The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1913-04-24
FELL FROM THE SKY
REMARKABLE STORY OF THE
FINDING OF DIAMOND.
Wonderfully Beautiful Jewel Alleged
toshave Been Found Long Ago in
Hole In Earth That Had Been
Cleft by Thunderbolt. afl te

Two hundred years ago a peasant
family lived I'm Swiss hamlet, and
one evening q terrific storm broke
from the Alps. and amid the incessant
flashes of lightning and peals of thun-
der came binding glare and deaf
ening crash, setting fire to the roof of
the cottage. Next day the peasant as
he refully contemplated the smoking
ruins, noticed deep assure in the gar.
den leading to the root of a pine tree.
Without knowing why he fetched a
pickax and began digging until from
the depths of the hole a mysterious
blue light shone fitfully.' is the begin
ming of strange story from Lyons
that, says the Paris correspondent Of
the London Standard, reads just like
a fairy tale. .
Hurriedly making the sign of the
cross. the man fed, but the following
morning returning and saw the same
curious CLEAN, like a star from the
depths Of the furrow cleft by the thun-
derbolt. Thrusting his hand down he
brought out marvellous stone still
darling uncanny rays of light.
Much disturbed in his mind, the hon
est peasant took his find to the par
ish priest, who said: The stone came
to you from heaven and it is the finger
of God that placed 1t in your field.
As long as you keep it you and yours
will be safe from storms and evil
chances" Faithfully respecting the
priests world, the stone has been
even since religiously preserved by
the succeeding generations OF the
family.
But it has never brought much
luck, the last survivors being now
without penny. The present pos
SCISSOR, woman forty.five years old, is
married and the mother of twelve chill.
dren, five Of whom are still living,
while thirteenth is expected shortly.
A few years ago she and her husband
left their native village and went to
Germ, where they started a small bust.
ness which failed. continued the
story. They then came to Lyons,
where they have since lived hand
to mouth existence. Reduced to the
last extremity of want, they decided
to part with the famous thunderbolt
stone, and took it to we'll known jew.
eler.
'Petrlfied with establishment at see,
ing such splendid diamond in the
possession of almost beggar woman
the jeweler informed the police, and
not till the family had sent ia
Switzerland for documents certifying
that the diamond had really belonged
to them for the last 200 years was
the woman allowed to regain posses
sion of the precious pebble.
Since then she has been besieged
from morning till night with absurd
offers of the hundredth part of the
value of the diamond. which has been
examined and photographed by ex
perts. What will probably be known
as the thunderbolt' diamoud.-if there
is any truth in the story and If il
is genuine stone---is said to show all
the unmistakable signs of a rough dia
mond. 1t is one OF the biggest known
weighing 900 carets, whereas the
Grand Mogul diamond only weighed
ESQ carats.
twill doubtless soon arrive III
Paris and be submitted to the nnal
Judgment of experts who cannot err
Almost every famous diamond has Its
own pedigree and story, but none has
ever remained hidden 50 long in the
keeping Of poverty stricken owners
whose secretiveness is at least as
strange as the reputed manner Of the
discovery.