The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1919-07-18

! their heads with an "I-tOd-you-so'
air and 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 a sapphire-blue stone of 44A karats:
that it made its appearance in France in 1868;
that it is believed by the superstiOus 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. Rnd that the parents of the dead boy are
the present owners of the gem. so far the
world knows
The "$2000O0,0O0 baby" was the son of Mr.. and
Mrs. Edward Beal Mclean He was expected to
inherit q vast fortune from his grandfathers
John r. Mclean. the owner of several newspa-
pers and Thomas f. Walsh, 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
i've nurses in five of the finest mansions in Amer
ica He had private car which carried him to
Palm Beach, to California, or wherever he was to
go. He had half dozen automobiles of his own.
From the moment of his birth Vinson was ia
nous the most carefully guarded baby on earth.
small army of guards, detectives and attendants
and corps of doctors and nurses watched over,
him "a hours in the day. When he was infant
he took his airings In baby buggy which
veritable steel cage locked by special padloeks.
This was one of the precautions against kidnapers.
Then came moment when the vigilance of his
attendants was relaxed Slipping away the boy
started across the street. "fiyver" bearing
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 it had
been stolen from its place among the ornaments
of Hindu idol. More insisted 1t had been taken
from the palace of the Grand Mogus of Delhi.
Wherever it came from, the story places it 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
Montesnan
Thus the diamond is launched upon career of
i'll fortune and disaster and tragedy.
1t was not long, so runs the story, after Traver-
nier sold 1t to Louis XIV for 100000 francs and
a barony. thht Travernier was torn to pieces by
wild dogs while he was on a hunting expedition.
Nine. de Montespan's fan Is part of history.
She was suppIanted soon by Nine. de Maintenon.
At this time the diamond weighed 67h karats.
The story says that la the rough 1t was of liz
karats and that the king sent 1t to an Amsterdam
jeweler to be cut and polished.
Along with other court jewels the diamond de-
scended upon the death Of Louis XIV to Louis XIV.
Tradition permits several of his fayorites to have
worn It, and so the lives of all Of these are sup
posed to have ended in tragedy, failure or worse.
Louis XVI came into possession of the stone in
course Of time and through him 1t went to Marie
Antonette. who wore 1t, extending the same privi-
iege to her friend, Princesssde Lamballe. Genuine
history records that Marie Antoinette died on the
guillotine and that the princess torn to pieces
by French mob and her head carried about upon
q pike.
The stone was lost sight of about 1892. Then,
after a span Of 3S years the stone reappeared In
1880. In the meantime the story writer's again
reduced it's size to A karats. Wherever the gem
was In those years Of mystery, stories are numer-
Gus today that 1t still was performing its mission
Of bIighting lives and fortunes
One Of these accounts attributes to Daniel
Eliason, 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 its 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
Eliason.
From GLEASON 1t passed into the ownership of
Henry 4. Hope, banker Of London, and ac-
ouIfed the name under which 1t now is known.
me price Is SEATED to be s65.0Co 1t is not clear
Hal Hope suffered greatly through his possession
81 tie diamonds nevertheless stories are to be