FAMOUS DIAMOND'S TRAGIC STORY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 353, 2 April 1910, Page 10

FAMOUS DIAMOND'S TRAGIC STORY.

owner of the w'.i'e hope drow> :-:d fatal gem lc*t. Senor llaibib, the wealthy Spaniard who owned the fanuns buiJ Hope diamond, was among this passengers drowned in the wreck of the French mail steamer Seyne at Sir-pa uore. It is believed that Se.'-n- Habib had the Hope diamond ; i< hi, possession at the time.

Senor Habib's death (says a London , paper) ads another tragedy to the lon» list of misfortunes associated with the ownership of this historic gem. Since the so-called Hope diamond was first brought from the, East by Jean Baptiste Tavcrnier, the great traveller, in 1688, it has brought misfortune to' many people.

Tavernier sold the gem to Louis XIV., with 24 other large diamonds, but his association with the dianv-nd marked a turn for the worse in his fortunes. Tavernier's son involved h ! m in unfortunate speculations „ and at the age of 81 the discoverer of the Hope diamond sold his estate to pav his debts, and started on a fresh voyage to the East. He died of fever before hit- return. Mme. de Montespan was the favorite •f Louis XIV. when the Hope diamond became part of the Crown iewels of France. The King acceded to her entreaties to be allowed to wear the stone, but her influence declined from about tais time.

Fouquet, the famous "fancier, borrowed the diamond for one of his costlyfetes. Soon afterwards he lost the Roval favor and was imprisoned. During the Regency the diamond remained with the rest of the regalia. After Marie Antoinette became Queen of France she heard of this wonderful stone, and wore it at a bal' at the Tuileries. She pfimhed on the scaffold, while the Princess de Lamballe, who likewise wore the diamond sccasionally, was killed by a mob After the Revolution 'lie diamond disappeared for forty vears An Amsterdam diamond cutter named Fals is said to have been commissioned to cut the. ffem, and it was stolen Irom him by Ms son, who afterwards committed suiside, while the unhappy diamond cutter was ruined for life. '

The younger Fals is said to have given the diamond to a Frenrlman named Beaulieu, who brought it to London. He was in a state of destitution, and offered it for sale to a nealer named Daniel Eliason. The latter paid the price asked, and the next day Beaulieu died of starvation. Eliason sold the diamond to Henry Thomas Hope, whose name was thereafter associated with it. The stone became part of the entailed property of Lord Francis Hope, Mrs. Dope's grandson. He obtained permission to sell the diamond, and it was sold to a Mr. Well, a London diamonj merchant in 1901.

Mr.- Well sold it amost immediately to Simon Frankel, a New York dealer, who became involved in financial difficulties.

More than a year ago it passed into the possession of M. Cof',l a French dealer, who sold it to Prince Kanitovski. a Russian. He lent it to I-orens Ladue, an actress at the Folies Pergere, and shot her the first night slip, wore it. The prince proved the dVtnond to be his property, took possess ; tn Of it, and two days later was killed by revolutionaries The.dealer Colot became insane and committed suicide a few days afterwards. Then this sinister stone came into the possession of Simon Montharides, a Greek jeweller, who was afterwards thrown over a precipice, w'th his wife and two children, all of t*'*ra being killed.

Abdul Hamid,' the ex-Sditan of Turkey, is said to have teen <he next owner of the Hope diamond. >7e gave it to Aim Sabir, an expert in gems, to be polished and mounted, ami the jeweller was afterwards thrown nk prison. The diamond was kept in a vault at Vildiz Kiosk, and the l-e.»per of this vult was found-strangled at his post.

■ l-.i, j}pv. the ennueh vho was entrusted with ,the stone for a time, was o'ie nf the reactionaries Hnged in the streets of Constantinople. Sen or Hahib. whose tragic death has just occurred at Singapore, was the next owner of the diamond, having paid £BO,OOO for it. He sold it at auction last year, hut the stone only fetched £1(5.000, and the transaction was after r wards annulled.