Ch. 18: An Expensive Farce

Page of 448

Text size:



	CHAPTER XVIII

	AN EXPENSIVE FARCE THE first decade of the twentieth century has brought to light the greatest diamond and the most audacious swindle in the history of diamonds. In May, 1905, a Frenchman named Henry Lemoine approached Sir Julius Wernher, of the London firm Wernher, Beit & Co., a large diamond house, with a scheme for making diamonds synthetically. He claimed that he could produce diamonds by means of an electric furnace, which could not be distinguished from natural ones. He had already had some experience in fishing with his tempting bait among smaller fry, and it is known that he had gathered in a few thousands here and there, in amounts of from one to three thousand dollars, from his dupes. It may be that greater successes had rewarded his efforts, for most men who have been swindled dislike publicity and would rather suffer the ills they have, in the solitude of their own knowledge, than expose them for the amusement of their friends; it was sufficient to embolden him to carry his scheme to a place where one might think there ,was the smallest possibility of success and the greatest certainty of exposure for a fraud, the heart of the diamond business. Perhaps the audacity was a convincing argument in favor of his ability to do what he claimed. The stakes were 414

Page of 448