The Covington leader. (Covington, Tenn.) 18??-current, 1922-06-22
CROOKS STUDY
SOCIETY NEWS
Keep Close Watch on Women
Tourists With Gems Travel
ing in Europe.
MILLIONS N JEWELS STOLEN
Paris-Riviera Express Favorite Loot
ing Ground for international Gangs
All Sorts Of Fakes Are
Proving Lucrative.

London.-For a short time after the
armistice most of the noted detectives
Of Europe believed that the war had
broken up the notorious gangs of in
ternational crooks who, through snug
Cling and robbery, had cleaned up
handsomely in the five years preceding
hostilities. They thought, also, that
passport obstacles would initiate
against the forming Of such rings. But
they are now convinced that the inter-
national crook survived even world
war.
Millions Of dollars worth Of dia-
monds and other precious stones are
said to have been stolen by members
of the different gangs in the last three
years Some Of the richest hauls
have been made on express trains be-
tween Paris and the Riviera and Italy.
The latest sensational exploit was the
rifing of forty or more mail bags on
an express out of Paris which was
said, enormously, to have carried sew
eral British diplomatic pouches The
foreign Office here denies that any
such mail was on the train.
Care of Official Mail.
The greatest care is always taken
In sending abroad official mails. Dur
Ing the war and since official mail
sacks have been carefully guarded by
cOuriers, who never leave the com
partment always first class and
sealed to ordinary passengers) in
which the official mail is carried
These particular mail sacks are por-
GUS, to let water in, so that they will
sink if the vessel on which they are
carried is wrecked or is raided by pi-
rates.
An American woman is said to have
helped a British courier throw several
sacks overheard when a certain liner
was captured by a German submarine
in Greek waters.
The record Of robberies on the IA
nous expresses out of Paris in the
last few years shows that most of them
were carried out to seize the jewels Of
wealthy women journeying to the
south of France.
The crooks or their stool pigeons
keep careful tabs on all reputedly
wealthy women travelling during the
Riviera season. They watch the so
ciety announcements in the daily
press to see when the reputed pos
SCISSORS of famous necklaces or dia-
monds are about to travel, and they
easily spot the sleeping compartments
of such persons. In careless moment
the dowager or the society queen is
Invested of her necklaces and
brooches. Several times lately on
French expresses they have been held
up at the point Of revolvers while
their jewels were taken.
Lucrative Fakes.
The "internationas" are also work.
ing fake lotteries and fake bookmak-
ing concerns.
Another lucrative pastime Of the in
tenational crook since the war has
been the disposlng Of so-called royal
jewels. If all the jewels reported to
have belonged to the Inflated Russian
royal family had really belonged to
them they would have had to carry
them about in suitcases. Nevertheless
a considerable amount of the treas
ures once possessed by Europe's de-
posed royal families and their hang
ers-0n have gone onto the market,
and the crooks have made big hauls in
them from one country to
another. The American authorities
some months ago that
crooks were signing on certain Ameri-
can mercantile ships as seamen to try
to smuggle diamonds into the United
States.
In pre-war days one fourishing
trade of the internationals was card
playing on Atlantic liners. Although
some of the big liners still display the
Beware of the Card Sharpers" warn
ings In their smOking-r0Oms, few big
coups by the crooks have been report
ed since the war. One reason is the
Of the American passport
which have kept at home
many European sharpers.