way
back to report that night, with the
watch in his possession, he was shot
| dead by crook who had long stand
| ing grudge against him.
| The pawnbroker put the watch In
his showcase. but purely as an orna-
ment, and made such investigation re-
| garding its history as he could. He
| learned that 1t had been made in
France more than a hundred years
ago, and five men who had worn 1t had
| died violent deaths. Yet these were
| all condolences, and the curse of the
| old woman from whose hands 1t had
been snatched by n thief in Bordeaux
shortly after 1t left its makers hands
had nothing to do with the case what
| ever.
| In the South Kensington museum,
London, there is On object catalogued
| %, 40. 1t Is u cast of a woman's face
and was found In an excavation not
| far from Luxor, in Egypt. The cast Is
that of beautiful woman, but the
| face wears an expression of sinister
| evil. The man who found the cast
died within twcnty-four hours after he
had touched it, and the two workers
| who handled 1t died within a few
| weeks. Three OF the carriers who han
died 1t CT the Nile beat died within u
short space of time, and the man who
| rCShippCd 1t ut Cairo also died within
| less than Il week after he had played
his part In the work of getting 1t to Its
| destination. All these were seemingly
| OeuillS, Dll IL 10 OtIu ltlul an
the men whose fingers touched the cast
In Egypt should have died SO soon aft
er the handling
Then there ~ the ring Of which
| Girouard, the French detective, has
told US and which now IS In one Of the
| museums Of Paris. 1t Is odd In that
1t Is flexible, slightly SO, for 1t IS form
ed like twisted serpent in closely
woven gold links with an opal on the
| top of the head, two tiny emeralds for
eyes and ruby In its mouth. Seven
such rings are not apt to be In exist
ence in any one city, yet seven times
during the Twenty-Five years Girouard
served the Partisan police in n position
which brought him to the morgue daily
he found this ring on the bodies of
suicides. -Four times it had been
| claimed by relatives of the dead, and
twice had 1t been sold. The seventh
| time Girouard saw to it that it went
| through the usual red tape channels to
n place where it could no longer he
worn.-New York Press.