The Seaforth News, 1957-10-24, Page 2World'a,:Biggest
The panting, brown -skinned
diver held on to the side of the
beat with one hand, supporting
himself in the waters of : the
Persian Gulf, and with the
other hand he tossed a pearl on
to the deck of the little Arab
dhow. It was 1628 , andthe
great Pearl of Asia had been
found.
• The Pearl of Asia weighing
605 carats, is the largest pearl
in the world and it has been
the centre of many strange and
fantastic adventures, Not the
least of these took place in
Paris in 1942 when France lay
under Hitler's jackboot.
• The pearl was then owned by
Father Robert, General Superior
of the Foreign Missions in China.
It had been bought in Hong
Kong from an old Chinese man-
darin by one of the Mission's
priests. In 1942 as the Missions
needed money urgently, Father
Robert decided to sell the pearl.
His secretary, M. Michelet, con-
tacted a big Paris jeweller and
'was told that the great pearl
was worth about $150,000.
But the Germans, aware of
the existence of the gem, forced
Michelet to deposit it in a bank
and ordered that the pearl ' be
kept there until permission was
received to remove it.
On May 15th, two German
officers made an appointment
with Michelet at the Societe
Generale where the pearl was
being kept. They were given the
pearl, and then they all went
off by car to the Avenue d'Iena.
A Large body of troops was as-
sembled- in front of the build-
ing to which Michelet was led,
Indicating that an important
personage was awaiting them.
Michelet and his escort were
shown to a room where they sat
down and waited. Presently a
Ieneral came in and took the
pearl.
Returning half an hour later
he gave the pearl back 1.o
Michelet and said that a very
important German — he indicat-
ed with his hands a very fat
person — who was a real con-
noisseur, was very interested in
the pearl and had had a photo-
graph taken of it. Michelet
would hear from him later.
It became known some time
later that this personage was
Hermann Goering, the gross
Luftwaffe chief. But nothing
was heard from Goering in the
months that followed.
In March, 1944, thinking that
Goering would have more seri-
ous distractions, Michelet asked
M. Musseau, a legal adviser, to
Bell the pearl. Musseau men-
tioned it to a man named Piat,
who said that he -had found a
buyer, M. Bonfanti, a rich
manufacturer in the North of
France. A rendezvous was fixed
In M. Musseau's office. Michelet
brought the jewel and, in the
presence of Musseau, showed it
to the intending buyer and
Fiat.
M. Monfanti examined the
stone and while they were dis-
cussing the price a violent
knocking was heard at the front
door. The maid opened the
door and four men in S.S. uni-
forms pushed in brandishing
revolvers. "Hands up!" they
ordered. They declared that the
intending buyers were robbers
they had to arrest, adding that
anyway Michelet had no right
to sell the pearl. They took the
pearl and its gold case, removed
a revolver Piat was carrying,
taking at the same time from
Michelet and. Musseau all their
eash and a number of valuables.
M. Musseau protested: "These
jewels have nothing to do with
the pearl business."
"Present yourself the day after
Pearl Blocks Drain
tomorrow at the commandant's
office -you can explain your
case then," the S.S. men said.
The foto policemen then
marched off with the two
buyers. When Musseau a n d
Michelet turned up at the com-
mandant's office the German of-
ficials denied all knowledge of
the four S.S. men, and the two
buyers. '
The conclusion seemed ob-
vious; they had been the dupes
of organized gangsters working
on their own account or under
the wing of some German pro-
tector.
A complaint was lodged with
the French authorities and the
German police. All Paris
jewellers were alerted, and a
reward notice was published in
the newspapers.
Three weeks later, Plat was'
arrested by the French police
in Montmartre. On information
'Prat revealed under questioning
a man named Yvon Colette, a
Belgian subject with a known
police record. He was arrested
with his wife near Chartres by
the German police, together with
Joseph Klopf,' a Luxembourg
subject, and another member of
the gang, Three of the six ban-
dits had been caught, but the
three others have never been
traced.
Some days later Michelet was
told to call at Gestapo head-
quarters and there he identified
Colette, a thick -set, degenerate-
looking man of about forty, and
the elegant' Piat.
After a beating -up Colette
confessed to the theft of the
pearl, but swore he had for-
gotten where he had put it.
Finally, Colette and his wife were
put in prison. The last months
of the occupation brought no
further news of the Pearl of
Asia. Everybody was convinced
that somehow it had left France.
In July, 1944, Paris was liber-
ated, and Colette and his wife
escaped. Madame Colette took
refuge in her native Maillebois
where she had previously hid-
den the pearl in the trunk of
an oak tree. Colette, anxious to
"whitewash" himself, fought
and was wounded on a Paris
barricade.
A few months later Madame
Colette rejoined her husband
in Marseilles with the inten-
tion of fleeing by the first
available boat with the precious
pearl. Colette was known in
Marseilles under a false name,
as a lieutenant in the French
Resistance, but a genuine mem-
ber of the Resistance caught him
one day selling foreign currency
and promptly denounced him to
the police.
On December 1st, two police
inspectors arrived at the hotel
where Colette was living with
hist wife.
They examined their indenti-
fication papers and searched the
room. Five million francs in
Belgian and French currency.
was discovered. Colette was
taken to the police station and
later sentenced to ten years' im-
prisonment. He escaped but was
recaptured.
The pearl was recovered when
the landlord of the hotel, notic-
ing a leak in the room that had
formerly been occupied by the
Colettes, called in. a plumber.
He traced the trouble to a
stopped -up sewer, ,and then the
missing pearl was found in a
waste -pipe, having been thrown
into a drain by Madame Colette
during the police search.
Still awaiting a purchaser, the
pearl is now back in .its gold
box at the French Board Of;
Foreign Missions.
ISSUE 42 - 1957'
ALL TANKED UP—Welder Pete Martin happily rumples the fur
of his five -week-old kitten "Puddy-tatl', which had gotten itself
sealed' up inside a new pressure tank in Pete's shop. Marlin
noticed the kitten was missing after welding on the head of
the 12 -by -A -foot tank. Fortunately, the specifications called for
a three-inch opening through which Puddy-tat come tumbling
to freedom.
DOG'S BEST FRIEND— Flash, a blind greyhound, is led across a Southampton, England,
street by his. own "seeing eye" dog, a fox terrier. named Peggy. The small dog's ability to
serve as a guide for the greyhound has saved the latter from being destroyed by local
authorities. Peggy, in turn, was saved from destruction seven years ago by Mr. G. Corbin of
Southampton. It is truly a new life for both dogs.
TABLE TALKS
ey damAmabew
"Fudge That Will Keep — If
you Let It" — is the arresting
heading on an article in the in-
valuable Christian Science
Monitor. It was written by a
newspaper woman in North Da-
kota whose names is Fern E.
Lee. So — take it away Mrs.
Lee. (If it should be "Miss," this
column's sincere apologies.)
* * *
Having •been a "Petticoat"
editor and manager of a weekly
newspaper for the past. 14 years
I have never found too much
time to bend over a hot stove
whipping up exotic and unusual
dishes to tempt the palates of
members of my family.
However, a few extra -good
recipes, used time and again
through those years, have help-
ed to establish my reputation as
a good cook.
In my family for more than
30 years has been a recipe for
an unusually delicious chocolate
fudge with an unsurpassed flav-
or and a creamy consistency
which makes for the best keep-
ing quality — keeping, that is,
if out of sight of candy devour-
ers.
This fudge recipe was award-
ed a prize in a newspaper con-
test but brought a letter of re-
proach from one reader who
Lonely Giant
There was a ruggedly epic
quality about the composer
Jean Sibelius which made him
seem as eternal and as indestruc-
tible as the towering trees and
lonely lakes of his beloved Fin-
land. At 91, he still smoked the
black cigars he called "my
food ," and walked along
through the, countryside near
his home at Jarvenpaa, a village
some 25 miles north of Hel-
sinki. No one ever knew if he
were really bald, for he had
shaved his head at 39, when he
spotted his first' gray hair. It
was hard to believe, therefore,
that last month a cerebralhem-
orrhage had finally felled this
hardy giant, less than three
months short of his 92nd birth-
day.
As a devoted husband and
father who called his daughters
"my five symphonies," Sibelius
was ever thoughtful and loved
to keep in touch with his more
than 50 grandchildren and great-
grandchildren. As a citizen and
patriot he inflamed his people
against the Russians in 1899
with his stirring tone poem
"Finlandia," and when the Rus-
sians invaded his tiny country
again in 1939, he stubbornly re-
fused to seek safety elsewhere.
He was, not a solitary man
when it came to home and
country. But as far as his mu-
sic went, Jean Silbelius was
perhaps the loneliest man in the
world. He was influenced by no
school of composition, and no
school has patterned itself after
his model. Just what that mold
was has been weighed object-
ively for the first time only in
recent years, for the romanti-
cists called him modern, and the
modernists called him romantic.
Except for his tone poems, like
"Finlandia" and "The Swan of
Tuonela," which are frankly
romantic, the seven Sibelius
symphonies belong to neither
school. He is best described
quite simply as Jean Sibelius,
Finnish composer. And although
no new major score appeared
from his pen for more than 30
years before his death, his effect
on music lovers probably was.
best reflected in the results of
a CBS radio poll taken in 1935.
Jean Sibelius, listeners ` voted,
was the world's greatest com-
poser living or dead. — From
NEWSWEEK.
said, "There must be a mistake.
Your recipe as printed calls for
a sinful waste of butter and you
had better have the newspaper
make a correction in the
amount." It may be a sinful
waste but butter is the ingredi-
ent which gives this fudge its
out -of -this -world goodness.
Chocolate Fudge
Mix well 3 cups granulated
sugar with one envelope (1
tablespoon) of gelatin. Add 1
cup milk, t/4 cup light syrup, 21/4
squares baking chocolate and 1
cup butter. Use heavy saucepan
and stir frequently from the bot-
tom to keep the gelatin from
sticking. Cook to a rather firm
ball (when tested in cold water)
or 238° F. when tested on a
candy thermometer.
Place pan in cold water and
allow to cool for several min-
utes. Add 11/ teaspoons vanilla,
Beat with heavy spoon (do not
ues electric mixer) until thick
and creamy. Add 1 cupful nuts:
Turn into buttered pan and cut
in squares when cold.
* * s.
Another recipe which always
calls for repeats is for a cheese
dip to serve with crackers or po-
tato chips. This is especially de-
licious for sandwiches made
with pumpernickel bread.
CHEESE DIP
Blend:
1 cup soft cheddar cheese
Va cup butter
i ounce package softened
cream cheese
• cup salad dressing
1 teaspoon Minced onion
3/a teaspoon Worcestershire
sauce
Vs teaspoon salt
Va teaspoon prepared mustard
Mbc together until creamy
and fluffy. This will keep for a
long time in a covered contain-
er in the refrigerator. Remove
at least half an hour before serv-
ing to soften to spreading con-
sistency.
• c a e
Here is a molded salad which
goes over well even with men
who are usually reluctant to eat
salads which look pretty.
Molded Salad
Heat to boiling 1 cup water.
Dissolve in water 1 4 -ounce
package red cinnamon candies.
Pour mixture over 1 package
lemon -flavored gelatin powder.
Add 1 cup thick, cold applesauce.
Chill. When beginning to set,
put half in bottom of mold.
Blend: 2 3 -ounce packages
cream cheese, / cup mayon-
naise, 1/4 cup finely chopped cel-
ery, 2 cup finely chopped pe-
cans. Spread over congealed
layer of gelatin mixture. Put
rest of gelatin mixture on top
and let set. Serve on salad
greens wither extra mayonnaise..
Where Eccentrics
Are Plentiful
More eccentrics including
royalties — have lived on the
Riviera than probably anywhere
else on earth.
King Leopold II of Belgium,
who had an estate at Cap Ferrat,
hated creases so much that he
insisted on his newspapers being
ironed before he read them. Ad-
ressing servants he always spoke
in the third person, saying"You
will wait for him," which mysti-
fied people, making them wonder
what on earth he was talking
about.
When he was looking for a
villa at Cap Ferrat he noticed,
on a drive with his bodyguard,
the Villa Passable, surrounded
by high walls and apparently
abandoned. The gate was open, so
he went in to explore, but when
the party returned to the gate
they found that someone had
locked it.
A ladder in a shed enabled
them to scale the high wall. With
the four of them perched on top
the ladder toppled and fell. "We
look like burglars," commented
Leopold laughing. He couldn't
jump down owing to a bad leg;
so the others did so and formed
a human ladder for him; and
Cat's how the King got out.
At sixty-five he fell in love
with blonde, gay, eighteen -year-
old Blanche Caroline Delacroix,
whom he later made Baroness de
Vaughan and, rumour said, se-
cretly married at San Remo. To
hide :their liaison they pretended
to be strangers in public even
when they rode onthe same train,
alighted at the same station,
stayed in adjoining suites at the
same hotel and ate at the same
restaurants - at different tables.
Later, when the friendship was
more or less official, he gave her
a charming villa which connected
with his Chateau Laeken out-
side Brussels. On his Cap Ferrat
estate he built a little house for
her and visited her every evening
for two hours' card -playing, car-
rying a lantern.
A strange visitor at Cap Mar-
tin was the Empress Elizabeth
of Austria, who slept on a gold-
plated bed with a swing above It
on which she did a trapeze act
to keep her figure.
Queen Victoria, after the
Prince. Consort's death, stayed
regularly at hotels at.Menton and
Cimiez with a large retinue of
servants. She :always took her
own coaches, . and horses, furni- '
ture from Balmoral (including
her acanthus -wood bed), table
linen, china, glass, cutlery. At the
Grand hotel, Cimiez,her apart-
ments cost $10,000 for six weeks;
at the Regina Excelsior, $20,000
for two months.
Recounting these facts in.
"Royal. Riviera" Charles Graves
says that one scandalous.expla-
nation of her forsaking Menton
for Cimiez was that a high-rank-
ing lady-in-waiting fell madly in
love with a horse -tram conductor
and frequently spent the day go-
ing to and from Cannes on his
tram. A likelier explanation is -
that a royal commission of physi-
cians advised the Queen that
Cimiez was the healthiest place
for her to stay.
A haughty Nice visitor was the
Grand Duke Constatine's
widow, herself a German prin-
cess. Deciding to visit Genoa, she
ordered her aide to arrange
transport. When he told her that
a steamer from Marseilles would
soon stop at Nice en route to
Genoa, she said: "You must be
mad. I, the widow of the Lord
High Admiral of the, Russian
Navy, mingle with the common
populace? I shall write to Napo-
leon III and demand a man -of
war!"
She did so, and he duly ordered
a frigate to transport, her to
Nice. It waited for days while
the contents of her villa were put
on board. On arrival at Genoa
the captain informed her that a
pinnace would take her and her
belongings ashore.
"A pinnace," she exploded. "Do
you suppose I am going to risk
myself and my grand piano upon
some Genoese skiff? Certainly
not; a pier must be built out to
us here. I shall not leave this
tub until it is completed" Vainly
he argued. It took a fortnight to
build the pier. Then she swept
off the ship to be met by the
Genoese governor.
When the old Grand Duke
Michael was rodered to Cannes
Cr his health he was so frail and
ill that his doctors said that his
private train of six coaches from
St, Petersburg should not exceed
twenty-four m.p.h. So for two
days the Russian, German, Bel-
gian and French railway sched-
til.es were put out of joint while
the train steered its stately
course.
Graves gives us other unusual
glimpses of Riviera life. Count
von Zernsdorf used to light his
cigarettes with 1,000 -franc notes,
then worth $250. An American
Jack Mackeon, wno the equiva-
lent of a million dollars at the'
Monte. Carlo tables. He put all
the notes into an umbrella, with
the rubber ring round the spokes,
and drove to Paris. It was raining
hard when he alighted at the
Restaurant Fouquet. He opened
the umbrella, and the Champs
Elysees was suddently white
with banknotes, not all of which
were retrieved!
When three bandits held up the
Aga Khan's car, _snatched the
Begum's jewel -box and made off,
.he called out. "Hi, come back!
You've forgotten your tipl" —
and handed one of them a num-
ber of 1,000 franc notes.
After going to see Janos, one
of Italy's most popular circus
horses, perform, an admirer ex-
pressed his gratitude by writing
e cheque for 1,500 lire ($2.50)
and making it payable through
a bank in Turin to Janos, so
that he would buy himself an
extra ration of sugar.
BUT DOES IT RUN?—The ultimate in stripped -do
fours and one -inch boards, is readied for' a sin
ing the engine, and Dennis La Hiff, 14, bought t
$20 and spent another $15 to rig up the rest of
hour, but not on town streets. The kids have b
in the park.
wn hot rods, this contraption, made of two -by -
ail trip by its builders. Peter Katz, 13, left, start-
he town -mower engine from a repair shop for
the rope -steered vehicle. It'll do 15 miles an
een warned to keep out of traffic and drive only