The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1919-07-17

II
+, air and invariably they were heard
to exclam: THE '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 it TO say that the Hope
diamond is a sapphreblue stone of 4414 karats;
that 1t made its appearance in France in 1868;
that ii Is believed by the superstitlous have the
evil 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 as the
world knows.
The "$200,0OO.OO0 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 +. Walsh millionaire mine
operator of Colorado. He slept in a 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
five nurses in five of the finest mansions in Amer
lea. He had private car, which carried him to
Palm Beach. to California or wherever he was to
go. He had. a half dozen automobiles of his own
From the moment of his birth vnson was ia
nous as 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 an infant
he took his airings in a baby buggy which was n
vertable 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 away, the boy
started across the street A "hivver" bearing a
West Virginia license and containing three women
came along and ran him down i'm front of his
home!
1t in 1868 that Jean Baptiste Tavernier.
French traveller. appeared in Paris with a diamond
of marvellous size and cOloring. Some said ii had
been stolen from its place among the ornaments
of a Hindu idol More insisted 1t lad been taken
from the palace of the Grand Moguls 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 it to be worn by Nine. de
Montespan
Thus the diamond is launched upon a career Of
Ill fortune and disaster and tragedy
1t was not long, runs the story after Traver-
ner sold it to Louis XIV for 100000 francs and
a barony, that Travernier torn to pieces by
wild dogs while he hunting expedition.
Nine. de Montespan's fall Is part of history
She supplanted by Nine. de Maintenon
, At this time the diamond weighed 67h karats
The story says that In the rough 1t of 112
karats. and that the king sent it 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 favorites to have
worn IL, and so the lives of all of these 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 it, extending the same prvi-
Iege to her friend, Princess de Lamballe. Genuine
history records that Marie Antoinette died on the
guotine, and that the princess was torn to pieces
by 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
1880. In the meantime the story writer's again
reduced its size to "A karats. Wherever the gem
was IN those years Of mystery. stories numer-
Gus today that II still was performing its mission
of blghting lives and fortunes.
One of these accounts attributes to Daniel
Eliason a jeweler of London, who got the stone In
1890 story that after II supposedly stolen
from the royal treasures Of France by Paris
mob the gem sold to an Amsterdam jeweler
William Falls. who recut the stone to It's present
dimensions The story goes that Hendrix a son
of William Falls. stole the jewel from his parent
who died ruined Then this record dis
poses of Hendrix by suicide. after which the
lieu. to whom the story ascrbes a death by star
walton. 1t was this man who sold the stone to
EIiasou
From GLEASON IL passed into the ownership of
Henry r. Hope. banker of London, and ac-
quired the name under which II now is known.
The price Is stated to be $4,000. II is not clear
that Hone suffered greatly through his possession
OF the diamond: nevertheless stories are to be