The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-16
BROUGHT TRAGEDIES IN
 MANY HOMES
Tale of Diamond Necklace Most Interesting Event In Crimes Against
 Human Society.

among gems, their value and the last to possess them has tangled the des- tinies of many a proud house and brought calamity to families. The theft from eyes and hearts of famous idols in Eastern sanctuaries has in variably been accompanied by disss- ter to the possessor of the gem, no matter how innocent, upon purchase, of the purloined stone. Let the read CT consult the celebrated novel, ''The Moonstone" by WilBie Collins. It is based on the non-understood but mysterious power within the soul of a jewel.
 On Oct 16. 17s3, Marie An tionette, Queen of France, was gull lotined in Paris. She was 3S years of age. In connection with the events that led to her tragic death that in some measure eXpiated the centuries of crimes against human society ot the Bourbons, no event Is more inter esting than the tale of the Diamond Necklace. We throw down on this blood-sm cared page of history a band of brilIiants, and we ask, 'How did these adorable jewels increase the growing unpopulartty of Marie-An- toinette, and lead directly to her con- denlnation. It was TaIIyrand who
 
 will upset a Throne!" The scandal of the Diamond Necklace that invoIv- ed the royal family of France and hastened the French Revolution, be- gan in the reign of Louis XV. and of his infamous mistress, Du Barry. A jeweler of Paris, one Boehmer, had gathered the diamonds from every quarter of the globe, and had fash toned an amazing thing for the neck of Du Barry. It was a collar of dia
 monds and pendants of diamonds, and festoons of diamonds-a cascade of rainbows. But Louis XV. died. Du Barry fell. No need now for the diamond marvel. The necklace re- matned in the strong box of the jew eler, a necklace worth $500,O00.
 In 1785, four years before the tragic death of Marie-Antoinette. Cardinal de Rohan was Grand-A1- mCner of France. The Queen never liked him. At Vienna he had said very un-pretty things about her, not quotabIe. When he assumed his honors in France, he was out of favor with the Court Now how to get into favor, quoth he? By what means Follow the intrigue lacing into intrigue. The expenditures of Marie-Antoinette had already become alarming to the national coffers,- expenditures for herself, her friends, 1 her wardrobe, her Petit Trianon in 1 the Park of Versailles where she built an entire hamlet, dug lake, intro 1 duced live stock, and played ''shep- 1 herdess'' with her friends, in gowns 1 that cost s50,000. So, when Boeh- l mer, the jeweler, with the Diamond l Necklace, threw himself at the 1 Queens feet and said he was ruined 1 if she would not purchase it, the 1 Queen said she could not afford it. 1 Now, the Grand-Almoner of France, ] Cardinal de Rohan, was an entirely i interruptions man, and he was dom 1 mated by a still more unscrupulous 1 spirit, Countess de Lamotte VaIois, a 1 combination of villiany, vanity, de- 1 termination and powers of Wheedling i Lynx-eyed, she bounced upon the af- i fair of the Diamond Necklace. 4 | thought occurs to Mrs. Lamotte; she l will win her way to the Queens ia 1 vor. She bids her Cardinal to write | wonderful letters of adoration anG l entreaty to the beautiful Queen-she 1 obtains letters to him from the 1 Queen, yielding letters, 200 of them 1 she arranges an interview with the i Queen, for the Grand-Almoner o. 1 France-at secluded spot and the mystery of mysteries within 1 this intriguante tale is that De Ro han actually DID reach the presence Of the Queen, and presented to he1 the Diamond Necklace for which h. l had promised to pay the jeweIer by installments, some of the larger | stones having been taken from the 1 necklace. And the notes from tht N +1 104 1 view were forgeries gotten up b. 1 Countess Lanctte who persuaded z woman of the stature of Marie-An toinette to fmpersonate the Queen or the dark night in the secluded spot 1 But there was the Condemning evi | dence: the Diamond Necklace WAS
 in the hands of the Queen! Lamot
 had made away with the large stones
 The Queen had the Cardinal arrested
 and thrown into the Bastile-her Eooc
 name must be swaziland Lamott
 was sentenced to be scourged ant
 branded on the shoulders; but tn,
 creature escaped, and fled to London
 with the large jewels in the Diamont 1 Necklace.
 All France was aroused. The D.a
 -Necklace-Process or Trial be
 gan and it dragged through min
 months. On the Queens head. gull
 ty or innocent fell the fury of a starv ing nation. "She HAS the Diamon, Necklace!' shrieked the Faubourg St
 Antoine, ''and how did she get it?
 Explanations. indignant denials iron
 the Court availed nothing. And
 another mystery within this sad
 sparkling chapter that directly has ,. tened the French Revolution-th Diamond Necklace itself disappeared i Unaccounted-for till this day, say
 that possibly it was broken up an
 the stones shipped to remote parts o the earth. But, by whom? D : Rohan had got into favor only to b arrested and thrown into prison. La motto was across the Channel. An, daily the wrath of the terrible se of human indictment foamed highe }, that was to engulf, on Oct. 16, 17S3 } the owner of the most tragic Neck ) lace in the world. the Diamond Neck 1 1F