THE CHINA MAIL, FEBRUARY 7,1940
REAL LIFE DETECTIVE TRIUMPHS
HATTON GARDEN DIAMOND ROBBERY
Mayer,
It was in 1913 that Max
diamond and pearl merchant, whose shop was in Hatton Garden, London, became the
owner of a
necklace consisting of 61 perfectly matched pearls. It had taken 10 years to collect them. The necklace was insured with Lloyd's for several hundred thousand dollars. Views concerning its actual viluc varied. but the consensus of opinion that it was worth, approximately, $1,000,000.
was
re-
On June 20, 1913, Mr. Mayer re- ceived a
Paris wire from his presentative, Henri Salomen, saying he had a prospective customer. It was sent there at once, but agent and customer could not agree on terms, and it had to be returned. The matter of sending it back by messenger was debated and finally abandoned. The owner was fearful of robbery. It was
·By
GEORGE BARTON
The denouement was prosaic yet Two weeks after the sensational.
tube meeting a young piano worker found a big match box in the gut- ter-and It contained the missing pearls. The crooks had been shrewd enough to leave the pearls with the wife of James Lockett, one of their number. When she heard of their arrest she had thrown the precious gems into the gutter, knowing that If found in her possession she would go to jail.
The evidence was complete and at the trial the four jewel thieves- finally decided to return it by regis Joseph Grizard, Samuel Silverman, tered post. It was inclosed in a leath-Leiser Gutwirth and James Lockett er case with two large drop pearls were convicted and sentenced to a and a round pearl. The case was long term of imprisonment. Prob- placed in a wooden box. This
was ably the young plano worker was wrapped in blue paper and sealed suitably rewarded, but there is no with Mr. Mayer's Initials, "M. M."
he
mention of this in the official story of the famous crime.
The strictest attention was paid to all details, but when the box finally reached Mr. Mayer's office and opened it, the pearls were not there. dazed dealer In place of them the
A message containing congratula- found eight cubes of French sugar, tions and good wishes was sent by wrapped in cotton and inclosed in part | His Excellency the Covernor, Sir of a newspaper; the Echo de Paris of Geoffry Northcote, to the Hong Kong July 2.
Chinese Manufacturers' Union yester-
In half an hour Chief Inspector | day. Ward of Scotland Yard was listening to the tale of the distracted merchant. In the investigation that followed every yard of land and sea over which the necklace travelled from Paris to London was covered. The letter car- rier who had taken it from the post- office to Mr. Mayer's office was able to tell all of the steps he had taken. He had delivered other packages in Hatton Garden. One of these was to a Mr. Silverman, a jeweller in a small way. The dealer was cross-examin- ed but to no effect.
The underwriters offered a reward of $50,000 for the recovery of the pearls. A full description of the missing pearls was sent to every part of the world.
Early in August, Chief Inspector Ward got an intimation that the Hat- ton Garden gems had gone to Ant- werp. Instead of sending detectives, two brokers, Quadratstein and Brand- Flatter, went there with promises of a reward. They finally discovered that a man named Leiser Gutwirth knew something about the missing pearls. He told them he was willing to sell them the necklace for a million francs if he were given 100,000 francs as his commission.
He even agreed to meet them in a Lyons tea room in Holborn. He did so and showed them the two big drop pearls and the round pearl as an evidence of good faith. He was pre- sented to a Mr. Spanier, who was sald to be interested in the deal. Mr. Spanier, it might be stated, was one of the most reliable operatives of Scotland Yard. A second meeting was planned at which Gutwirth pro- mised to produce the pearls and Mr. Spanier the money to buy them of all places-in the British Museum tube station.
When Gutwirth and two of his pals appeared there they were arrested. They were searched and even strip- ped, but no pearls were found. In the meantime, it was discovered that when the man had stopped `: at the office of Samuel Silverman... a fake box had been cleverly substitut- ed for the one with the pearls--and this absolutely without the know- ledge of the carrier. :"+
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