The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-12-27

rT vas iust about seven years ago
that ] first thought OF the posi-
hlity of getting the Gold Room" in
,he American Museum of Natural
History IN New York.
am somewhat OF a bookworm and
amend quite bit of my time in the
hubble libraries one evening in Novem-
nor 1907 I was In the old Astor Id
hrarv I had been reading n book on
ancient Jewels, which told about the
vas, quantities of Jewels that Were sup
posed 10 have been buried in Constan-
,,uople along with Sultans-this, that
and the uiher--and | was meditating
unon tho possibility Of going over there
and disturbing the slumber of one of
these Sultans and giving his treasure
,hc once over and "A little free air and
sunshine and the honor of being bar
gained for over "A certain counter not
more than a million miles from Brook
Ism Bridge.
An attendant came into my alcove
leaking for a book. and I asked him If
Ne knew Of any other books upon this
subject handing HIM the one had
be.n reading. He looked the book over
and said that he thought they had sew
oral On the subject. He asked me If [
was Interested in ancient jewels. | told
him that was. lie asked me then If
had been UP to see the Big Blue one"
A. tho Museum of Natural History.
He said that It was one Of the worlds
greatest sapphires and few jewels had
a history the equal of this one. He
said that II was priceless, that 1t was
generally understood that j. u. Morgan
raid $3.50. 900 and had considered him
self very lucky to get IL for that price,
and that certain Indian prince had
offered to pay that sum in gold for it
and no questions asked.
That made me sit up and take notice.
instantly resolved To get that jewel,
and as | did not think it wise to seem
too Interested ] changed the subject
and shortly left the library. l went at
once to the museum, very anxious to
get a glance at the little prize that
would enable me to retire and lead the
He Of big fish in "A little pond away
down south in some land.
had some difficulty in finding tho
great building. as we'll known as il Is,
ri iatiir, silvuii n-. ! final. found Il,
however. but To my very great disgust
II was closed. | made the building once
around. giving the most careful notice
10 every niche and corner, taking care
ful note If every shadow and locating
every light. its range. Sc. Just as
was completing my first round / met a
policeman. an animal that to me was a
symbol which meant move on. | always
followed the bunch in such cases as
this.
! returned to my apartment which
that time was in West Fortieth street
had only been in the city few days
had come in from Ohio with a couple
az trunks full of stickees ,stampsD to
sell to my brokers. Ordinarily ! would
express in the junk. But ! needed =
number Of things. and as / had about
sS0O worth of stuff | came along with II
There were three men in my gang
was the inside man. Young c.. oil
Spider. as he is known TO yeggdom, wa
my helper. Fuzzy Regain was the out
side man. All three of us are now wei
known TO the police Of all cities. a
that time only Fuzzy was known, and i
was that fact. coupled with one or TIVE
other things. that finally led to our cap
turc But that is another story.
When | got to the rooms Spider ant
Fuzzy were both out. l was glad of It
FOR ] wanted to think, and the more
thought about the big Blue one" III,
more anxious l was 10 see II. For al
hour or SO l enjoyed "a pleasure that
suppose a great many enjoy, as II cost
nothing-that is. pipe dreaming. II
IN hour / did a dozen different thing
with my share of the quarter milllol