FIGHT FOR DIAMONDS

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 April 1925, Page 3

FIGHT FOR DIAMONDS

; ATTACK ON AGED DEALER. Diamonds worth £6OOO were the prize of a fierce struggle whicn toon place in a diamond merchant s pre-, inises in High Hblborn, London, m February. . Three men attempted to o rob Mr Alfred Schlugleit, ot Brussels, one of _ the best known diamond dealers in Europe, of a wallet winch contained f the precious stones. One of the gems, a beautifully cut African diamond, is valued at about .. £lOOO. Though he is over 68 years of age, ivl. Schlugleit put up a stout resistance and kept his diamonds. In their efforts to smother lyis cries for neip, his assailants daubed thick yellow

paste over Ins lace. ... Tlte fight came to an end’rivifh the arrival of Mr Fraissard, , a waten. manufacturer, who is one of the tenants of the building. Two of the men decamped; the third, a powerfully built man of six feet, of Jewish appearance, was seized by Mr Fraissard. . There was a fierce' struggle, but the man broke away. Mr Fraissard pursued him for 100 yards along crowded High Holborn to ''Chancery Lane, where he lost sight of him: The story of the attack was told by Mr Frederic Knight, secretary to Mr S. Pincus, diamond and pearl merchant, of High Holborn. “M. Schlugleit,” said Mr Knight,, “has been in business in Brussels as a diamond dealer for 50 years, and is known to every man in the trade. He has been travelling between Inis country and Belgium for 30 years,* and may carry anything up to £20,000 worth of diamonds. He is almost stone deaf, and does not' speak a word of: English. This afternoon he had an appointment with my firm for the purpose of selling to them an African stone, slightly pale straw 'ti colour, ‘apple round’. in shape, and weighing over 10 carats. “Beautifully cut, the stone is worth about £lOOO, and we have purchased it. This stone M. Schlugleit carried in a breast pocket, with others, the total value of all being about £6OOO. My theory is that he was followed by his assailants to our premises from Hatton Garden, where vhe had shown the contents of his wallet to some diamond dealers in a tea shop. It is quite likely that the thieves may have observed the dia-

monds there. “I was alone in my office on the third floor when M. Schlugleit staggered in, his face bruised and covered with a thick yellow paste, EhaT had been smeared over him to drown his cries, and one eye blackened. Oim hand still remained in his , breast pocket clutching firmly the walllet of diamonds that the thieves had been unable to wrench from him.” M. Schlugleit gave Mr Knigh't the following account of his adventure: “I was attacked on the second floor of .this building by three men who came up the staircase behind me. One of them held me while the others smeared my face with this yellow paste. They punched me in the face and in the eye, but I held qn to the wallet, which they tried to pull out of my pocket. If it had not been for Mr Fraissard I should have been more seriously hurt - and should have lost my diamonds.”