PINK DIAMOND TRIAL

Evening Star, Issue 19660, 13 September 1927, Page 13

PINK DIAMOND TRIAL

DRAMATIC COURT SCENE Tempted by the luxious appearance of a rosy apple which had, apparently, been discared in a bedroom of a small hotel in a Paris boulevard, chambermaid bit deeply into the fruit. The first of her sex, Mother Eve, had boon similarly tempted, and was banished from Paradise, but the chambermaid had a happier experience. To tho girl’s astonishment, her pearly teeth struck something hard in the apple. She abstracted it, and lo! in her palm lay a glittering gem—the historic pink diamond that once adorned Marshal Condo, ono of the greatest soldiers of France. It had been stolen, together with other valuables, from tho Chateau do Chantilly last October, and the servant girl’s lucky find, which brought her a rew<ird. of £4O, Isd to tho arrest of the alleged robbers. In the old Gothic palace of tho bishops of Beauvais the story of the burglary was retold. There were placed on trial Leon Kaufer, aged thirty, an Alsatian of athletic build; Emile Souter, aged twenay-one. an ex-chauffeur, also an native of Alsace; and Mme. Bchill, a second-hand dealer, who is alleged to have received the stolon jewels. Rarely is the eleraen. of the dramatic absent from French cause celobres, and it was provided in this case by the introduction, for the first time oil record, of a film reconstruction of tho crime, with the accused men in the leading roles, and also by the startling allegations levelled by the two men against Mme. Kaufev, who, they alleged, was the temptress who inspired the robbery. The film shows ] lo w, in the night, Kaufer carried a carpenter’s ladder to a wall beneath the room in which the diamond was kept. When he had crawled to the toj> a lighter ladder was placed in position to enable him to reach the window and slip through. Souter went up and down the ladder four times with his pockets filled with loot. The job was finished under fifteen minutes, and tho ladders were thrown into a ditch. Not a light was shown, and tho thieves returned safely to Paris to dispose of the treasure. The judge, however, declined to allow the film to be shown in court,_ but defending counsel arranged for it to bo displayed in a private room, where judge and jury and anyone interested were permitted to he present. The , pink diamond was carried round the court room on a crystal plate, and beside it, for the sake of comparison, lay a modern 14 carat stone valued at £B,OOO. The appearance in the witness_ box of the wife of Kaufer was the signal for a tense episode. Mine. Kaufer, a young and smartly-dressed brunette, was greeted by her husband with the brutal word, “It was you who took us to Chantilly and showed us the room whore the pink diamond and tho other jewels were.” Somewhat embarrassed, the woman retorted, “ Why do you say that? It is not nice of you to accuse me.” liaising his voice, Kaufer exclaimed, “I say it because it is true!” Souter joined in tho denunciation and remarked, “As your husband, after ho left tho chateau, declined to carry out tho coup, you told me he was a coward. Don’t you remember that ? ”

In a voice vibrating with emotion, Mme. Kaufer rejoined, “Why do yon say that, Souther? lb is not true.” As she stood there, deadly pale, both. Kaufer and Souter screamed at her, Liar! Liar!” and her husband, persisting in his accusation, continued, “Furthermore, it was yon who, after the theft, took the gold from tho mounted jewels to the second-hand tailor’s shop where it was sold. You saw the pink diamond on my bed in niv room. Dare you say that you did not?” Almost fainting, the woman murmured, “ I am saying tho truth.” Here M. Brunet, counsel for Kaufer, intervened and_ exclaimed. “ You are a liar, ;wd I will prove it!” The Public Prosecutor declared that if the allegations of the two men were found to be true, he would not hesitate to start proceedings against Mme. Kaufer.

The three prisoners were found guilty. Kaufer was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment, Souter to eight years, and. Mme. Schil! to five years, and a fine of 5,000 francs under the First Offenders’ Act.