The sun., 1908-11-29
THEDIAMONDDUUHMER'S JOB
TRAVELLING WITH A QUARTER
MILLION IN GEMS.

cneof1ul and chlppeT as No turhou out oi
Maiden Lane into Broadway the other
. forenoon bound for home.
"oh. this is my time to feel ohirpy.'
he explained TO friend. who, joining him,
put the "Why 80 blithe2' question to him.
sI've Just shuoked my trouble
sThst's as clear as clay said the friend.
sswhat am supposed to ask you nowl'
"Its no trap said the diamond drum
) mer. Il mean that I've Just turned In my
gems TO the inn. Got In from my semi
annual Western trip this morning. you
know. Now. rid o. my trouble. I'm on
my way uptown to have look at the
home and family.
4 f'I won't be packing the trouble around
for couple OF months now, and during
those two months III gain ten pounds In
weight. Actually, mean. Ten pounds.
I've watched 1t time and again.
) Il always pick UP ten pounds in weight
! when come back from a long road trip
and turn In my trouble for couple OF
, months. No. it's not because things are
better and mora. fattening in this town
than they are elsewhere. It's because
] have q respite from worrying.
!, Diamond mon on tho road call their
wallets Of gems their trouble. Good
name, too. No travelling diamond man
j ever has his mind entirely of the packets
Of stones he~carries for more than thirty
seconds at a stretch.
IL Just try keeping your mind on any
old subject. no matter how pleasant.
during nearly all Of your waking moments
! for months at a stretch and you'll find
40 h., . aH niar~nnd HT1tDn
mers often go to pieces under the strain.
Their incessant watchfulness over their
wallets of gems causes them to develop
, aoutely what is called fixed idea, and then
they 70 only step or SO away from nervous
; prostration.
SDuring the last four months I've been
carrying around with me day and night
nearly quarter Of million dollars worth
Of my firms diamonds
you've carried on occasion consider
able sums Of money to the bank for
deposit. Probably you never carried a
quarter OF a million to the bank. but
large sums. for the safety Of which, II
It belonged to somebody else. OF course
you felt keenly responsible. Probably
.you only had TO walk few blocks to
reach the bank, but you felt decidedly
nervous until you reached the bank and
put the money away, didn't you?
Naturally. Compare an experience of
that sort with the job Of packing around
a quarter Of million in diamonds-and
diamonds are money, the quickest kind
Of money-not for q short trudge to
bank. but for third Of year. from city
TO city. on day coaches and in sleeping
cars, on steamboats,. In hotel rooms.
where sometimes you may be one of
only two or three guests on an immense
floor. hiking around from one jewelry
store TO another. often In sinister neigh
borhoods Of cities notorious for the
number Of their stickup men-a little
different. eh. from carrying a piece of
money TO tho bank over a short route
every foot Of which you know
when I get home in about twenty
minutes now my wife will have big pot
Of steaming coffee all ready for me and
myself. My teeth are leaking in antici-
patton Of that. for do you know haven't
had a mouthful Of coffee since I started
on this last trip, four months agoi
sWhy2 Well. diamond drummers are
not much inclined toward coffee when
they're travelling. Coffee makes for dizzi-
ness. vertigo. / don't care to take the
chance. when I'm hiking around with my
gems on me. Of falling down on the street
under dizzy attack.
Somebody might get my stuff IL that
happened. often there are traiiers-
I'll tell you about those people in a min
ute-waiting for just such opportunities. |
The chance Of my actually falling down |
from dizziness under the action OF coffee |
Il OF course remote. but diamond drum
mers have to provide against the re-
mote chances as well as against the |
imminent kind
sNow for the trailers Of diamond drum |
mers. They're distinct body Of thieves
There are not many Of them, but there |
are enough Of them to make diamond |
drummers nervous all the time they're
travelling and to keep them on the alert |
all the time.
Il know the faces of most OF these |
diamond drummer trailers. make peri |
odical visits to Police Headquarters to |
restudy their mugs in the rogues' gallery |
and to fix in my mind the faces OF the |
new specimens that are added to the |
gallery from time to time.
'0ne OF these tTailers will follow a dia-
mond drummer for months at a stretch, |
waiting for his chance to lift the package |
Of gems. The trailer figures that. no |
matter how careful and watchful the |
man with the gems normally Is. his mo-
ment Of carelessness is bound to come;
and that single moment OF carelessness
is the thief's golden opportunity.
The trailer starts right of from New
York with the diamond drummer he has
picked out for himself, and in most cases
he comes right back to New York with
the diamond man after months of travel
without ever having had a chance to
get anywhere near the gems. But the
trailer is willing to work for the odd
onance. He knows that when he does suo-
oeed in making a lift the haul will be
huge. aud that fact sustains him.
'Tbe trailer always is plentifully SUD-
piled with travelling money. His hardest
job is 10 keep out Of the view Of the dia-
mond drummer himself. This is no
easy Job. II you're carr ying valuables
and you see the same man on every train
YOU take and in every hotel corridor
where you're staying, and all this for
some months at a stretch, Of course you're
simply Opaque IL you don't conclude that
that fellow is on YOUR trail