MEMOIRS OF SCOTLAND YARD.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 58, 9 March 1935, Page 4 (Supplement)

MEMOIRS OF SCOTLAND YARD.

DE MEIER DIAMONDS MYSTERY.

SOLUTION OF BURGLARY TAKES NINE YEARS — £80,000 HAUL ULTIMATELY RECOVERED — SEARCH THROUGHOUT BRITAIN YIELDS RESULTS — SENSATIONAL DISCOVERY IN PARIS — SECRETS OF A FORGOTTEN OLD BICYCLE — RICH REWARD FOR DETECTIVE.

(By CECIL BISHOP, Ex-C.I.D.—AII Rights Reserved.)

When, one morning in 1013, DetectiveInspector Lewia told me to take charge of a case which has come to be known aa "The De Meier Diamonds Mystery," I little guessed that I was starting on the biggest case, outside murder, of my career, and that I should not see the end o£ it until 1921, nine years later. The facte us told me by Detective-Inspector Lewis were simple and few. It appeared that the •wife of Senor da Meier, an immensely •wealthy gentleman, living in Paris, had returned home one night from the theatre to find her jewel cases open and some '£80,000 worth of diamonds and pearls missing. The police were telephoned and on their arrival they found that Senor de Meier's valet, a man named Ruebenthal, •was also missing. Putting two and two together they' immediately instituted a search for him, and not many hours later found him at a. small Montmartre cafe. He was dead drunl:, but when he came round in the police station acknowledged being concerned in the theft. He said that he had worked with tw-o other men. ■who had driven up in a taxi and they had gone to the cafe to discuss the best method of disposing of the loot. He added that his two friends had made him drunk, and then gone off. He did not hesitate to give their names, Outh and Schmidt, adding that he believed they had gone to London. That was how Scotland Yard became concerned in the crime. I knew my isoho ■well in those days. It was full t>l Germans, but I had good friends m the cafes and did not hesitate to search lor the missing men. Whether 1 should also find the jewellery which from Senor de Meir's point of view was of hardly less importance was another matter.

This done, I then determined to play the detective's trump card—a visit to the woman in the caee. Mrs. Porter opened the door. "Where is Mr. Porter?" I asked. "He is out," she replied. "No he's not," I replied quietly, he s in, and likely to remain for some time. "What do you mean?" she stammered. "Hans Porter is in Bow Street." Mrs. Porter fainted, and it was some lime before we could bring her round. '"The pig, the fool," she screamed as ehe came to, evidently referring to her husband. "Ho was going to take her to Germany. He thought I did not know. "Hans has talked." I added, and then made a shot in the dark. "The stuff isn't here is it? It's across the water." "Yes, that's right," she replied vaguely, jealousy written over her face. "1 d better show you."

Some Jewellery Recovered. She took us to the house in th-5 Waterloo Road, across the river, aiid_ \ve were greeted by a relation of Hans, ihe man refused to say anything and showed fight, so we started to search the house. In the wardrobe I found a leather case containing a quantity of jewellery, which I immediately recognised as stolen. But although I searched the rest of the house, even prodding the padded backs of the chairs, I found nothing else. There was still missing a diamond necklace valued at about £30,000, a beautiful pearl necklace, and many other articles. Nothing more could be done before Porter and Steine were brought up and remanded. Looking round the crowded court I saw the German girl whom Porter had visited—Hedwig Schubert. I spoke to her as she was leaving the court. "You may be wanted as a third person for receiving part of the jewellery." She

A Would-be Informer.

I first gearched a German club, and fcure enbugii I met a man named Porter, who whispered that he knew a thing or two about the movements of> the two wanted men. He meant, in fa*, to turn informer. There was nothing surprising in this, but what was more surprising was that Porter was gambling at the cluo Very 'freely and for high stakes. He was a. tailor by trade, aud tailors before the did not earn sufficient t« bet in pound and five pound stakes He was ilso extremely well dressed, but that I put down to his trade It is always important that the police fchould know how much faith they can put in "information received." I knew very little about Porter; but he Bounded as it he might be a useful informer, and accordingly I had him put under special observation, which meant in effect that he was Shadowed day and night. A week s special observation, I thought, would show me whether he was a man to be trusted. The two detectives detailed for this epecial observation, Millmaker and Gray, Boon found a good deal to interest me. They learned that, although Porter wab married, he had a "sweetheart, and they also named Steine, with whom lie conducted ■ some ■ very suspicious transactions. I felt that we were on the right tracS and determined to see Porter again. But 1 knew he would do nothing it he guessed that I was watching, so I paid a visit to my old friend Gustay, of Long Acre, ,and ■was thoroughly disguised. ' I took a tube to the German club and Porter stood within a couple ot feet witliout giving any signs of recognition, so 1 guessed I was all right. Presently he sat Sown to gamble. He lost steadily. He was a born gambler but an unlucky one. Millmaker told me that he had lost £100 ©n the previous night, but this night lie was about square. However, as he etretched out his hands I noticed that on the third finger of his left hand was a diamond solitaire worth probably ribont £100—and very like one of the missing articles. Further, I noticed that he was ■wearing a tie pin of unusual design—a lyre set with diamonds—and ■ a similar article had been amongst the stolen jewellery Hans Porter, I realised, was not a "copper's nark" but a "double crasser I was full of spirits as I followed him out of the club at 11 P.m. to the flat of Hedw.g Schubert, to whom he was paying great attention.

Two Arrests Made. Mennwbilc, Millmaker and Gray had kept Porter under observation and discovered that he was going to meet bteine, a receiver in Appenrodt's. near Tottenham Court Road, at five o'clock. The appointment had been made in German, but they both understood the language. I decided that the time had come to act nud determined to arrest Porter and Slcine. Ihe possession of the stolen articles was suihcient. and I did not doubt that more could come out iu due course. I rang Fraser again and asked him to meet me shortly before five, if lie wanted to be in fit the death." He agreed and said that he would brill!.' his son. . As we wanted to know what transpired between Porter and Steine at the interview without arousing their suspicions wo asked Millmnker's fiancee to have tea-.at the restaurant and keep the men under observation. . She came out and crossed the road to us, and told us that the two men had been discussing jewellery and examining the specimens. -At a quarter to six the two men came and we follower! them quietly, until they shook hands and said good-bve. 'when I went up to them and said. "I am going to arrest you an r charge of fltwiliun fW'l receiving af)fuiitity of jewellery." Both men protested their innocence, but I started to take them towards Bow Street, which was very near.

started, and then exclaimed, "I had notning to do with it." I let her go, but followed her to the house where she was employed as a maid, and asked to sec her mistress. I told her the facts as tar as I knew them, and explained my susj picion. The mistress was for "sacking" the girl there and then, but I asked her to wait until J. knew something more definite. Js'ot only had I not 6umcient evidence to convict the girl, but also J had hopes of trackiug eome of the jewellery.

I returned later with Millmaker, and found the girl very upeet by our attentions. "I aeeure you I have nothing," she protested.

"Thank you," I replied, "but I should like to assure myself."

"No. You must not come into my room," she gasped. "Well, I will admit that Hans gave me this," and she held out a large diamond. "Tβ that all he gave you 1" I challenged. "Yee," ehe nodded defiantly. "Then you will not mind our searching your room?" "You cannot do that. Look, he also gave me this," and ' she produced a diamond ring. So we played cat and mouse and in a few moments-a pair of diamond ear-rings were forthcoming.

Search of Woman's Room. Just at this point the girl's mistress came into the room. Schubert started her pleading over again, but when ehe saw that I was determined, was not so polite. I gave the official caution and started on the search. The expression on Schuberts face told me that I was not far from the "thimble" when I startled her on going to the mantelpiece of the kitchen. There were some of those fancy tea canisters on the mantelpiece, and I opened them. Not diamonds, but breadcrumbs, greeted my eyes. I tipped up the canisters, and a ring rolled out, then another; altogether 1 counted up about £500 worth of jewellery. We took her to Bow Street, and she was remanded. Then I started trying to trace the jewellery through the pawnbrokers. They had, of course, acted quite honestly, not knowing that the jewellery was stolen. I brought back many thousand pounds' worth of rings, pendants and ear-rings, but still I had only a fraction of the haul.

It looked as if I might very -well spend the rest of my life in looking for the De Meier diamonds—and pearls. One day I was called on the telephone and to my surprise learned that Schubert's mistress was at the other end. "I have been packing the girl's things," she said. "Of course she will never come back here. I found some papers sticking out of a tear in her corsets. Would you like to see them?" I slammed down the receiver and went to Maida Vale as fast as the tube would carry me.

Jewels Scattered Over Britain. I was not disappointed. The. papers which had been so carefully concealed consisted of a note from Hans and some memoranda giving a number of addresses, many of winch were in the provinces. T went back to the Yard to obtain permission to visit the addresses, and found that Senor do Meier had arrived from Pans and that photographs of the stolen jewellery were being enlarged. Armed with these photographs, I travelled up to Glasgow, where I recovered a considerable amount of the jewellery, and to various other towns. To give details would be wearisome, Anonymous letters, ''tips" given me in bars, gossip talked over bad; garden walls', , all helped me in my search. Bv the time F got back to London the accounts n't Scotland Yard were beginning to balance, and Porter and Steine were up for trial. Porter got 18 months, but Sterne was wanted by the German police i'or a

serious offence, so ho was deported. The girl Hedwig was acquitted on the grounds that she had been coerced.

But the puzzling aspect of the case was "Where were the pearls?" They were probably the most valuable single article in the collection, worth £30,000, perfectly matched and all beautiful specimens. More than once my mind turned over the problem. I had not found the pearls in any pawnbroker's, and eventually 1 came tothe conclusion that they had not been pawned. Such a valuable article would have attracted too much attention. Thinking over the case, I came to the conclusion that perhaps Ruebenthal was not so guiltless as hu pretended. During one of my leaves in Paris 1 found a little more out about this man. He had been released to servo in the army also, and had been "killed." The only other details that I could discover about the theft were that he had apparently gone straight to the cafe with his confederates and that at the cafe he had had a bicycle on which he intended to cycle to the coast. The police had found him drunk and drugged before he could get away. Mystery of the Pearls.

There was no time for investigations then, but when in 1021 I again found myself in Paris on private business, I decided to take a look at the cafe in Montmartre. I quickly got into conversation with the proprietor. "Yes, he told mo, "he remembered the case, had taken over the cafe after that date." "Did you remember the bicycle? J asked. . "Yes. I believe there wits a bicycle among the many effects bought with the cafe. ... '•Where is the bicycle now.' He shrugged his shoulders non-commit-tally. He thought it might be in the cellar under some lumber. It was worthless, rusted and tyreless. "I should like to have that bicycle, 1 said, "just as a souvenir, if it is worth your time getting it out for 00 francs let me have it." "Ah, Monsieur," he gasped, there is coal on it. How could you take away such a bicycle?" "Never mind." I said firmly, you give mo that bicycle and I will give your gareon 00 francs for his trouble in digging it out. I will call round to-morrow."

A Rusty Old Bicycle. I enlisted the help of a man with a barrow and we wheeled the rusty old bicycle to the hotel. The cafe proprietor had not exaggerated its condition, and the concierge raised his eyebrows, and when I presented myself and asked him to take the old machine up to my room he thought that I had gone completely mad. Once T had locked the door I started work with almost feverish eagerness. The great moment had arrived when I was to test the theory I had formulated in hospital. I pulled oIT the rusty handle bars and inserted a long steel spike in the hollow steel. I was rewarded with a few pieces of mouldy brown paper. I jigged the spike about—and a pearl rolled out! Ouo after another I caught them as they fell. The complete necklace lay in my dressing room! Ruebenthal had not been completely fooled! He had intended keeping tho necklace ns his own little nest egg. Thus ended the Do Meier mystery. Almost every piece of jewellery was accounted for. I returned the pearls to their owner and received a handsome reward.