PEARLS OF PRICE IN PAWN

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14405, 25 June 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

PEARLS OF PRICE IN PAWN

;-. LADIES WAITED IN MOTOR-CAR, ': " EXTRADITED BELGIAN. A' well-dressed Belgian, of Bruges, Leon de Meulemcester. who had been brought from Hamburg on warrants, was committed for trial, at Marl borough-street, on a charge I of wrongfully obtaining, in London, jewels j worth £4000. . ' . He was accused of stealing in October last a pearl necklace worth £2000 from Messrs. Percy Edwards, Ltd., obtaining by false pretences a pearl'necklace' worth £850 from Messrs. Abraham Marx and (Company, stealing from the same firm a" diamond pendant worth £520, and obtaining by false pretences , a pearl pendant belonging . to Messrs. Marx, and priced at £400. Hi* is the son of a wealthy brewer of Bruges, and lie declined to make any statement in court, reserving his defence. In October he called on Messrs. Edwards with a Mrs. Middleton, of Park-street, who had been a customer of the firm for some time, and stated, said councel, that he wished to make a present to his fiancee, who was, he said, staying at Brighton at the time. Upon a communication from Mrs. Middleton, the firm decided to have nothing to do with selling him anything except on' cash "terms. ~ On a subsquent day, however, they let him take to Brighton, on approval, a necklace worth £2100. Mr. Frampton, who prosecuted, said Meulemeester called' with Mrs. Middleton upon Messrs. Marx and Co., and was allowed to takeaway other jewellery. • ivjfr.'- Marx added that • the-Visitor was handed a necklet on the condition that he was to return it in two hours or pay cash. When he called respecting the other articles two ladies waited outside the shop in a motor-car for him. . Eventually a pawnticket for the first necklace was handed to the prosecutors by Mrs. Middleton's solicitors, the ticket having been received by her from Calais. Meulemeester was traced to Berlin, whence he was extradited. ' Mr. Now&tead, manager! to Messrs. Vaughan, pawnbrokers, Strand, said the Belgian pledged a pearl necklace for £650 with them. Detective-Sercoant Smith, with Detec-tive-Sergeant Hill, received Meulemeester in custody on board the Hirondelle at Hamburg. To the warrants, Meulemeester replied: « r ■ ■ . ;

" All right. I shall make no statement until I have seen my solicitors. Charles Russell and Co. I shall then make a statement. and it will be interesting to everybody to know . who had the money. I cannot understand them saying. I said it was for mv. fiancee, as I; intended, s before I got the necklace, to pledge it." Later he added: 1 If Mrs. Middleton says I said "it was for my fiancee, : how is "it she told the pawnbrokers it ' was mv wife's jewellery ? She brought the jewellery ■to the Hyde Park Hotel, and we went straight to'the pawnshop. Sir. Middleton heard in* the morning that I was a bankrupt, and at two o'clock Mrs. Middleton went with me to the jeweller's. I shall say nothing more until I have 6een my solicitors, as you read in the 'paper® that detectives have a habit of saving what you said." It whs stated that-; Meulemeester was originally taken in charge on a warrant as long-ago as November in German