Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1917-03-11
Theft of Valuable Gems
From Mrs. Borah Results
in Drive by Los Angeles
Officers That Brings Re
suits.
ILLICIT TRAFFIC
IN JEWELS SHOWN
Frank Statement Made by
Max Baranov, Held in Jail
ION Felony Charges,
Throws Light on the Huge
Swindle.

The robbery of Mrs. w. E. Borah,
wife of Senator Borah of Idaho, at Los
Angeles recently, has resulted in the
unearthing of remarkable facts in re-
gard to the Illicit gem traffic in south
ern California. Concerning the reVe-
lations a Los Angeles newspaper says:
The drive by the police and detec-
tives of the district attorneys office
upon the diamond gang" of gem
thieves AMI swindlers now infesting
southern California-activities brought
to a sharp focus by the recent robbery
at the Darby of Mrs. w. f. Borah, wife
of the senato--brought t light some
remarkable facts concerning the Illicit
traffic yesterday.
Yesterday Max Baranov of San
Diego, now held in the Los Angeles
county Jail on two felony warrants, al
leging implic,. ion in diamond swind-
lings and grand larceny that aggregate
$4,000, made frank statement of his
connection with the traffic, declaring,
however, that he is in the clear. De-
tectives Jones anC Mcnamara said that
local arrests are robable and that the
arrest of Aresoni in the east is expect
ed at any time.
Baranov declared that, although he
had been forced to leave Los Angeles
about eight year, ago for buying jew
elry because he did not have pawn
brokers' license, he had turned all of
his stock over to Detective Jones and
since that time had conducted a jew
elry store in San Diego. He said:
HIS STATEMENT.
Il met Arcsoni called by his friends
Arizona because of the sound of his
name in San Diego. He introduced
me to Mrs. Jessie Ullray and her moth
er and l understood that they were
married or engaged. Aresoni told me
that Mrs. Ellray had $4,000 to invest
and had me explain to her the rising
diamond market and the fact that dia-
/ onds were the best investment at the
tine. Then, through Aresoni, l sold
the woman about $4,000 in stones. The
deal was mao and l took the stones
to a jeweler selected, believe, by Mrs.
UlIray. The gems were deposited in a
safe deposit box in Los Angeles and
both Mrs. Ullray and Enrico had a key.
Il made a little money on the sale
of the stones-that is my business.
tive 1 understood that Enrico was to
take the stones east and sell them.
They expected tC make money on the
deal. Understand l sold at the market
and the stones were not "llinky," or
purchased from questionable sources.
After few weeks Mrs. Ullray came
to me and protested, declaring that
she was afraid Enrico was not coming
back and accusing me of assisting him
in swndling her. To make good |
went to New York and through the aid
Of the New FORK police, got hold Of
Emico and made him come through
with every stone / had handled. These
] returned to Mrs. Ullray and hold a
receipt from her for the stones.
Now it is alleged that steered her
against a jeweler who made a false
appraisement or else myself gave the
stones false appraisemcnt. A stone
has no definite Vaue---it is worth what
You can get for it, But | am in the
clear. The only time | was ever con-
nectcd with anything savoring of ille-
gality was years ago when [ was forced
out of business here because / failed
to take out proper license and re-
port purchases OF gems to the police.
All they had on me was one gold watch
but nevertheless | turned everything
over TO the police for Investigation.
expect to be at liberty on $4,000 bail
within "a hours ana then beat the case
In open court
"oRGANlZED GANG"
The detectives declare that there is
an organized gang of diamond swim
dlers in this city; that Mrs. Ullray did
not receive bac-. the diamonds she
purchased, but stones of inferior worth
and that unless swift action is taken,
other women will be Victims. They
said:
There are a number of so-callad
diamond merchants in this city who
are really buyers of Illicit or stolen
gems. They are not willing to sell
these stones to the regular buyers of
stolen diamonds but want full value
for them. Therefore they get some
one to view the stones, place a small
value on them and send the prospec-
tive purchaser with one stone to a rep
ntable jeweler who gives an honest APP
praisement.
This is indicative that $4,000 to
$4,000 invested in these stones will re-
urn handsome profit and the VIC
i'm is shown a great number of stones.
But when it Genes down TO the actual