STORY OF A ROBBERY

Northern Advocate, 8 September 1913, Page 5

STORY OF A ROBBERY

THOSE NOW FAMOUS PEARLS. NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE THIEVES. PARIS, Sept. 7. The newspaper "Matin" referring to the arrest in London connected with the theft of the £ 150,000 pearl necklace, relates that Mr Price, representing the underwriters, was approached by two Frenchmen asking if he would give £10,000 reward if the necklace were restored. The Frenchmen said they knew where the jewels were but they were unable to purchase themselves. Mr Price found a jeweller willing to play the part of intermediary and instructed him to purchase the central pearl and the third on left which was unique and gave to him marked French bank notes. The disguised jeweller reached London and got into communication with a Frenchman, who took him on a strange trip to the slums, detectives shadowing the pair throughout. Finally the jeweller refused to go further, and arranged for the gang to meet him at his hotel with the necklace next day. The arrived singly with their hands on revolvers concealed in their pockets, and one of them produced the necklace with the sixty-one pearls intact. Only the diamond catch was missing. They asked £50,000, but the jeweller finally secured two of the pearls for £8000, promising £32,000 next day for the rest. One of the men arrested states that sugar was substituted for the pearl necklace while the parcel was journeying to London, with the complicity of the postal officials, who can be arrested.