DARING NECKLACE THEFT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 883, 25 August 1910, Page 4

DARING NECKLACE THEFT.

Astonishing confidence has been shown by a leading jeweller in one of the lashionable streets in Paris, with the result that he now mourns the loss of a pearl necklace worth something like One day a smartly-dressed man entered his shop and asked to have some jewels of his repaired. Whilst the work was being executed he chatted with the owner ol the shop and looked at a number of beautiful jewels. They were wonderlul pieces ol workmanship, he said, and tempting to customers. “By the way,” he added, “ I am a dentist, and among my customers there is a very rich Brazilian lady, who is just now making many purchases. I shall ask her the next time J see her if she would like to buy a necklace. The jeweller was easily taken in, and at the prospect of securing a good customer he beamed with delight. On the following day the man returned and handed the jeweller his card, which bore the name of a well-known dentist. “I am happy to tell you,” said the bogus dentist, “that the Brazilian lady called at my place yesterday, and 1 spoke to her about the necklace. I told her that it belonged to my wife, who wished to dispose of it. If you will let one of your men accompany me we shall drive in my automobile to the lady’s house, and I am sure that she will buy it.” The jeweller had not the slightest doubt that he was treating with a well-known dentist, and readily agreed. A handsome automobile was at the door, and in a lew minutes the obliging customer, accompauied by a shop assistant, drove away with the precious collar. They stopped before a magnificent apartment house, and, iu getting down, the “ dentist ” told the shop assistant to wait in the automobile, as he could not let the lady suspect that the necklace came from a shop.

The shop assistant was taken in as well as his employer. There could be no risk in waiting iu the luxurious automobile of so wealthy a dentist, with the liveried chauffeur iu front. The employee did not even dare to ask a question, and the pseudo-dentist disappeared into the house with the precious necklace. The wait was a long and anxious one. Finally'’, the shop assistant got out to ask the concierge if a Brazilian lady dwelt in the house. The reply was in the negative. Had she seen the gentleman who had got out of the automobile? Yes, he had simply asked her what were the hours of a certain notary public, and left by another door. The house had separate entrances opening into different streets. The shop-assist-ant rushed up to the chauffeur. Where was his master ?

“ That was not my master,” said the chauffeur, who now became excited in his turn ; “ this is simply a hired automobile from a big garage. The man engaged me at the Place de I’Opera. The chauffeur saw that he also had been tricked, and at once put on full speed. He turned into the side street, where there was another entrance to the house, and raced up and down various thoroughfares, but there was no sign of the man with the necklace. Needless to say, nothing was known of him at the house of the dentist whose name he adopted, and it is not likely that he will remember to pay his fare to the chauffeur. The jeweller has given a detailed description of the necklace to the police, and this for the present is his only comfort.