The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-10-05
A DEAL N DIAMONDS
The True Story Of an ingenious
SwindIe In London.
A cLEvERLY WORKED GAME
Il Melted an lrnpeounious Russian Mo-
bIomsn a Thousand Pounds Sterling
The Easy Manner In Which Count
sacha Got Something For Nothing.


Count. sacha Roubletsky was on his
beam ends In London. TO the world
he was still dashing young noble
man, sou OF an Immensely wealthy
Russian prince, but In point OF fact
he was financially at his last gasp.
lie wanted thousand or so for
nothing. That was the problem he de-
bated as he sat in his lodging smoking
cigarette after cigarette. At last he
rose with satisfied smile. Next morn
ing Count Sacha called on Messrs.
Sparkle a. Shine, the we'll known Bond
street jewelers.. He explained who he
was and that he had come to select
some jewelry for his sweetheart.
From the gllttering tray he selected
a beautiful stone, price $500. He then
explained that, his remittances being
delayed, he was not In a position to
complete the purchase at the moment,
and, In any case. he wished first to
submit the stone to his sweetheart's
approval.
He added suavcly that MS he was un-
known to Messrs Sparkle & Shine he
could not expect them to part with the
gem without making inquiries, but
they were at liberty to apply to the
Russian embassy for any information
they desired concerning him. He
would return the following day and,
everything being satisfactory, take the
diamond.
TO this the jewelers. agreed aud, in
qu!ring at the Russian embassy, were
Informed that Count Sacha was un-
questionably the son of wealthy
prince and that they would probably
be safe in giving him credit for even
more than the amount mentioned.
They did not know at the embassy
that Sacha had been disowned by his
father, and they were agreeable to the
counts own suggestion that a member
of the embassy should attend at the
jewelers. next day to identify him.
This was done. and Count Sacba re.
ceived the diamond The same day
he called at big pawnbrokers and,
mentioning airily that he was In tenn
porary difficulties, pledged the diamond
for the small sum of ESQ.
The next day found Count Sacha
again at Messrs. Sparkle & Shines.
His sweetheart. he said, was enchant.
ed with the diamond, but nothing
would satisfy her now but that she
should have another diamond abso-
lutely matching the first.
The jewelers. explained that to match
such stone would be a matter OF
great difficulty and the price Of the
second gem would be enormously in
creased--in short for such pair OF
twin diamonds they would have to
charge f3,0O0. Count Sacha shrugged
his shoulders. The price was stin'. but
he could deny his sweetheart nothing
Would Messrs. Sparkle & Shine please
at once set about procuring the second
diamond?
The jewelers., being unable to match
the diamond themselves, wrote to the
leading dealers aud pawnbrokers de
scribing the stone they wanted and
intimatlng that they. were prepared tC
| go as far as $4,000 for perfect speci
men. Among those they wrote to was
] the pawnbroker with whom Count Sa
cha had pledged the original diamond
which was just what that ingenious
rascal expected.
A few days later Count Sacha called
at the pawnbrokcr's to redeem his dia.
mond The pawnbroker had had
Messrs. Sparkle & Shines letter, and
remembering the beautiful diamond
pledged with him day or two before
he had examined it and found that II
met all of Sparkle & Shines require
ments.
The count redeemed the stone, and
then the pawnbroker inquired whether
by any chance he would care to sell 1t
oh. no. 1t was family heirloom
His customer would not dream OF part
ing with It,
That was n pity, said the pawnbro
ker He had chanced to show the dla
mond to his wife. and she had taken 9
violent fancy to it-so much so thai
he was prepared to give fancy price
He offered fS00
Count Sacha laughed and shook his
head One thousand pounds? Oh, no
He really did not want to sell 1t. AL
offer Of f1,300. however, made him hes
itate. At last. after prolonged chatter
ing. Count Sacha passed back the dia
inond to the pawnbroker and received
E1,5O0 in exchange. Once outside III
Jumped into cab and drove as fas
as he could to Messrs. Sparkle
Shines.
Arrived there. he explained, will
many regrets, that his sweetheart ha'
changed her mind. She no Longer
wanted the second diamond. Had thu
| jewelers. yet found It? No? All, tina
was well! Still. he feared he had pu
them to much trouble. However, h'
was glad to say his remittances hat
arrived and he had now much pleas
ure In handing over $500 in paymen
for the original diamond. which hi
sweetheart had decided to keep.
| One thousand pounds to the good
Count Sncha left the shop, having
drought on most ingenious swim
die, Yet can any one say where h,
came within reach Of the law?-Pear
! sons Weekly.