The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-07-18


years old, the 5000 100000 baby"
killed by a casual automobile
IN in front OF Friendship, the Mclean
WV \ Washington home, the sxpersti-
~ tious people OF the country shook
! their heads with "T-told-you-so"
air and invariably they were heard
to exclaim: 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 gen. Suffice it to say that the Hope
diamond is a sapphreblue stone Of AK karats;
that 1t made its appearance in France In 1898;
that 1t Is believed by the supersttious 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 gem. far as the
world knows
The 5000 100000 baby" was tho son Of Mr.. and
Mrs. Edward Beal Mclean. He was expected to
inherit vast fortune from his grandfathers
John X. 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, a 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
lea. He had private car, which carried him to
Wherever q
CO. he had half dozen automobiles of his own.
From the moment of his birth Vinson was fa-
nous as the most carefully guarded baby on earth
A small army OF guards, detectives and attendants
and corps OF doctors and nurses watched over
him "a hours in the day. When he an infant
he took his airings in baby buggy which was n
veritabe 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 oliver bearing
West Virginia license and containing three women
came along and him down in front Of his
home
1t in 1868 that Jean Baptiste Tavernier,
French traveller appeared In Paris with diamond
of marvellous size and colorng. 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 Mogus of Delhi.
Wherever 1t came from, the story places 1t i'm
medately 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, so runs the story, after Traver-
nier sold 1t TO Louis XIV for 100000 francs and
| 4 barony, that Travernier was torn to pieces by
wild dogs while he was hunting expedition.
Nine. de Montespan's fall is part Of history.
At this time the diamond weighed 67H karats.
The story says that In the rough 1t was 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 favories 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 wore 1t, extending the prvi-
lege to her friend, Princess de Lamballe Genuine
history records that Marie Antoinette died on the
guillotne and that the princess torn to pieces
| by French mob and her head carried about upon
pike.
The stone was lost sight Of about 1892. Then
hitter a span of 38 years the stone reappeared in
$780, 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 numer-
Gus today that it still performing its mission
of blightng lives and fortunes.
One Of these accounts attributes to Daniel
| Eason, jeweler of London who got the stone in
$780, story that after 1t supposedly stolen
from the royal treasures of France by a Paris
mob the gem sold to 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
| vation Ii was this who sold the stone to
Eason.
From GLEASON 1t passed into the ownership of
Henry T. Hope, q banker of London. and &C
CURED the name under which ii now is known
The price is stated to be $4,000. 1t is not clear
that Hope suffered greatly through his possession
OF the diamond; nevertheless stories TO be