The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-07-26
"a HszEV

ar ana invariably they were heard
to exclaim: 1.-THE 'evil-eye Hope
diamond is active again !"
Presumably almost everybody has heard of the
Hope diamond and of the long history of mystery,
misfortune, shattered hopes, blasted fortunes and
violent deaths which Is declared to center about
the famous gem. Suffice it to say that the Hope
diamond is q sapphire-bue stone of AN karats;
that it made its appearance in France in 1868;
that 1t Is believed by the superstitious to have the
EVIL eye;" that Its published history, which is
probably largely imaginary would seem to bear
out its evil influence on the fortunes Of Its many
owners. and that the parents Of the dead boy are
the present owners of the gen. far as the
world knows.
The "$2OoOo0,O0O baby was the son of Mr.. and
Mrs. Edward Beal Mclean. He was expected to
inherit a vast fortune from his grandfathers
John r. Mclean the owner of several newspa-
pers, and Thomas Il. Walsh, a millionaire mine
operator of Colorado He slept In a gold cradle
the gift Of King Leopold of Belgium, partner
with Walsh in the famous Camp Bird gold mine
In the San Juan district Of Colorado He had
five nurses in five Of the finest mansions In Amer
lea. He had private car, which carried him to
Palm Beach, to California. wherever he was to
so. He had half dozen automobiles Of his own
: From tie moment or his birth vinson was TAI
nous as the most carefully guarded baby on earth
4 small army of guards detectives and attendants
and corps Of doctors and nurses watched over
him "a hours In the day. When he was an infant
he took his airngs In baby buggy which was a
vertable steel cage locked by special padlocks
This was one of the precautions against kidnapers
Then came a moment when the vigilance Of his
attendants was relaxed, Slipping away. the boy
started across the street A ''fyver" bearing q
West Virginia license and containing three women
came along and ran him down in front Of his
homel
1t was In 1868 that Jean Baptiste Tavernier,
French traveller, appeared in Paris with diamond
of marvellous size and coloring. Some said 1t had
been stolen from Its place among the ornaments
of Hindu IDOL More insisted 1t had been taken
from the palace of the Grand Moguls of Delhi
Wherever 1t came from, the story places 1t I'M
mediately afterward in the possession of Louis
XIV, who placed 1t among the crown jewels OF
France and permitted 1t to be worn by Nine de
Montespan.
Thus the diamond is launched upon a career Of
I'LL fortune and disaster and tragedy.
It was not long SO runs the story after Traver-
nier sold it to Louis XIV for 2,50OO0O francs and
a barony, that Travernier was torn to pieces by
wild dogs while he was on hunting expedition
Nine de Montespan's fall is part of history.
She was supplanted soon by Nine. de Maintenon.
At this time the diamond weighed 671s karats.
The story says that In the rough 1t was Of 112
karats, and that the king sent 1t to.a Amsterdam
jeweler to be cut and polished.
Along with other court Jewels the diamond de-
Gcended upon the death Of Louis XIV to Louis XIV.
Tradition permits several of his favorites to have
worn It, and so the lives Of all OF these are sup
posed to have ended In tragedy, failure worse.
Louis XVI came into possession Of the stone In
course Of time, and through him Il went to Marie
Antoinette, who 1t, extending the same privi-
lege to her friend Princess de Lamballe Genuine
history records that Marie Anteinette died on the
guillotine and that the princess torn to pieces
by French mob and her head carried about upon
o pike.
The stone was lost sight of about 1892. Then.
after a span Of 3s years the stone reappeared In
1890 In the meantime the story writer's again
reduced its size to Al karats Wherever the gem
yves In those years Of mystery, stories are numer-
Ous today that 1t still was performing Its mission
of blighting lives and fortunes.
One Of these accounts attributes to Daniel
Elason a jeweler of London, who got the stone In
1880, story that after 1t was supposedly stolen
from the royal treasures of France by Paris
mob the gem was sold to an Amsterdam jeweler
William Falls, who recut the stone to It's present
dimensions. The story goes that Hendrix, son
of William Falls, stole the jewel from his parent.
who died ruined man. Then this record dis
poses OF Hendrix by suicide, after which the
stone got into possession of one Francis Beau
lieu, to whom the story ascribes death by star
walton. II was this man who sold the stone to
Eiason
From GLEASON it passed into the ownership Of
Henry T. Hope, banker Of London. and nc
quired the name under which 1t now is known.
The price Is stated to be $65000. 1t Is not clear
that Hope suffered greatly through his possession
OF the diamond nevertheless stories are TO be