Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1920-05-31
\. Y. DIAMOND QUEEN
HAD AMAZING CAREER
Capable of Earning Big Salary,
But Preferred the Excitement
of Criminal Career.

They'll neversget me aliver' is n com
mon boaAt when criminals talk OF their
exploits and of the hand on the shoulder
which each one momentarily expects to
feel.
But very few of them make good their
threat to commit suicide rather than sub
NIT to arrest. After all, there are worse
things than few years in the peniten-
tiary, and there is always the hope OF es-
cape or pardon.
Antoinette Pinck Peck was one OF. the
exceptions When Detective Tom Smythe,
from Headquarters, arrested her recently
in an office on the fourteenth floor of Is
Park Row, she pressed n small vial to her
lips and a few minutes later was dead.
She had taken cyanide of potassium, one
of the quickest and most deadly of poIsons.
Thus died Miss Amethyst, the dia-
mond queen" and with her death there
ended an amazing nine-year career OF
crime that had made her internationally
notorious II was not alone amazing be-
cause the police OF two continents had
sought her in vain for years, but there was
also the mystery of why this young wo-
man, previously beyond reproach, had
suddenly embarked upon a successful and
profitable career of crime.
monds, or love of man, that caused the
girl so suddenly to change the whole
character of her life? Examination of the
known facts Of her life indicate it was a
combination of the three.
The man in the case was Joseph
Brecher- lisenger, a Rumanlan. Ii was
in his office that the suicide was staged,
and when the body of his partner OF nearly
ten wears was placed on an ambulance
stretcher. covered with rubber sheet and
started for the morgue, he was taken to
the Tombs, and in court Magistrate
Marsh held him in 81 900 bail on a charge
of grand larceny Diamonds found in the
office safe of the man were impounded
Ten wears ago Miss Bonner, a stem
ographer, opened the office door OF klisen-
gers establishment near Maiden Lane.
The proprietor's real name was Brecher
and the sign on his door Indicated that his
business was buying and selling diamonds.
The woman then was apparently about
% wears old She was sallow complexioned
but there was an alluring flash in her
large black eyes The man. then about
40, engaged the applicant for work.
A few months later the threads OF their
lives were tangled together inextricably.
In addition to bonds of affection the two
were linked IN a scheme TO gain a quick
fortune from the jewel brokers of Maiden
Lane.
In 1913 Miss Bonner succeeded in
establishing large credit with the precious
stone dealers. Tutored by Klisenger, she
had become a connoisseur of diamonds.
She also became a remarkably good sales
woman. The merchants with whom she
dealt called her Miss Amethyst. Klisenger
conducted his business by obtaining stones
from Maiden Lane merchants to sell on
commission 1t was said Of him that he
closed many Of his sales by whispering TO
his customers that the stones he offered
them really had been stolen, so that he
could afford to part with them at bar
gain price.
Miss Bonner obtained her stones in
similar fashion, but her sales were made on
a better foundation than avarice. The
two occupied a handsomely furnished
suite of offices in the Marbridge Building,
at Sixth avenue and Thirty-fourth street.
The woman habitually appeared orna-
mented with diamonds easily worth
$40 OOO. The stones fascinated her.
Finally the pair became so highly thought
of IN the diamond market that they were
able to get stones without other security
than their credit
Then on q day when there were dia-
monds in their possession valued at $780,
600 they disappeared, but discovery did
not come until November, 1913, when
Francis f. Cocks, Of Maiden Lane, was
arrested for failing 70 account for SIS, 900
worth OF Jewels he had obtained on
memorandum from other dealers. He
pleaded that he had let them out on a
similar arrangement 10 the firm Of Kills.
enger & Bonner. Their offices were closed
and the man and woman had disappeared
Then began chase that led to Paris, to
Bucharest and other European capitals
In the mean time the grand jury indicted
the pair on the charge of grand larceny
and detectives recovered about $4,000
Of the jewels from pawnshops. Other
brokers who had suffered big losses
through faith in the pair, hesitated TO
complain TO the police lest their own credit
suffer because Of their gullibility
In March. 1914, detectives who had
been tracing the couple from place to
place in Europe cabled that they expected
to arrest them in Bucharest, bur their next
cablegram was an explanation Of how