THEFT OF £100,000 PEARL NECKLACE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VII, Issue 2143, 28 December 1920, Page 16 (Supplement)

THEFT OF £IOO,OOO PEARL NECKLACE.

CONFIDING HOSTESS BOBBED BY HER GUEST. The Paris police are endeavouring to trace a young man of charming manners who disappeared from the residence of Mile Elise Soubeyran, taking with him, his hostess asserts, two pearl necklaces value 2,500,000 francs (nominally £100,000). Mile. Soubeyran' made the young man's acquaintance at Vichy during the summer. He represented himself as Louis Maurel, and said he was the son of a wealthy manufacturer of Marseilles. Mile Soubeyran. found him a charming companion during her tour, but would have forgotten him on her return to Paris had he not written to her several times from Marseilles and other cities in the Midi. One letter informed her that Maurel was coming to Paris. On his arrival he told her that it was impossible for him to find a room in an hotel, whereupon she invited him to make himself at home in her mansion. The young southerner did so, and gave his hostess some hints about Marseilles cooking. Whilst she was in the kitchen supervising the cooking of a certain dish whieh he had recommended, Maurel went out for a walk, accompanied by Mile Soubeyran's pet dog. The dog returned alone an hour later, and in view of her guest's continued absence Mile Soubeyran became suspicious, and examined her jewel case. The two necklaces were missing. One of them, the gift of an American millionaire, was composed of 67 pearls with a diamond clasp. The other contained 63 large pearls, with a clasp of smaller stones.