Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-04-19
THE PEARL OF
THE GODS

There is a big contract before you"
said the chief of police, and the work
will take you far away from Russia.
Y would have selected you for the task,
myself, but even /. | had been in.
clined to assign some one else to the
matter, could not have done So"
why not?" queried Michael Dane
witch.
Because" replied the chief, his ma
jesty was pleased to order that to you
alone should be allotted the solving of
the problem. Now listen. and | will
tell you all l know about the world ia
nous gem called the pearl of the
gods Two years have passed since an
Indian diver brought 1t up from the
depths OF the sea. When it was de-
tached from its shell, experts pro-
nounced it to be one of the most per-
feet pearls hat had ever come to light,
and the value put upon it was tremen-
d0us. 1t became the property of
Gammage & Lallal, the welLknown
dealers in precious stones, whose
headquarters are In Bombay. It's fri
descence and beauty were so great
that the fame of the marvellous gem
spread al through India, and it was
named the pearl of the gods 1t was
natural that the dealers should seek to
dispose Of it IN royal circles, for the
gem was indeed fit to rank among the
proudest possessions of any monarch.
AS you know, our little father is ex-
tremely proud Of his collection of pre-
cious stones and gems, and when the
news of this particular find reached
him he gave orders to have 1t pur-
chased for the imperial household.
This was done, in so far as the terms
OF the purchase being agreed on; and
the money, an immense sum-, was paid
over to Messrs. Gammsge & Lallal
by his majesty's agent. But It was
agreed that for safely's. sake the
pearl had better remain in the deal
ers' strong room until the steamer, on
which the czar's messenger intended
to sail with the gem in his charge,
was ready to leave port. But his ar
rangement was Unexpectedly upset by
the disappearance of the gem from the
strong room. At the close of business
one evening, Gammage & Lallal testi-
fed that the pearl was in their pos
session. On the following morning 1t
vas gone, and nothing else in the
strong room had been touched, al.
though there were many thousands Of
rubles' worth If other jewels there.
To add to the mystery the room had
seemingly not been tempered with.
The door was intact, and the compli-
Gated locks were all perfect. 1t was
next to impossible that anyone could
have gained entrance by means OF
false keys. The DON was about four
teen feet square, solidly concreted,
and with walls eighteen inches thick.
In the center of one of the walls was
a massive iron door of enormous
strength. This door fitted into an iron
frame imbedded in concrete, and into
this frame the tremendous bolts were
shot. There were AZ bolts, and they
were all shot at one time by means OF
q lever in the center of the door. Set
into the door was a register dial,
which showed that the door vas
properly locked, and this dial would
have indicated any attempt to tamper
with the locks. Although one action
OF a lever locked the door, the
mechanism vas so ingenious that no
less than eight keys were required to
unlock 1t. Nor was this all. BY a Pc
culiar arrangement the locks could be
readjusted every day, so that q fresh
set of keys was required each morning
to open the safe, and no one but the
two members of the firm knew which
set was to be used.
yet, despite all these safeguards,
the pearl had disappeared, and that,
too, after the money for its purchase
had been received from the cars
agent. Messrs. Gammage & Lallal at
once refunded the purchase money,
and offered ar apology to his majesty
for having unwittingly disappointed
him; and investigations were at once
commenced with a view to solving the
puzzle. Both of the members of the
firm were positive In declaring that
they both saw the gem deposited In
the strong room, and both saw tho
door locked Immediately afterward.
The pearl had been placed in a small
box on a bed Of cottonwood, and the
box was covered with a glass lid.
Next morning the pearl was gone, but
the box, glass lid and COTTONWOOD were
intact. 1t almost seemed as If h
thing had been spirited away by gu
pernatural agency.
"Our little father WAS not satisfied
with the return Of the purchase
money. He had set his heart on add
ing that gem to his collection, and no.
titled the Indian firm that in case the
pearl came to light he vas anxious to
secure it. Also l was instructed to
send one of our men to India to help in
the hunt for the thief or thieves, You
were engaged on the case of the
treaty at the time, and I could
send you. Peter Obolsvok went to
India on my orders. He was not any
successful, however, than the
government detectives who
were working over the affair, and no
trace Of the gem was discovered. I