The Elbert County tribune., 1919-07-18


!: !.
years old. the $500 900 baby"
was killed by casual automobile
IN In front OF Friendship. the Mclean
~V " \ Washington home. the superst-
~ tious people of the country shook
their heads with "I-told-you-so"
air and invariably they heard
to excaim: '1The 'evl-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 1t TO say that the Hope
diamond Is snpphreblue stone of Az karnts;
that II made Its appearance in France in I6Gs;
that Il is believed by the superstitous to have the
'ev1l eye. that Its published history which Is
probably largely imaginary. would seem to bear
out its evil influence the fortunes of its many
owners, and that the parents of the dead boy are
the present owners of the gem. so far us the
world knows
The s20oOO0OO0 baby" was the son of Mr. and
nrs EDWARD Beal Mclean. He was expected to
inherit vast fortune from his grnndfathers
John r. Mclean, the of several newspa-
pers, and Thomas f. Walsh, millionaire mine
operator OF Colorado. He slept In gold cradle
the gift of King Leopold of Belgium a partner
with Walsh In the famous Camp Bird gold mine
In the San Juan district of Colorado. He had
hve nurses in five of the finest mansions in Amer
lea He had private car, which carried him tn
Palm Beach, to California. wherever he was to
go. lie had half dozen automobiles of his own
From the moment of his birth, vnson was fa-
nous as the most carefully guarded baby on earth
small army Of guards detectives and attendants
and a corps of doctors and nurses watched over
MIN "A hours In the day When he was an infant
he took his airngs In baby buggy which was n
veritnbe steel cage locked by special padlocks
This was one of the precautions against kidnapers
Then came moment when the vigilance OF his
attendants was relaxed. Slipping 1way. the boy
started across the street. A "fivver" bearing a
West Virginia license and containing three women
cnme along and ran him down in front of his
home!
1t was in 1868 that Jean Baptste Tavernier
French traveller. appeared In Paris with diamond
OF marvellous size and coorng. 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 it 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 by Nine. de
Montespan.
Thus the diamond Is launched upon n career of
~ fortune and disaster and tragedy.
1t was not long, the story, after Traver-
nlcr sold 1t to Louis XIV for 2500.O0O francs and
barony. that Traverner torn to pieces by
wild dogs while he n hunting expedition.
Nine de Montespans fall is part of history.
She was suppanted soon by Nine. de Mantenon.
AT this time the diamond weighed 67h karats
The story says that In the rough it of 112
karnts, and that the king sent it Amsterdam
1eweler 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 favorites to have
it, and the lives of all of these are sup
posed to have ended in tragedy failure or worse
Louis NVI came into possession OF the stone in
course of time. and through him IL went to Marie
Antoinette, who wore 1t. extending the same privi-
Iege to her friend Princess de Lambae. Genuine
history records that Marie Antoinette died on the
gullotine. and that the princess to pieces
by a French mob and her head carried about upon
pike
The stone lost sight of about 1892 Then
after span of 3S years the stone reappeared In
1890 In the meantime the story writer's again
reduced Its size to "A karats. Wherever the gem
today that it stn performing its mission
of blighting lives and fortunes
One of these accounts attributes to Daniel
Eliason. jeweler of London. who got the stone In
1880. story that after 1t supposedly stolen
from the royal treasures of France by Paris
mob the gem sold to Amsterdam ieweler
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 a death by star
vation- 1t was this who sold the stone to
Elason
From EIIason 1t passed into the ownership OF
Henry +. Hope banker of London, and ac-
quired the name under which II is known.
The price is stated to be s850O0 1t is not clear
Of the diamond nevertheless stories to be