£60,000 Pearls Lost in Post by Jewel Firm

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 388, 23 June 1928, Page 10

£60,000 Pearls Lost in Post by Jewel Firm

Traced by Detectives After Long Search POSTAL CLERK'S THEFT How two French detectives, working in conjunction with Scotland Yard, traced the whereabouts of a £60,000 pearl necklace, which hod disappeared in the post, has been revealed in despatches from Paris, says the “Daily Chronicle.” Toward the end of February a wealthy Englishwoman entered into negotiations with a London branch of a famous Paris jeweller, M. Cartier, regarding the purchase of a magnificent, pearl necklace, composed of 57 pearls, perfectly graded, valuea at £60,000. The woman, who paid a deposit, was allowed to take the necklace, but. on arriving in Paris she decided that it was rather too expensive. Accordingly, she took it to the Paris branch in the Rue de la Paix of the Cartier firm, and asked that it should be returned to London. On February 23 Messrs. Cartier dispatched it to their London branch. The packet was registered. The ticket gummed on to it was numbered 264. Detectives’ Work At the same time, the London house was advised of its coming. Several days later the London branch (not having received the package) became alarmed, and informed Paris that the necklace was missing. M. Charpentier and M. Bonny, two well-known Paris detectives, were put in charge of the case, while Scotland Yard began inquiries. A reward of 1,250,000 francs (£10,000) was offered, but without result. In the meantime the French detectives established the fact that a registered packet, number “264,” had gone, via Newhaven and Dieppe, to England, and had been delivered in London. M. Charpentier went to London and found the person who had received the packet. Its recipient was an English Army officer living in Regent Street, but he was able to satisfy M. Charpentier that the packet he received contained merely some printed matter. On returning to Paris, M. Charpentier verified this information. The packet which the English officer received had not been registered on its dispatch from Paris. The label which had been put on it. therefore, was that of some other postal packet. Investigations were continued, and, finally suspicion fell on an employee at one of the post offices in the centre of Paris. This employee was Emile Felix Marie Seberac, aged 32. At first he denied all knowledge of the matter, but after he had been questioned for six hours he burst into tears and admitted his guilt. CONFESSION “When I was handling postal packages on February 23,” he said, "I found that package No. 264 had been damaged. I saw that it had been dispatched by a famous Paris jeweller to his London branch, and I presumed that it contained something valuable. “I took off the ticket with the registered number and stuck it on to another packet. I put the first packet in my pocket. “Two days later I learned from the newspapers that the necklace it contained was worth £60,000. “I did not know what to do with it. So I went to a priest and confessed. “When I handed the neck|tce to him he returned it to me. “Then I hid it. “Later I will tell you where I put it.” The sequel to the story came when M. Charpentier paid a visit to Toulouse, and called at the house of Seberac’s aged mother. When he had been admitted he handed to Mme. Seberac the following letter from her sou: “My dear little Mother, —One of my friends, M. Charpentier, will call on you on Sunday. Please give him the old black coat I sent to you on March 2. There is a necklace in the lining. In case you found it while repairing the coat, I should be pleased if you could give it to him. I send you, my dear little mother, my best love.” M. Charpentier says the old lady at once handed the coat to him; but when she heard he was a detective she exclaimed, “My poor son! He must be mad,” and fainted away. It is said that Seberac recently asked his mother, who keeps a farm, to send him 20,000 francs. He lost that money and another 100',000 francs in speculation. When arrested Seberac cried, “Why send me to prison? I am not guilty, as I have not sold the necklace!” “Perhaps,” said one detective, “he was going to claim the £IO,OOO reward.”