DARING FRAUD

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 998, 14 June 1930, Page 10

DARING FRAUD

SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS A COMPANY ROBBED Mr. J. Kenneth Ferrier. a former detective inspector iu the Lon<k- t Police Force, describes in the Lonfi. , "Sunday Express" one of the greate--and most daringly conceived frauds c t modern times. Several well-know* Englishmen were victimised by j Frenchman who claimed to be able ta make artificial diamonds.

One autumn day Maurice Koechm, an engineer, was inspecting a Bhorteircuit in a tramway system running on the sands at Angers (France when lie found that the short circuit had produced a molten brittle mass which resembled glass. This gave hin the idea of experimenting, by a simi. lar electrical method, witli the object of making diamond crystals. Koechm, being desirous of obtaining capital"to enable him to experiment, became acquainted with Henri Lcmotne, an advertising agent with a bent for chemistry. Koechm interested Lemoine in his scheme, and they succeeded in obtaining a brittle powder harder than rubies, but softer than diamonds. After a time Koechm and Lemoine quarrelled and parted, and then, bix years later. Lemoine boasted that be had succeeded iu manufacturing fiu. monds that would pass any test. He obtained an introduction to a London solicitor who he. learned acted on b<. half of a number of diamond merchants, and to him he showed his dia mond powder.

A diamond dealer introduced Lemoine to Sir Julius Wernher. the chairman of the De Beers Diamonl

Mining Company, and Lemoine non claimed that by his ystem of electric arcs and rapid coolings he had obtained the requisite heat and pressure in the manufacture of diamonds, and could successfully compete with the immense underground laboratory, of Nature in the production of large and valuable gems. Sir Julius Weir her was at first incredulous, but, recalling that Professor Moissan bad succeeded in crystallising carbon, be consented to attend Lemoine's laboratory in Paris. With other expert, he examined Lemoine's powder and chemical compound, put them in an empty crucible, which he sealed, and gave it to Lemoine to place ia dielectric furnace. Twenty-five minute* later the crucible was withdrawn, and when it was opened 39 diamonds wern found.

Sir Julius realised that if artificial stones could be placed ,on the market at a cheap price they- would prove a formidable competitor against the De Beers Company, and so he offered to buy the formula. This was agreed, and sums amounting to .£64.000 were advanced. It was also agreed that the formula should be placed in t sealed envelope, deposited in the strongroom, and that it was not to be withdrawn unless by their joint

consent, or upon the death of Lemoine, in which event it would become the property of Sir Julius Wernher. Lemoine chose a site near a waterfall in the Argeles district, in France, on which to build a laboratory, explaining that the water would generate the power for the electric plant. But instead of producing diamond* he kept urging his partner to advance more money, until his dilatoriness caused Sir Julius Weroher to become snspicious. He asked Lemoine to conduct yet another experiment in the presence of his friend, Mr. Oates, and Lemoine consented. Oates was a leading official of the De Beer! Company, well versed in the achievements of scientific research, and be decided to test Lemoine’s claims by

applying the principle of Professor Moissan, according to which, if lit authentic diamond and a piece of coai are placed in an electric fnrnace, the electrical forces and excessive tem perature required to change carbon into diamond liquifies the real diamond. In the experiment, Oates, unknown to Lemoine, placed a Teal diamond in the crucible, which, when opened, disclosed that Oates’s diamond had liquified, but that Lemoine’s diamonds had been formed. Fled to East Oates accused Lemoine of being an impostor. Lemoine was arrested anc accused of defrauding Sir Juliui Wernher of £64,000. He was granted bail, and promptly fled to Constantinople. He was tried in his absence, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Meanwhile k had been found that his wife hai bought diamonds to the value cf £I,OOO, most of which had been ground into powder and afterward placed in crucibles, with chemical ingredients. Lemoine was rearreste* but he successfully appealed again!', his sentence, and was granted a ne* trial. The envelope containing the formula for diamond naking was pt duc-ed in court, and found by expert* to be xvorthless. Further, diamond* which he claimed to have produced were identified by dealers as stones sold to his wife. He was found guilty and sentenced to six years' imprisonment.