A HOODOO PEARL.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 384, 16 March 1937, Page 2

A HOODOO PEARL.

£12,000 with a Curse. London, February 2u. A £12,000 pearl just brought to London seems likely to add one more to the world’s list of “cursed” Jewels. Already it has broken a marriage and nearly caused two murders. The pearl is the size of a small Walnut. Here is the story tpld by Mr L. Kornitzer, the dealer who owns it. “The pearl was found by naCTve divers in 35 fathoms of water off the Tawi Tawis Islands I ,*’ he said. “My trouble® began when I heard of thepearl and started to negotiate for it. The finders vi'ere members of a group of 20 natives, who, with three Chinese storekeepers who were backing them, had agreed to take equal shares in anything they found. This meant that I had 23 people to deal with. I had to buy out their shares one at a time. It took me nine months to do it. “First one of the natives was stabbed in a quarrel with another, v.ho did not want him to sell his share. The man came within an inch of death, but fortunately he did not ! die. Another stalbbing followed soon , after. Then one of the nr.it ives’ wives turned on him. ‘You should keep the pearl,’ she told him. ‘You • will make more that way. if you give up this chance, you will never be able to face your children again. Till then they had been a happy, loving couple. The coming of the pearl brought about a furious quarrel anu parted them.”