A WALLET OF DIAMONDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10278, 13 May 1919, Page 7

A WALLET OF DIAMONDS

SMART DETECTIVE WORK BY

BELGIAN BOY,

The smart detective work of a Belgian l>oy of fourteen has resulted in the restoration to a Hatton Garden diamond merchant of a wallet containing 300 diamonds, and over .£SOO in notes, property which ho had lost, in a restauran|:, (states a iondon paper). . In ildfllt ..in .lo thf’-'l? jewels and money, there were in therwa'i-a lot nearly a hundred other diamonds and several diamond rings, the total value of the contents being two or three thousand Eaert, the boy, discovered the packets of diamonds hidden in the- ivy growing on top of a garden Avail in “p Vfour road, Hifflibury Now 1 ark. Aa tho police had advertised the “surplus diamonds and rings, without avail, it is supposed that the man who placed the wallet there had put soiue of his own property in with that of the diamond merchant. It is believed that'he has since gone to Belgium—presumably his native The owner of the wallet and its original contents is M. Toubldn. a Polish diamond merchant. To a newspaper representative he said; "I had had lunch in a restaurant, anil pulled out my wallet to payAhe bill. Ip« tit back, as far ns 1 remember, but next evening I missed it. It may have droped from my pocket. and 1 gave information to the police. Two days later I was sent for to go to Highbury police station, and there I identified my property, which was found .by a boy, whom T went to see and rewarded- , . _ Marcel ISaort, who byes at Balfour road, said he watched the man’s movements from the shadows of a gateway. "1 turned the corner of Balfour road, he said, “and X saw a. man taking his hand out of the ivy. When ho saw me he seemed confused. X came on to our gate and then stopped. I could hear a rustling in tho ivy, and then I heard someone turn tho corner. Tn© man come along past the gate to see what I was doing, -so I knocked our door to allay suspicion. "Ho went on to tho end of the street, and I went t othe gate to watch him. Bo looked back, and then came to me and said, in French, ’Whore is Ho. 30, Balfour road?’ I said in .French. ’That’s our house, here,’ and ho replied, ‘No, I mean 113.’ 1 said ‘That’s inst opposite,’ and he went over there. I heard afterwards that he asked for some other number when he got there. Tho man then walked un and down two or three times again and wont away. “After a quarter of nn hour I went to tho ivy-covered wall, put my hand on top, and hidden right away I felt the wallet. When I opened it X saw hundreds of diamonds and a lot of bank notes and some diamond rings. I took them to the police. “I have since been shown some photographs and picked out one which I thought was that of the man. Tho lady opposite picked out tho same one. I have heard that the man is a diamond cutter.’’