The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-12-07
DIAMOND TAKERS
TRAP UNWARY
The Passion for Possession OF
Precious Stones Makes
Easy Victims.
BEWARE OF THE SCALPER
Prices on Gems Are Kept Up By
the De Beers Company. Who
Own Kimberly Mines.

NMt DE 0ErAn NNAAEN-J
Own Kimberly Mines.
Ruying diamonds is a ticlSlish thing
II is a. dangerous a. buying a horse.
This is because not one person In
hundred knows enough about dia-
moude or horse TO buy either intel
liaentIy. For this reason there If a.
much tricker-y in the selling OF one az
% the other.
There Is an old English legal axiom
that YOU buy with your eyes open"
and n you are "stung" either In buy
ing a diamond or a horse. unless de-
nberatc fraud Is proved, YOU might as
we'll Jet DC 20 at that. for YOU viii get
little sympathy with the courts. and
less with your friends
The St. Louis Post Dispatch recent
Il laid bare the methods Of horse
traders I'm fixing" old. broken down
horses FOR sale to- the unwary. Few
DAYS later twp ladies bought p beau
tirul and spirited animal that dropped
dead In the shafts as 10 was being
driven TO its new home.
hut more people fall for the pawn
ticket scalper's game than for the
fixed horse. because more people
buy diamonds than buy horses.
Many people in moderate circum-
This is the tap-root Of the pawnticket
scalper-s business. Some Of them be-
Ueve that n they are earning $50 a
week q diamond ring or a stud viii
make them look a. though they be-
longed 90 tho t5o-a-week class.
others have an idea that diamond
e. safer than government bonds a. an
Investment and pays bigger interest
than p savings bank. They argue that
diamonds are getting scarCer every
year and that n they invest sav-
inEs account or 500 in diamond 81
Will greatly increase in value in a
year.
The Diamond Output.
Another reason FOR buying dia-
mond ls that % is always ready mon
cv' and II they must have cash there
a. nothing 80 easy To- dispose OF as q
diamond. They probably do not know
thHt the DE Beers company. which
owns the Kimber diamond mines ir
Africa and the visible supply or th'
diamonds or the world. annually holds
out % the market more diamond
than they sell FOR the purpose OF keep
Ing up the price of those bits or spark
ling carboniferOus crystal. and tina
only one of the fine Kimberly dia
mond mines ~ being worked.
There is another class or Deopl'
WHOSE NNAF NWNWAAAWN n" w NNN "a - y
enough money TO buy a diamond 10
some Eiri 60 whom they are at tn
moment attached by sentimental ties
The callowness or such make then
ripe fruit for the picking OF tbs pawn
ticket scalpers-
But about the easiest victims or nj
sire the sporty negroes Pullman por
tiers. the attendants on private car
Of railway presidents and multimil
nr fsnfrr
paratively good earning capacity. Tn
negro sport will fall for anything 4
the way OF n diamond III the lure j
attractively presented and well played
The other dsy In st Louis a negr
janitor Of q big building complaine
10 the police that a diamond cross 70
which he had paid $500 had bee
stolen. 10 was worth easily fifty cent
The owner wrs delighted TO get
hack. and told the chief or detective
that he had bought a. I'm a pawnsho
in south Clark street. I'm Chicago. 10
5000. paying SIS down and So
month until 10 was his.
But.the class 81 buyers who deligl
the scalpcrs most are those who bu
thinking they are getting stolen goos
cheap FOR that reason. They arc al
soiuteiy safe and can be- relied upo
never 10 make q holier" TO the pole
when they discover that they hay
been stunE good many n tn
class believe that they are Judges
diamonds and that they can buy
stone from a thief FOR third OF s
value and. on account 81 their stan'
ing On the community sell u again
good profit.
sometimes they do succeed In beir
an amateur fence" and buy a stoi
from a sure-enouch thief But Eel
orally they are victims ~ Tram
up'' and Eet something that g. WORT
less while their tongues are tied
their own guilty knowledge.
This brings us down TO the tran
in diamonds now extensively csrri'
on IN St Louis by the so-called paw
ticket scaipers. They are OF maj
kinds. and their methods are sccOr
INK 90 the class they work anon
You never know when you may n
across one. and they are TO be foul
in the most unexpected places.
saloons. hotel Hobbies and Gig
stores in 81 Louis are much frequer
I'd by the pswu-ticket scalpers. vi
sometimes dignity their calling
styling themselves brokers" This
the way the thing f. sometim
worked in a saloon. and r. an actt
experience.
man was standing Al a bar ne
olive street one morning slipping
0FINM. Tie was hNf NllAH NNENWalAfA
tho place. and the bartender W
drcamiiy polishing glasses.
Entered dapper young man "
breezily ordered a glass % beer. Ha
ing been served he entered Into
whispered conversation with the dri
dispenser. 40 the same time pull
two pieces of pastebosrd from
pocket and covcrtly exhibiting TN
o. the man behind the bar.
The man VINO was slipping his dri
was gazing in the mirror and saw {
dauper one incline his head Sigh
fn his direction several times. and {
bartender murmur' something. The
fore. ne was not uuprepared when Z
dapper one edged toward him. p
foviaiiy said. Drink up. friend. q
Join me in another"
The drinks having been ordered.
dapper youth entered into a g0Od-i
turcJ conversation about things
general. gradually leading up 20
hard-luck story. This being the ID