DEATH IN HOPE DIAMOND.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 709, 7 January 1910, Page 5

DEATH IN HOPE DIAMOND.

'{:. .KtGEM'S: V SINISTER; RECORD;: ■■-.■ t ■'■ It is now.'confirmed;that;.amongst those ;who perished in; the sinking of .the- Messagorie's..Maritinies'; ;C'ompai)y's. steamer. La Seyno in a,collision olf- Singapore was Habib Effendi,' a Persian;,dealer cious /■ stones,'-and' the i:last: ' possessor; "of, the ill-omened gem'kiiown as the ."Hope" or "Bine"' diamond,': which, according; to : ■ legend,■ brings- an;unhappy 'end to, whonir soever'owns. it. .It- was, carried ..into . France and- sold: to Louis IV by Tavernier, who, died of yellow ;fever after having been' cbmpletoly-truined. It;' passed successfully into -the hands of Mme. De Montespan,. Pouquet/nnd; Marie i Antoinette, -who .all camp'to ,a- \ violent ' end. 'Since the.; Revolution half a score of others' have; : held the fatal stone, and' all, have, died; miserably, .y."lts penultimate ownor was Abdul Hamid, the Sultan of . Turkey,. whoso misfortunes have followed thickly on- each-.'other; whilst' .Gholub, Bey, the eunuch, 'who had charge of tho gem,ivas hanged on the Gnlotavßridge'. NowvHabib BlFendi,- who; bought- ft not. long, ago for.:;X80,000, ';has. perished by' drowning.- It is not lchbwn whether ho had the "Blue", diamond on board with him, but the superstitions will certainly connect'his death with the fatal jewel. ;,