The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-05


ment immortel ct deternellement doux
que dams notre anne"
l.
II was high noon in the city of Ant
Werp- From slender steeples fioated
the mellow music of the Flemish bells,
and in the spire of the great cathedral
across the square the cracked chimes
clashed discOrds until my ears ached.
When the fiend in the cathedral had
Jerked the last tuneiess clang from the
chimes. I removed my fingers from my
ears and sat down at one of the iron
tables in the court. A waiter with his
face shaved blue, brought me bottle
OF Rhine wine, tumbler of cracked ice
and a siphon.
Does Monsieur desire anything
elsey' he inquired.
"Yes-the head of the cathedral bell
ringer; bring it with vinegar and po-
tatoes,'' / said, bitterly Then I began
to ponder on my great-aunt and the
Crimson Diamond.
The white walls Of the Hotel st. An
tome rose in a rectangle around the
sunny court. casting long shadows
across the basin of the fountain The
strip of blue overhead was cloudless.
SparrOws twittered under the caves;
the yellow awnings fiuttered, the flow
ers swayed in the summer breeze, and
the jet of the fountain splashed among
the water plants. On the sunny side
OF the piazza the tables we're vacant:
on the shady side, / was lazily aware
that the tables behind me were occu-
pied, but I was Indifferent as to their
occupants partly because 7 Stunned
all tourists, partly because 1 was think
ing of my great-aunt.
Most old ladies are eccentric, but
there is limit, and my great-aunt had
overstepped it. ] had believed her to
be wealthy;-she died bankrupt. Still,
l knew there was one thing she did
possess, and that was the famous
Crimson Diamond" Now, of course,
yp4FSnow who my great-aunt was.
-EXcepting the KOh-i-nOOr. and the
Regent this enormous and unique
stone was. as everybody knows, the
most valuale gem i'm existence. Any
ordinary person would have placed that
diamond in a safe-deposit. My great
aunt did nothing Of the kind. She kept
81 in a small velvet bag, which she
carried about her neck. She never took
II off, but wore il dangling openly on
her heavy silk gown.
In this same bag she also carried
dried catnip leaves of which she was
Unfortunately fond. Nobody but myself,
her only living relative knew that the
Crimson Diamond lay among the sprigs
of eatnip in the little velvet bag.
Harold she would say, do you
think I'm a fool? II place the Grim
son Diamond i'm any safe-deposit vault
in New York, somebody would steal
IT sooner or later" Then she would nib
BILE a sprig of catnip and peer cum
ningly at me. | loathed the Odor of
catnip and she knew il. I also lOathed
cats. This also she knew and of course
surrounded herself with dozen. Poor
old lady! tOn the LIST day of March,
1896, she was found dead in her bed
in her apartments at the Waldorf The
doctor said she died from natural
causes. The only other occupant of her
sleeping room was a cat. The cat fled
when we broke open the door. and /
heard that she was received and cher
ished by some people in a neighboTing
apartment.
Now. although my great-aunts death
was due to purely natural causes, there
vas one very startling and disagree
able feature of the case. The velvet
bag, containing the Crimson Diamond
had disappeared. Every inch of the
apartment was searched, the floors torn
up, the walls dismantled, but the Grim
son Diamond had vanished. Chief OF
Police Conlin detailed four of his best
men on the case. and as I had nothing
better to do, I enrolled myself as a
volunteer. l also offered $4,000 reward
York was agog.
The case seemed hopeless enough, al
though there were five of us after the
thief McFariane was in London, and
had been for a month, but Scotland
Yard could give him no help. and the
7st / heard of him he was roaming
through Surrey after a man with a
white spot in his hair. Harrison had
gone to Paris He kept writing me that
MI
but as Dennet, in Berlin. and Clancy,
in Vienna. wrote me the same thing. |
began to doubt these gentlemen's abil-
ity.
you say" / answered Harrison
that the fellow is a Frenchman. and
that he is now concealed in Paris; but
Dennet. writes me by the same mail
that the thief is undoubtedly a German
and was seen yesterday in Berlin. To-
day received a letter from Clancy, as
surfing me that Vienna holds the sui
prit, and that he is an Austrian from
Trieste. Now for heavens sake" ]
ended, '1et me alone and stop writing
me letters until you have something
TO write about"
The night clerk of the Waldorf had
furnished US with our first clue. on
the night of my aunt's death he had
seen a tail. grave-faced man hurriedly
desk, he removed his hat and mOpped
his forehead. and the night clerk no.
ticed that in the middle of his head
there was a patch of hair as white as
snow.
We worked this clue fer all it was
worth, and. a month later, I received
a cable dispatch from Paris, saying
that a man answering to the descrip-
tion of the Waldorf suspect had Offered
an enormous crimson diamond for sale
TO a jeweller in the Palais Royal I'm
fortunately the fellow took fright and
disappeared before the jewelleT could
send for the police, and since that time
McFarlane in London. Harrison in
Paris. Dennet in Berlin, and Clancy in
Vienna, had been chasing men with
white patches on their hair until nc
gray-headed patriarch in Europe was
free from suspicion. 1 myself had
slenthed IL through England France
Holland and Belgium. and now found
myself in Antwerp at the Hotel St
Antonio without a clue that promised
anything except another outrage OF
some respectable white-haired citizen
- The case seemed hopeless enough, un-
less the thief tried again TO sell the
gem. Here was our only hope, for
unless ne cut the stone into smaller
ones. he had no more chance of selling