SEARCH FOR STOLEN PEARL NECKLACE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 1145, 13 September 1913, Page 4

SEARCH FOR STOLEN PEARL NECKLACE.

ACTRESS CAUSES A FURORE IN PARIS. STUDENT HOAXED, REPORTER’S ADVENTURES IN CENTRAL POST OFFICE. Active search continues for any duo winch will load to the restoration of tiic £150,000 stolon necklace to its owner, Mr Max Mayer, a Hatton Garden diamond merchant (says a London paper). Scotland Yard on Tuesday, July 22nd, circulated a facsimile of the gems on large placards, accompanied with a notice of the £IO,OOO reward offered by Lloyd's, at which the necklace was insured for £130,000. Both the London and the Paris detectives are agreed that the theft took place in Paris, the box being opened, pieces of sugar substituted for tbe pearls, and now seals put on. The Matin has been prosecuting its enquiries with such thoroughness that it has proved that it is possible for a stranger to wander into and out of the registered parcel sorting room at the Paris central post office without let or hindrance. To this the Post Office has replied that the reporter who proved the contention by a personal visit- must tiave been mistaken for one of the detectives inspecting the build-

Matin says that an individual on Wednesday evening informed the detective department of the recent sale to a Parisian jeweller, whose name he gave, of a large quantity of pearls and diamonds brought to the buyer by an employee of one of the departments implicated iu the loss of the famous necklace. To recall the incidents in the mystery Mr fsahimoiis, diamond broker, and representative for Mr Mayer in Paris, put the necklace, enfolded in cotton wool, in a small morocco plush-lined case, uiui placed tho ease in a cardboard Ih>X. This was done up ill brown paper and sealed in seven places, lie posted it us a. registered parcel lit (ho neigiilmniing post oilier in the Une de Provence, where he was well-known by the ollieials.

A package done’ np in blue linen, tbe superscription almost hidden by a niulli|»licily of .scab, was delivered as a registered package at llallon (larden tbe nex.t morning. and locked up in a sate. \\ ben lie opened it Mr Mayer found it contained some flat cubes of Kvvticb sugar and a piece of I’ pencil newspaper, but no sign of the necklace. The contents were the exact weight, ot the. pearls, however. Mr Salauions has since recalled a peculiar incident which occurred at flic time he posted the package. Heforo he left his office he put thtec one-franc stamps on the packet. The post office clerk, having weighed it, told him it would require seven francs altogether. Thereupon Mr Sammons gave the clerk four more stumps of one franc cadi, which lie had in his pocket-book, and a penny, and on receiving a receipt for

tho registration ho loft tho poet office. POST OFFICE CLERK’S ERROR. When, next day, he discovered the theft, and had arrived in London, Mr Salamons was greatly astonished to find there were only slumps to the value of five and a-half francs on the parcel. In the meantime, on the afternoon that Mr Salamons loft for London, after being informed of the theft, Airs Salamons received a visit from the post office clerk who had registered the parcel. He said he wished to apologise for a mistake he had made when weighing the parcel, a mistake which lie only discovered after Mr Salomons had left the post office. With that he returned one franc fifty centimes, wih a note explaining his error. Airs Salamons at once posted tho note to her husband.

Mr Price, of AJcssrs Price and Gibbs, assessors to Lloyd’s, is assisting the police in Paris, having taken over there the actual covering and contents of the package, which was delivered jo Mr Mayer. Air Price has himself great experience in these matters, and not very long ago was acting for the underwriters in the theft of £IO,OOO in sovereigns in Germany. The gold was sent from the Bank of England and was stolen on the way, the weight being made up by lumps of lead. In the ease of the necklace hope is entertained that by discovering the differences in tho sealing wax used when the parcel was refastened and that which was employed in tho first instance by Mr Salacious a clue may be found, it was for this reason that Mr Price took back to Paris the outside cover of the blue linen. Everything pointed to the theft being one of (he post, offices in Paris at which the package remained for some hours before it was despatched with others in a postal bag to the Gare do Nord. lAJITATION NECKLACE FOUND.

The mystery lias led to a sad hoax for a student of iho Latin qua i ter. He was walking along die Bois tie Boulogne when lie stumbled upon a necklace of pearls, wliicli to bis untutored eye seemed tho very thing for which a reward of £IO,OOO was being offered. It was lying in the road. Almost da/.ed with the joy of the anticipated fortune he rushed with it to the nearest police office. There was a furore at i nee. urgent messages luting sent out to those participating in the enquiry.

Air Salamons was summoned. and looked eagerly at the find, but then, shrugging hi,, shoulders remarked with a laugh that it was perhaps worth a franc. The discomfited student retired vowing vengeance on the unknown joker. It was discovered that it was not an intentional hoax, on a stranger. Two days alter the (heft a young Parisian actress, in quest of advertisement, decided to have an imitation of the stolen necklace made. From a photograph of the latter the jeweller made a duplicate with imitation pearls. • '“ho jewellers sent it by one of their employees to the actress, who was dining at a cafe in the Bois de Boulogne. On the way the messenger lost the necklace, which was afterwards (licked up by a student. The imitation jewel is valued at £l6.