Omaha daily bee., 1921-08-14
Crown Jewels Once Carried Through Paris Streets
In Valse Now Safe in Trick" Showcase at Louvre
Gems Valued at Millions,
and Unbuyable at Any
Price, Descend Into
Masonry Of Build
ing at Night.
: By STERLING HELLO.

Paris, Aug. ia man carried
the crown jewels of France in a
shabby valise, through the streets OF
Paris. ...
There was not vehicle to be had.
All the taxis and auto busses were
rushing soldiers to the battle of the
Marine.
The enemy was laundering down
upon the capital.
The crown jewels must be taken
out of Paris.
The shabby valise stopped at a
modest fiat. The director of national
museums handed it to the sub-sec-
rotary of state for beaux arts, and
took a receipt. Three days the
shabby valise stayed i'll the modest
fat-until the beaux arts man could
get a train for X-(The railroads
were packed with arriving troops
and fleeing Parisians.) I
At X-the beaux arts man took
receipt from All obscure country
bank. Its problematically burglar
proof vault sheltered the crown
Jewels perfectly, throughout the en-
tire war-because nobody had an
idea that they were there!
Stayed in Bank.
Throughout the war, they remained
there, in the shabby valise-the most
precious Jewels in the world by their
associations!
The Regents diamond-greatest
of jewels!
The value of the worlds great
stones does not depend on their size
and purity alone, but on their history
and adventures, and the personages
who wore them, loved them, lost
them, or committed crimes to win
them
The Regents diamond, neverthe-
less, ranks also finest and most per-
feet in Europe, as a stone. 1t weighs
1877 carats and its only superior in
mere size-the Orloff, l94 carats-
belonged to the Russian crown; and
who knows where it now is? Third,
used to rank the Florentine, l35
carats, in the Austrian crown jewels
and who knows where it is? The
Kof-i-noor, of the British crown,
weighs only 1906 carats. But think OF
its name and story, and the name
and story of each of them!
Rests in Trick Box.
Now. in trick box of the Louvre,
lii lies on pale mauve satin, the
Regents diamond, often called the
Pitt, because it came to Europe IN
the pocket of Pitt, the English
statesman. While governor OF
Madras (and having a pocket, ne
obtained it at Golconda, he claimed,
from one Jamelchund, Hindoo
merchant, for 100000. These de-
tails, Pitt gave out in pamphlet, to
mitigate the odium of other stores
of the acquisition, summed up IN
Pope's lines of the "Man Of Ross.
Asleep and naked .tc;. Is the ne. 1sm nrss
Pitt sold it dirt cheap to the
money-burning French Regent tor
$6so.ooo.
who owns a Kingdoms crown
jewels?
The king, you say, Of course; but
they're not his to burn. King LOUIS
XIV let Madame de Pompadour play
that Regents gem was really hers;
and Marie Antoinette, being queen,
knew that the glorious piece OF ICE
was hers to wear; but both put 1t
back honestly, each time, in the
crown Jewels freproof safe-as safest
there. One day, however, LOUIS
XVI took a paltry $l75,oOO worth OF
small diamonds and rubies from the
crown junk, to pay certain debt OF
Marie Antoinette-and it started the
French revolution!
Called It Stealing.
The national assembly called It
stealing and ordered all crown Jewels
to be taken from the palace tire
nroof vault and deposited in the ma
tional strong room-just pretext to .
insult the king, and to try their
power. A.,
In the national strong room, the