The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-01-25


wonderful necklace that the DoWager
Queen Alexandra wore at the recent
coronation of her son, George V, came
from the Wabash river and was
found by Jumbo" Adams, convict,
who is now serving sentence OF II
years in the Illinois penitentiary, at
Chester.
The Queens necklace is famed for
it's beauty, and has long been known
for the rarity of the gems that COM
pose it, says the New York Telegraph.
But the central or pendant pearl lost
it's luster, or became what is known
to the trade as dead and the court
ieweler was instructed to replace it.
There was considerable difficulty in
finding one to suit and he was almost
in despair until he heard that gem
had been secured by Tifany's that
was Just what he wanted.
There was no haggling over the
price asked, which was high up in the
thousands, and the convict's pearl
became the property of the Queen
Mother of England. At court func-
tions and amid pomp and splendor
it cleaned and glowed in all it's won
derful purity, and thousands paid
tribute to it's loveliness-and "Jum-
boz Adams lay in felon's cell in the
Chester penitentiary and cursed the
day that it fell into his possession
as he opened the dirty mussel on the
banks of the Wabash far away.
Three years ago Jumbo" Adams
lived at Mount Carmel, ILL.,, and made
a somewhat precarious living by dig
ging mussels, selling fish and doing
odd jobs of telling trees for portable
sawmills. He was 25 years old and
had a wife and three children. He
had been to school but little, and his
small world was the river, his home
and the saloon. When he sold load
of shells to the button factory or
earned a bit of money in some way
he went first to saloon and drank
all the liquor he could hold, then he
staggered home, and his family got
what was left. Day after day and
year after year this was his program.
Up to this time. he never had as
much at $40 in his possession that
he might call his own.
Then one day he went down to the
point where the White river joins the
Wabash in it's whipping rush to swell
the Ohio. 1t was very early, the sun
was just coming up, not another
pearl fisher was in sight, and jun
boz was just recovering from a pro-
longed spree. But nature seemed
to be smiling forgivingly, and the
heart of Jumbo" Adams beat with
a resolve to lead a better life. In
telling of it afterward he said he
communed with himself to the effect
that if he could only find a pearl and
get start he would forever after
lead a good life. He said he almost
prayed to find a pearl. He strobe
slowly toward his dirty little fiat
bottomed boat, with his head bent
and his thoughts on his failure in
life.
Just before he reached the boat he
stopped and picked up a big, ugly
black mussel. Mechanically he pull
ed out his knife and pried open the
muddy jaws. In one hand he held
the gaping shells, and then with the
forefnger of the other he probed
amid the quivering mass. Suddenly
his finger struck an obstruction
nearly as large as a marble. He
pulled it from it's fastenings on the
side of the shell. Then he brushed
the pasty covering from it and the
chief of the Alexandra pearls gleam-
ed and giowed and first made glad
the heart of Jumbo Adams. At
first he feared it was but a trick OF
the imagination, and he could hardly
believe in his good fortune. He went
on to the boat and bathed his head
in the cooling water. AS his head
became clearer he looked again at
the pearl. 1t was still there, and
when he again rubbed it on the
sleeve of his coarse shirt it grew
brighter.
Then Jumbo" Adams knew that
Fate had given him the chance that
he had alwoys hoped for. He was
:.rich,' not as the trust magnates
reckon riches, but as they are con-
sidered by the poor fishers who dwell
by the banks of the Wabash and
know only the good things of life
in fitting dreams.
With his dull face shining with an
.,+oa 1,,ctor ssTunobo'' Adams