DIAMOND SMUGGLERS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3381, 4 July 1927, Page 8

DIAMOND SMUGGLERS.

AT WORK IN AFRICA

The tremendous demand for diamonds, which is the joy and the hope of flic world’s diamond trade, is likewise proving a great stimulus to crooks,

in the Transvaal an epidemic of illicit diamond buying lias broken out. which refuses to yield to the stern measures long since adopted by the mineowners to stamp out. the practice. In spite of the vigilant watch kept upon the native workers, and the severe penalties meted out to those found guilty of buying stones from them, an increasing number of diamonds are being stolen and secretly carried out of the Cape Colony. This much is known But how do they get past the supposedly impassable barriers thrown around the diamond mine? Who buys them, and where do they go? —Big Demand. — i Certainly conditions have never been more tempting to the diamond thief and smuggler than they are to-day. for there is no question about their ability to dispose of their loot at alluring prices once they elude the watchful eye of the Government inspector. The value, of diamonds is high all over the world, and. with the great increase in wealth in the United States, the demand is incessant and vociferous.

Ever since the war Americans have been spending on an average of £B,000,000 a year for diamonds, which is nearly four times what they spent for such luxuries before the war. This amount covert simply the cost of the raw stones as they arrive in American ports, and docs not include such items as duties, sales tax, cost of cutting and setting the stones, and the by no means small profits of the dealers, which bring the total up to almost double the original price of the stones. These figures arc secured from the records of the legitimate diamond trade. Heaven knows how much people turn over yearly to diamond bootleggers! A jeweller estimates that it amounts to millions.

Diamond crystals arc srnall and easily secreted in inconspicuous hiding places, ami they can be transported with greater facility than almost any other form of loot—in the human “tummy” if necessary—which advantages explain why they continue to disappear at the great South African mines in the- face of deadly preventives. “A Kaffir caught selling raw diamonds in the streets of Kimberley,” a South African official seys, “risks being lynched. And any foreigner buying from him would get a bad manhandling if the diggers caught him, even if ho escaped being tarred and feathered.”

Most of the honest diggers, it seems, cherish a deep and lasting grudge against the illicit diamond buyer because it i« due to his enterprising activities that they are subjected to ignominious searches for stolen gems at the hands of the mine detective stall' as well as to many tedious and humiliating regulations designed to prevent the" I theft of diamonds. Kaffir miners are virtually prisoners on their mine, as the only entrance to their living quarters’ on most mines is through a narrow underground tunnel, which can ho entered only under the keen eyes of detectives. Walled in like gaol yards these quarters arc sur,sounded by high wire-netting to pro vent, thieves inside throwing stolon diamonds to outside accomplices. The black miners live in iron huts inside the Availed area, and are,not permitted to leave the mine until their three or six months’ contract has expired. A thorough search is then made of their bust, clothing and personal belongings, and, if suspicion prompts it. a man is even put under X-rays. * —Precautions Accessary.—

Such precautions ivero established gradually after long and painful experience had proved it necessary. For in the early days of the operation of the,mines there Avas a veritable plague of illicit diamond buying, but to the case Avith which the stones could be filched and disposed of. The sharpest oversight could scarcely prevent nimblefingered workers from slyly secreting tiny crystals on their persons Avhilc picking over the concentrates on the sorting tables or in handling tire deposit in the rockers and puddling pans. Then, as long as they Avcre alloAA'od to roam about freely after their day's Avork Avas done, they had little difficulty in transferring the diamonds to the hands of sharpers, who Averc aKvavs on the alert to buy stolen stones for little money. As it Avas impossible to trace or identify a stolon diamond, oven after the thief had been caught and confess' 1 his guilt, great quantities of the gems Avore se’cretly bought on the outskirts of the mines, and carried to the coast toAvns for sale or stealthily shipped to European markets. It has been estimated that fully 50 per cent, of the diamonds taken from the diggings in the early days Averc stolen and sold in this Avay. - Behind Eyelids.— With the establishment of the now precautions and heavy penalties in the way of fine and imprisonment for 1.D.8.’5. the ingenuity of dishonest diggers has boon taken to the limit, in order to snatch a few diamonds. Stolen stones have been discovered behind eye lids, under finger nails, in ears and between toes and e\-en stuck Avith lumps of clay to resemble Avarts on the Kaffir chief's black face. There have been cases where a man lias taken the unusual risk of sAvalloAving a good-sized stone. Hence the use of the X-ray. All these methods bav ebocn tried and failed and the sulfering inventors punished. Yet others, oven more ingenious. have evidently been discovered, because flier eis a steady lloav. thin hut persistent, of stolen diamonds from the mines.

’Tavus ever thus. Throughout the ages diamonds have exercised upon men a curious enchantment, Avliich has caused them to risk all possible dangers and boar terrific hardships simply, to possess them. There is not one great diamond of remiAvn Avliich does not oavh a. sensational history. To win them temples have been profaned, palaces looted, fair ladies strangled, guests quietly murdered by their hosts, towns burned, battles fought and dynastiesall but obliterated.

Some gems are reputed to have inherent poAvers for good and "vil. There is the Mope diamond, for instance. A’.bieli is supposed to carry a tidv little curse all its own. Avhieb operates to the vast disadvantage of the person possessing it. Those avlio hold to the, baleful influence theory point to the disasters Avb.icli. have overtaken the owners of the Hope diamond. —■• The Regent Diamond.—-

Even liic Famous ,|{client diamond, which now rests in traiuniil dignity he Iliad u glass vase iu-the Apollo (Tillery, of tin; Pan’s l.nurre. lind a distinct!;, hectic infancy. ft was found hurled in tin,' hank of the Kisl.na Uiver in 1701, having appin ntly linen washed down from the great Indian mines, which yielded the Koh-i-noor and of In."diamonds of fame. The man who found it, tragically enough, was a slave, forhidden to own property. For him to keep the stone required desperate measures, hut meant freedom, ease and luxury in some peaceful, far-off conntry, Or so the poor devil thought Tims, lie cut hi.s leg deeply to pouch

the stone in his flesh, and wrapped the wound in a. deep bandage. Then, watching his chance, he ran away to the sea coast and fotind refuge on an English merchant ship. But the captain of the ship was a poor man, who had come to dislike the sea, and he, too, felt the lure of the diamond. To him it likewise meant freedom from a life he despised and a pleasant, easy retirement in an ivycovered cottage in England. When the vessel reached the open sea he took the stone and threw its owner overboard to drown. Soon afterward, it glittered brightly on the silk-covered counter of an Indian merchant, where it was seen by the Governor of Fort St George, Thomas Pitt, grandfather of the Earl of Chatham. He immediately bought it believing—not without foundation—that he had made his fortune in the purchase, ! So impressed was Thomas Pitt with the stone’s value that the guarding of it became an obsession with him. He would l not permit it to be out of his sight or touch day or night, though he was constantly tortured by the fear of being set upon by thieves and murdered. It is said that, as long as the disturbing gem remained in Ins possession, bo never slept under the same roof twice, but moved from room to room and from place to place, sometimes in disguise, andl at a few minutes’ notice, seeking thus to elude possible robbers. Fortunately for bis peace of mind, he finally sold the diamond for ,1:13d,000 to the Duke of Orleans, Regent of France during the minority of Louis XV.