THE DIAMOND-RUNNERS OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 11808, 18 December 1912, Page 2

THE DIAMOND-RUNNERS OF SOUTH AFRICA.

HOW THE ENORMOUS ILLICIT TRAFFIC WAS CARRIED ON.

Most people have heard of the. dia-mond-runners of South Africa, but comparatively few are familiar with the daring and ingenious methods employed by theso astufe individuals in carrying oil the enormous illicit trade which, existed (and still exists to a certain extent) in every mining camp in the country.

It. is common knowledge that tils' nucleus of many a handsome fortune acquired in South Africa was obtained by illicit diamond digging in Griqualand West until the institution of the compound system the stealing of diamonds by employees, white and black, was a standing menace to the diamond 1 industry. The conditions were such as to render theft jo easy that the marvel is there should not be more of it. AH the claim-owners were well aware that the Kaffirs were selling as many diamonds as themselves to the low-class alien resetters , who swarmed round Kimberley, but. until the system of enclosing the employees in compounds and' searching them before they, got outside was established,.-. little could be done to prevent this serious leakage.

—Rough, but Honest. 1 — Curiously enough, the earliest dia-mond-diggers, albeit a rough crew, were strictly honest. Indeed, a mining camp in the early "seventies" was just one huge, good-natured brotherhood. No one thought of knavery, whilst any miner striking a particularly good gem immediately signalled his luck to his fellow-toilers by firing his gun, when a general rush would be made to his claim for the purpose of examining the find. In this way the precious gem, worth, perhaps, many hundreds of pounds, would pass from hand to hand, until it was completely, lost to view amid the crowd of diggers. Nevertheless, the brief request, "Fork over "the stone," would immediately' bring' it back to the rightful owner, and everyone would troop back to work, with barely one covetous glance amongst the whole crowd.

Until the banks «stablished branches in the camps and threw open the use of their safes to their customers, the miner slept in his little canvas tent with his hard-earned stones stowed under his mattress or pillow. Sleep in those hard-working days was. sound, and many a poor fellow woke at daybreak to find his little hoard vanished', and'only the gash in the deftly slit canvas to show him how the thief had worked his wicked will.

—Some Big Hauls.— The science of groping was brought to its highest pitch of perfection by an American named Marshall, who introduced a chloroform-saturated sponge at the end of a bamboo, in order to pacify the victim-elect. His scientific methods were rewarded with great success. Finally, however, he made the usual mistake of divulging too much to an accomplice. The accomplice "split," and Marshall "did time."

.One of the-biggest of the early diamond robberies occurred owing to the carelessness of the New Rush postmaster. This gentleman calmly left some . registered letters, containing £35,000 worth of diamonds, upon the table of his open office, whilst lie stepped into the Pig and Whistle for a drink. When fie returned he was surprised to find the diamonds had 1 vanished. Eventually a man named Hardywas arrested for the theft. His luggage was searched, the missing diamonds found carefully rammed into the barrels of three rifles, and he followed' Marshall into retirement.

In 1882 Cecil Rhodes got a Draconian law passed which mads not only the theft but the possession of uncut stolen diamonds a felony, liable to be punished! by a fine of £IOOO, or 15 years' imprisonment, or both. TJp till then Ejmberley was notorious for this illicit traffic. Tie Orange. River, only three miles away, formed the border between Cape Colony and the Orange River Colony. No extradition law between the Boer and British Governments existed • in those days, and once over the" border both diamonds and runner were' safe from molestation. Kaffir miners and Kaffir runners who carried packets of stolen 'stones out of tlie State exhausted every form of ingenuity m their practice. Most common among the methods used by the 1.D.8.—i.e., illicit diamond buyers was to employ a Kaffir who could speak English, furnish him with a little money, and set him to work on on© of the claims .where washing for diamonds was in progress.

—Buried in the Flesh. — Here, again, the Kaffirs were almost indispensable. They knew that it was useless to conceal illicit diamonds among "their clothing or othier belongings; they swallowed them, or made their horses swallow them; cut holes in themselves or their horses, and concealed the stones in the wound. One old native boasted more than 30 scars on his body, each of them at one time the hiding-place of a diamond. He, claimed to be one of tha first to practice this painful form of smuggling, and once got away with a stone which a tradition of the fields asserted was sold in London for £15,000. He arranged with another native a bogus quarrel, in the course of which he received an adroitly placed cut on the head with an assegai which lifted up a slice of_ the skin. Beneath this ho quickly slipped the stone, plastered the wound with wet clay, and a month later went to the 1.D.8., who bought most of _ his stones, and haggled for a big price, half of which was to be paid before 'he would submit to have the stone extracted. The most notorious character the diamond fields have produced, however, was Scotty Smith. His relationship to Scotland, however, was most remote, Scotty having a distinct touch of the tar brush.

Scotty's chief occupations were cattlelifting, highway robbeTies, gun-running, and illicit diamond-trading. His first feat was particularly simple and daring. Hearing that a large parcel of diamonds awaited the coach at a certain hotel, Scotty held up the manager in his office and obtained the diamonds. He was masked at the time, and was not suspected of the robbery. A week later he calmly handed them over to the authorities and obtained a reward. —Smart Dodges.-V-His greatest haul was made in a most original manner. As a diamond-runner he was cute and cunning beyond the cleverest, and he became so closely watched by the police eventually that, although he was in possession of a large number of large and valuable diamonds, scheme as he could he saw no chance of running them across the border. At last he put the diamonds in lumps of dough and forced them down his horse's throat. Although searched over and again, the police feeling even the hide of his horse and accompanying him to the border, again searching him, he, eventually arrived in the Free State, which was sanctuary. For the samo reason carrier pigeons wer c requisitioned to "fly through the air with the greatest of ease," laden with the brigands' booty. Other pets were pressed into the service of the diamond-runners, and gun and pistol barrels, hollow artificial teeth, hollowheele.l boots enclosing diamonds sealed dowi with wax were also expedients employed with decided and profitable success.

Even when clear of the mines the illicitly-bought diamond is seldom safe until it has crossed the Atlantic, passed the Customs authorities, and been recut. The dodges by which the experienced 1.D.8. has been known to cheat the Customs officers are legion. One will suffice. Many of the agents are women. One of these Ladies, on being requested to turn out her trunks, retaliated by handing her baby to the Customs officer, saying: "He will be quite good if you will onlv shake his rattle for him!"

The Customs man laughingly dad as he was requested; but, his suspicions being aroused by the evident blind, he took additional pains to have her trunks thoroughly searched. To his immense chagrin he found nothing, and mother, baby, trunks, and rattle presently left the Customs House with clean record. It was a bold move, but it succeeded. The diamonds were in the rattle.