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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1962-04-05, Page 6Careless Taik Cost A Fortune Hatton Garden in Landoll has become synonymous with dia- monds, But in addition to the highly respectable and respected diamond merchants In Batton Garden, there are some slightly less scrupulous people whose re cords are not quite as sparkling, as the stones they handle — al- though their faces are every bit as hard, These people are the hangers- on of Hatton Garden. Few of them are dealers—they are lay- abouts — information hunters, And information—good,. reliable informatien—is vital to the un- derworld, During the war they used to say that careless talk costs lives. Well,one piece of careless talk. which floated over a cafe table one summer day in 1956 cost the insurance companies more than $300,000. A small-time mobster was sit- ting in that cafe, near Hatton Garden, at the time. And his ears flapped when he heard that a big Holborn diamond firm sent a woman every Monday, unguard- ed, to collect diamonds from the Hatton Garden safe deposit., The following Monday he kept watch on the safe deposit build- ing. He saw the woman arrive in a chauffeur -driven Rolls- Royce, carrying a small leather case, She entered the building and emerged a few minutes later, still carrying the case, got into the car and was driven off. Having verified the cafe con- versation, the mobster made con- tact with "The Boss." The Hatton Garden safe de- posit is a grey `stone building housing the world's greatest dia- mond strongroom. The strong- room is in the basement, protect- ed by a six-foot iron door weigh- ing ten tons. Safe deposit boxes, which may contain at any one time as znuah ass $15,000,000 in diamonds, line the walls which are built of 150 tons of reinforced concrete. And, of coarse, there are guards. Every Monday morning for six years Mrs. Kilda Mullein, secre- tary to Mr. Moses Wijnberg, a• Holborn Viaduct . diamond mer- chant, had called at the strong- room to collect the weekend deposit. Since she was so well known, she was not always asked to sign the collection book. Once the mobster had inform- ed "The Boss," the movements of Mrs. Mullein were carefully watched for the next few weeks. When tlyt• pattern had been es- tablished, "The Boss" decided to act, On Monday, July 16th 1956, at 10.45 a.m., Mrs. Mullem arrived es usual at the safe deposit. She collected several hundred cut atones, worth more than $300,000, from safe No. 401. Then she went into one of the five counting boxes to check the stones, She put them in a briefcase. e SALLY'S SALUES 'My, but you, sir, are an in- quisitive and then took the lift to sheet level She walked out to her car in which chauffeur Frank Baker was waiting. The car drove off, toliowing its usual route, I.Tp Hatton Garden and then right into St. Cross Street. Normally the car would then have turned right into Far- ringdon Road, left into Snow Hill and then right into Holborn Viaduct. But at the bottom of St, Cross Street, it got held up by traffic —as it often did. As Mrs. Mul- les sat holding the briefcase in the back of the car, a man wear- ing new overalls and a peaked cap raced round the front of the car, opened a rear door and grab- bed the case from her hands, writes Jack Spot in "Tit -Bits". He then ran off along Farring- don Road towards Cierkenwell' Road. The chauffeur left the car and rushed after him -but just • as was gaining on the man, he tripped and fell. The snatcher raced into Clerk- enwell Road and jumped into a waiting black Zodiac car. The car pulled away with a jerk, scraped the side of a passing trolley -bus, collided with another parked car. Later it screeehed into a cul-de- sac. Both men jumped out, the snatcher still carrying the brief- case, and disappeared into the crowd. Once again a stolen ear was used, And once again "The Boss" had luck—and public apathy—on his side, Mr. V. R. Hall, who worked nearby, told the police after- wards: "The chauffeur was gain- ing on the man, and if he, had had any help from the other people around he would have caught him," A description of the missing diamonds was sent to all air and seaports. Detectives from Gray's Inn Road police station and Fly- ing Squad officers made a series of raids in several parts of Lon- don, Dozens of shady places in the East and West End were visited. Mrs. Mullein and Mr, Baker were taken to Scotland Yard to study the "Rogues' Gallery" and the abandoned car was dusted for fingerprints. The stones, which came from one of the biggest diamond firms in London, had been .cut in the firm's High Wycombe factory and were to be made up into jewellery. Assessors off ere d $30,000 reward for their recovery. In September the reward was raised to $45,000—but by that time the stones had been bought and sold many times on the Con- tinent. But this time not all the luck went "The Boss's" way. The po- lice had some, too. They made arrests and . in November. two ' men went down—one for seven years and , one for three — for their part in the raid. Another man got three years for receiving stolen property and stealing a car. But the master- mind couldn't be touched, and the diamonds—sold for $200,000 —had vanished without a trace. This shows how dangerous it is to indulge in careless talk in • cafes. Where big money is con- cerned, experienced crooks can almost smell it. Q. Do you now of any way in which I can deal with some worn spots on an otherwise; good rug? A. Try buying a package of dye the colour of the background on your rug, mixing this with enough hot water to form a thin paste, and applying to the worn spots with a small brush. This should help lots. Many a man has lost control of his oar when his wife and son passed the driving test, HEAD OVER HEELS These ladies (from left to right), Edith Kelley, Jody Longley and Barbara Orcutt, give the topsy-turvy look on gymnasium bars at the Morgan Park High School. it's one way to keep fit, BACK TO SCHOOL — Marijke Van den Nouwland, 18, Bel- gian exchange student who lost her foot in a traffic accident, resumes classes in Joliet, III., with aid oftwo-way speaker provided by sympathetic residents of the area. H1iONICLE. INGEItFAAM GvxMolkv, D. Clexka If this column doesn't get into the paper it will be because the printers can't understand my handwriting! Generally speak- 'ing my copy is typed - but not this time. You see my portable typewriter is at the "cleaners"— and so am I! In other words I am occupying a much sought af- ter hospital bed which I have been waiting for since Christ- mas. That doesn't mean I am sick .. it is just that say doctor wants a few tests and X-rays taken and so on — and appar- ently it can't be done effectively unless I am completely inactive — and you all know how inactive a woman is likely to be in her own home. And so does my doc- tor. However, what I did for a couple of hours before I got here was just about equal•to a week's work. Partner and i were just finishing a leisurely dinner — it was twelve -fifteen to be ex- act —;when the telephone rang. This is part of the conversation that took place. "Is that Mrs. Clarke?" "Yes, speaking." "This is your local' hospital calling. We have a bed for you now, Mrs. Clarke." "Oh, you have — and when. do you wan'tme in?" "We would like you here by three o'clock today!" "Holy smoke! Is that all the time you can give me?" "I'm afraid so, Do you want to come in or not, Mrs. Clarke?" "1 don't want to come in but since my doctor thinks I should I suppose I'll have to." And I did. I had a bath, packed a bag and by that time Partner had a cup of tea ready and wait- ing. Then he phoned for a taxi to be at the house by twenty to three and therewas still no taxi. I phoned again. Yes, a cab had gone out but as it hadn't arrived, another would be sent—it would be there in ten minutes. While 1 was waiting I phoned the hos- pital that I' was ready but the taxi had got itself lost. I finally got here and I've been having a good time ever since. An elderly lady that I knew very well is on the same floor so she and her nurse•came to visit us after sup- per. I say "us" because I am in a semi -private room. My room- mate is a lively young girl a mother who has left two small children at home. Not only that but she is of the species that one rarely meets with these days . a girl who neither' drinks nor smokes! Lately I had almost come to the conclusion the spe- cies was practically extinct. It is a joy to find there are a few survivors. Well now, since, we are on the subject of hospitalization I won- der how many people saw the an- nouncement put in. the papers last week by the Ontario Hospi- tal Commission that arrange- ments had been made so that in future Hospital Insurance would cover not only hospitalization but also out-patient treatment — that is in specified cases. Whether e, person should be treatedas an "in-patient" or an "out-pa- tient" would be et the discretion of his or her doctor, Thank good- ness the Commission has final- ly come up with a suggestion that should ease the hospital bed shortage considerably. I am quite sura there are many peo- ple Occupying beds- these days because only in than way could they be sure the cost Of necessary treatment and diagnosis would be coveted by Hospital Incur - ante, In fact, directly I saw the announcement I thought "that lets me out — I won't need a hospital bed after all." My doc- tor thought otherwise, so here I ani . . . and with all the com- forts of home — a telephone and radio beside shy bed — the only thing I object to is the bed it- self. I' think when I get home I'll put my wits to work and in- vent a bed that doesn't throw you down to the floor when you wind up the head. Of course I have been in touch with Partner and the only thing he complains about is that he hasn't anyone to grumble at, at home, that is, no .one other than Taffy - dog and Ditto - cat. Popular Song Hit Comes From Moscow Vacationing in Brussels last summer with his blond wife, Bet- ty, British bandleader Kenny Ball heard a catchy tune with in- sinuating, Slavic overtones which momentarily halted his holiday - making. He couldn't understand the Belgiun _who announced the title. but the melody pouring out of Ball's transistor radio an- nounced •itself as a song to re- member. Reaching for the near- est piece of paper — which just happened to be his airlines ticket — Ball jotted down the notes of the main theme. "A Hungarian goulash band was playin' it," Ball recalled the other day. "I was gassed!" Withthe aid of experts back home in London, Bali found out that the tune which had caught his fancy was none other than "Moscow Nights," a long-stand- ing popular song hit in the U.S.S.R. where it has always been treated as a dreamy ballad in slow dance tempo. But this didn't bother Bali at all. "I knew from the first it was a solid trod jazz number," be said. "Trad," as might be guessed, is British musical slang for tradi- tional, or in the New Orleans or Chicago style. Trumpeter Ball's specialty is that same kind of ISSUE 12 — 1962 jazz, and, so he promptly record. ed the sengin 'a rousing Dixie- land. arrangement. Under the title of "Midnight in Moscow," Ballza's' record on the Pye jazz label i's li:iecl among Britain's top -tan disk hits last November and December, Now it looks very much as if this suc- cess story will be repeated in the U,S, Ball's original versian, re- lea-ee by Kapp, has sold more than 300.000 copies and jumped into the top ten on the trade popularity charts. Before long - it is expected to climb up am- ong the top three, There are three other different instrumen- tal versions available (on the London, Epic, and United Artists labels) and Kapp has also rush- ed out a vocal rendition by Jul- ius La Rosa with American-made words by Oscar Brand and Paul Nassau titled "You Can't Keep Me From Loving You." The publishers of "You Can't Keep Me From.Loving You," Hollis Music, Inc., want to shame their royalties with the two Russians who wrote the original "IVIoscow Nights" in 1957: Vasili Soloviev-Sedoi, who composed the music, and N. Matusovsky, the ,lyricist, So far, however, the firm has had no answer to its letter offering payment in return for some kind of reciprocal ag- reement covering the American popular music whiph is openly pirated by the Soviets and never paid for. With the possible • ex- ception of Khachaturian's "Sabre Dance" in 1948, no. Soviet music has ever even threatened the U.S. Hit Parade. The success of a jazzed -up "Moscow Nights" may make the Russians change their tune. Way -Out Hair Style Wows. The Teeners Hold the hair straight . out, tease it with a comb until it gets frizzled, then comb some of the outside hair over this big 'mess of frizzled -up hair and set it in place with a cloud of hair spray. This creates the bouffant, a hair- do filohed from eighteenth -cen- tury France, whose tortured var- iations. — mushroom, flip, French twist, chemise, French roll, ar- tichoke, apd bubble began sprouting a few years back. In the adult world, which has moved on to the Cleopatra look, it's now a bite passe.; But among U.S. teen- agers, bouffa'nts rare proliferating as fast as the toadstools they re- semble. "This is so much of a craze that it's practically.. driving us crazy;' reports Bertha Standfast, Hollywood High School's dean of women. In Chicago, goggle-eyed teachers suspect that as many as 70 per cent of teen-age heads are bouffant -crowned. The souf- fle -like coiffure has risen as. precipitously in Detroit. "We have tenth graderswho find it hard to get through the door- way," mutters a counselor at De- troit's Mumford High School. Many New York salons, which once seldom coiffed youngsters, now tease the locks of 25 to 30 a week. ' The fad has inevitably made the hair, of many a parentstand on end. "I'm fed up with it," snapped Mrs. Judy Merok, mother of -a 13 -year-old Atlanta child. "She starts working on it when she gets home from school, rolls it up before she goes to bed, skips breakfast to comb some more. If it rains she has a heart at- tack." But teen-agers toss their heads at such criticism, even suggest that their own parents like bouffants fine. As Victoria Souter, 18, of Los Angeles, puts • it: 'They think it's very regal" Boys are ambivalent, "I don't mind them if they're not too wild," says Jef Hartenfeld, 16, of Chicago. "By wild I mean one that is real high and real gray." In isolated spots, of course, many girls have brushed offthe bouffant, "Who can wear such a hairdo in our wind and fog?' asks the girls' dean at Abraham Uncoils High School in San Fran. also. Another Bay Side tcaehe_r agrees, 'It really was never a. problem. Only once did 5 have to speak to a girl — and that was because the boy • sitting behind her couldn't see the teacher," However, where bouffants are big, they are sometimes seen as symptoms of other problems, "There is a correlation between extreme hairdos and lea, grades," says a Los Angeles teacher.. "Some just want to excel at something," To hairc'ressers, who generally take a dim view of engineering such complex styles for young girls, the issue is also one of health, "It's a shame what they are doing to their. scalp," sighed a Chicago beauty -salon operator. "it can't breathe properly with this kind of hairdo." But such breathless' conformity across the campus shows little sign of sag- ging, "We will always wear our hair just like this," pledged Helen Alcser, 13, of Ferndale, Mich, "Or at least'urtil everybody else changes their style," From NEWSWEEK Modern Etiquette By Anne Ashley Q. Does it really make any difference whether one site down from the right or the left side of the chair at the dinner table? A. No; whichever side offer, the easier and quicker access is the one for you. ' "Men have poorer sight than women," says a woman optician. When they're choosing mates? ACCORDION LOOK — Youth and femininity keynote the pretty collection unveiled fol spring in Paris. "Lanterr skirt" fans from hip to knee with crisply pleated cerise chiffon; has tucked bodice. MUSSOLINI WEDS—Romano Mussolini, left, son of the late Italian dictator, places the wedding ring on his bride's finger, The bride, Maria Scicolone, 24, is sister of actress Sophia Loren, shown in' first row right in white hat.