Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-22

South are the only perfect red dia
monds on earth, "
"And they came over on the Dom
Pedro?" ! asked. becoming. interested.
"Pleasc don't interrupt exclaimed
the old man testify. "As | was say
ing. they made two diamonds out OF
this precious stone. One was placed in
the National Museum in Rio ,Tanciro
where ii has excited the wonder OF
visitors for moro than half cen
tury. The other passed from hand to
hand until it was finally sold to some
wealthy collector about three months
ago. Now. according to our confidcn
tial agent in Brazil it has come over
on the Dom Pedro
"The Dom Pedro dockcd yesterday
l said eagerly.
at did-there's no doubt about
that" replied the old man dryly,.
"And the diamond-did you find the
diamond"
1--WE did not, -" replied Barnes and the
collector in chorus.
In spite of my anxiety and the i'm
portance of the business I could scarcely
keep from laughing aloud, the two vet
erans of the service presented such a
lugubrious appearance.
"Might-might l inquire if par
ticular precautions were taken to 10
cate this valuable stoneE'
particular precautions were taken,
said the collector. ''and without re
suit. For details refer you to Hart
ley here"
Hartley. the chief inspector, fine
outstanding fellow. with clear, penetrat-
ing eyes. Joined in the conversation at
this point. ,
he began. "have we given the pas
sengers of any ship, such a thorough
search as we did those of the Dom
Pedro. 1t was a busy day, but in
spite of that / put half of my force
on this one boat. The passenger. list
was heavy, and to add to my perplexi-
ties the Spanish Ambassador and the
members of his staff We're on the Dom
Pedro. We had special instructions
from Washington to show him every
possible attention and courtesy, and in
order that nothing should go wrong |
gave his excellency my personal atten-
ton. His trunks were separated from
the general cargo, and as soon as !
had disposed of them | turned my
attention to the business of looking
after the Red Diamond"
"And with no success" chined in
the collector.
with no success" admitted the
chief inspector. But | want to assure
you that it was not the fault of my
men. We never went into such minute
details before. Every trunk and every
! bit Of baggage was examined in every
possible manner. We paid special
attention to the usual tricks of
smugglers. We looked for false bot
toms and we turned the contents of
trunks inside out. If you had heard
the protests and the profanity of the
passengers you would not have con-
sidered it perfunctory examination.
did you personally search any OF
the passengersf" asked Barnes.
Yes. but in a diplomatic and tact
full manner. We had a number of the
men humping carelessly into the pas
sengers in the expectation of feeling
anything that might seem bulky
But would the Red Diamond bt
bulky ! ventured to inquire.
Eyes, comparatively So" answered
Barnes. "You know it was in hanG
some gold setting, and when you con
slider the unusual size of the stone yol
will realize that it required something
out of the ordinary as a frame"
did you look into handbags ant
! things of that kind?" I asked
in every case. And after that w,
made minute search of all the cabins