e Castlecourt
Diamond
Case
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m Cieraldine B
onner
THE CASTLECOURT
DIAMOND CASE
SHE MADE A SORT OF GRASP AT THE CASE
[Page 30
The Castlecourt
Diamond Case
BEING A COMPILATION OF THE STATEMENTS
MADE BY THE VARIOUS PARTICIPANTS IN
THIS CURIOUS CASE NOW, FOR THE FIRST
TIME, GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC :: :: : :
By
GERALDINE BONNER
Author of "Hard Pan," " The Pioneers^ etc.
FRONTISPIECE ILLUSTRATION
BY
HARRIE F. STONER-. ;
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1906
COPYRIGHT, 1905
BY
GERALDINE BONNER
[Printed in the United States of America}
Published, December, 1905
CONTENTS
Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady s maid
to the Marchioness of Castlecourt . . 9
Statement of Lilly Bingham, known in
England as Laura Brice, in the
United States as Frances Latimer,
to the police of both countries as
Laura the Lady, besides having re
cently figured as a housemaid at
Burridge s Hotel, London, under
the alias of Sara Dwight 47
Statement of Cassius P. Kennedy, for
merly of Necropolis City, Ohio, now
Manager of the London Branch of
the Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage
Company (Ltd.) of Chicago and St.
Louis 95
5
M13741.
CONTENTS
Statement of John Burns Gilsey, private
detective, especially engaged on the
Castlecourt diamond case 127
The Statement of Daisy K. Fairweather
Kennedy, late of Necropolis City,
Ohio, at present a resident of 15
Farley Street, Knightsbridge, Lon
don 157
Statement of Gladys, Marchioness of
Castlecourt . , 189
Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady s
maid to the Marchioness of Castle-
court. :::::::::::
Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady s
maid to the Marchioness of Castle-
court. :::::::::::
I HAD been in Lady Castlecourt s
service two years when the Castle-
court diamonds were stolen. I am
not going to give an account of how
I was suspected and cleared. That s
not the part of the story I m here
to set down. It s about the disap
pearance of the diamonds that I m
to tell, and I m ready to do it to the
best of my ability.
We were in London, at Bur-
ridge s Hotel, for the season. Lord
Castlecourt s town house at Gros-
vener Gate was let to some rich
Americans, and for two years now
we had stayed at Burridge s. It was
9
THE CASTLECOUET
the third of April when we came to
town my lord, my lady, Chawlmers
(my lord s man), and myself. The
children had been sent to my lord s
aunt, Lady Mary Cranbury she
who s unmarried, and lives at Cran
bury Castle, near Worcester.
Lord Castlecourt didn t like going
to the hotel at all. Chawlmers used
to tell me how he d talk sometimes.
Chawlmers has been with my lord
ten years, and was born on the es
tate of Castlecourt Marsh Manor.
But my lord generally did what my
lady wanted, and she was not at all
partial to the country. She d say
to me she was always full of her
jokes:
"Yes, it s an excellent place, the
country an excellent place to get
away from, Jeffers. And the farther
10
DIAMOND CASE
away you get the more excellent it
seems."
My lady had been born in Ireland,
and lived there till she was a woman
grown. It s not for me to comment
on my betters, but I ve heard it said
she didn t have a decent frock to her
back till old Lady Bundy took her
up and brought her to London. Her
father was a clergyman, the Rev.
McCarren Duffy, of County Clare,
and they do say he hadn t a penny
to his fortune, and that my lady ran
wild in cotton frocks and with holes
in her stockings till Lady Bundy saw
her. I ve heard tell that Lady Bundy
said of her she d be the most beauti
ful woman in London since the Gun
nings (whoever they were), and just
brought her up to town and fitted her
out from top to toe. In a month she
11
THE CASTLECOUKT
was the talk of the season, and be
fore it was over she was betrothed
to the Marquis of Castlecourt, who
was a great match for her.
But she was the beggar on horse
back you hear people talk about.
Lord Castlecourt wasn t what would
be called a millionaire, but he gave
her more in a month than she d had
before in five years, and she d spend
it all and want more. It seemed as
if she didn t know the value of
money. If she d see a pretty thing
in a shop she d buy it, and if she had
not got the ready money they d give
her the credit; for, being the Mar
chioness of Castlecourt, all the shop
people were on their knees to her,
they were that anxious to get her
patronage. Then when the bills
would come in she would be quite
12
DIAMOND CASE
surprised and wonder how she had
come to spend so much, and hide
them from Lord Castlecourt. After
ward she d forget all about them,
even where she d put them.
Lord Castlecourt was so fond of
her he d have forgiven her anything.
They d been married five years when
I entered my lady s service, and he
was as much in love with her as if
he d been married but a month. And
I don t blame him. She was the
prettiest lady, and the most coaxing,
I ever laid eyes on. She might well
be Irish: there was blarney on her
tongue for all the world, and money
ready to drop off the ends of her
fingers into any palm that was held
out. There was no story of misfor
tune but would bring the tears- to
her eyes and her purse to her hand:
13
THE CASTLECOUET
generous and soft hearted she was
to every creature that walked. No
one could be angry with her long.
I ve seen Lord Castlecourt begin to
scold her, and end by laughing at her
and kissing her. Not but what she
respected him and loved him. She
did both, and she was afraid of him
too. No one knew better than my
lady when it was time to stop trifling
with my lord and be serious.
It was Lord Castlecourt s custom
to go to Paris two or three times
every year. He had a sister married
there of whom he was very fond,
and he and her husband would go
off shooting boars to a place with
a name I can t remember. My lady
was always happy to go to Paris.
She d say she loved it, and the thea
ters, and the shops tho what she
14
DIAMOND CASE
could see in it I never understood.
A dirty, messy city, and full of men
ready to ogle an honest, Christian
woman, as if she was what half the
women look like that go prancing
along the streets. My lady spent a
good deal of her time at the dress
makers, and she and I were forever
going up to top stories in little, silly
lifts that go up of themselves. I d a
great deal rather have walked than
trusted myself to such unsafe, French
contrivances underhand, dangerous
things, that might burst at any mo
ment, / say.
The year before the time I am
writing of we went to Paris, as usual,
in March. We stopped at the Bris
tol, and stayed one month. My lady
went out a great deal, and between-
whiles was, as usual, at what they
15
THE CASTLECOUET
call there " couturieres ," at the jew
elers , or the shops on the Rue de la
Paix. She also bought from Bol-
konsky, the furrier, a very smart
jacket of Eussian sable that I ll be
bound cost a pretty penny. When
we went back to London for the
season her beauty and her costumes
were the talk of the town. Old
Lady Bundy s maid told me that
Lady Bundy went about saying:
"And but for me, she d be the moth
er of the red-headed larrykins of an
Irish squireen ! Which didn t seem
to me nice talk for a lady.
We spent that summer at Castle-
court Marsh Manor very quietly, as
was my lord s wish. My lady did
not seem in as good spirits as usual,
which I set down to the country life
that she always said bored her. Once
16
DIAMOND CASE
or twice she told me that she felt ill,
which I d never known her to say
before, and one day in the late sum
mer I discoverd her in tears. She
did not seem to be herself again
till we went to Paris in September.
Then she brightened up, and was
soon in higher spirits than ever.
She was on the go continually often
would go out for lunch, and not be
back till it was time to dress for
dinner. She enjoyed herself in
Paris very much, she told me. And
I think she did, for I never saw her
more animated almost excited with
high spirits and success.
The following spring we left Cas-
tlecourt Marsh Manor, and, as I said
before, came to Burridge s on April
the third. The season was soon in full
swing, and my lady was going out
17
THE CASTLECOURT
morning, noon, and night. There
was no end to it, and I was worn
out. When she was away in the
afternoon I d take forty winks on
the sofa, and have Sara Dwight, the
housemaid of our rooms, bring me
a cup of tea, when she d sometimes
take one herself, and we d gossip a
bit over it.
If I d known what an important
person Sara Dwight was going to
turn out I d have taken more notice
of her. But, unfortunately, thieves
don t have a mark on their brow like
Cain, and Sara was the last girl
any one would have suspected was
dishonest. All that I ever thought
about her was that she was a neat,
civil-spoken girl, who knew her bet
ters and her elders when she saw
them. She was quick on her feet,
18
DIAMOND CASE
modest and well mannered not
what you d call good-looking: too
pale and small for my taste, and
Chawlmers quite agreed with me.
The one thing I noticed about her
were her hands, which were white
and fine like a lady s. Once when I
asked her how she kept them so well,
she laughed, and said, not having a
pretty face, she tried to have pretty
hands.
" Because a girl ought to have
something pretty about her, oughtn t
she, Miss Jeffers?" she said to me,
quiet and respectful as could be.
I answered, as I thought it was
my duty, that beauty was only skin
deep, and if your character was hon
est your face would take care of
itself.
19
THE CASTLECOURT
She looked down at her hands, and
smiled a little and said:
"Yes, I suppose that s true, Miss
Jeffers. I ll try to remember it.
It s what every girl ought to feel,
I m sure."
Sara Dwight had the greatest ad
miration for Lady Castlecourt.
She d manage to be standing about
in doorways and on the stairs when
my lady passed dow r n to go to din
ner and to the opera. Then she d
come back and tell me how beautiful
my lady was, and how she envied
me being her maid. While she was
talking she d help me tidy up the
room, and sometimes because she
admired my lady so I d let her look
at the new clothes from Paris as
they hung in the wardrobe. Sara
would gape with admiration over
20
DIAMOND CASE
them. She spoke a little about my
lady s jewels, but not much. I d
have suspected that.
It was in the fifth week after we
came to town to be exact, on the
afternoon of the fourth day of May
that the diamonds were stolen. As
I d been so badgered and questioned
and tormented about it, I ve got it
all as clear in my head as a photo
graph just how it was and just
what time everything happened.
That evening my lady was going
to dinner at the Duke of Duxbury s.
It was to be a great dinner a prince
and a prime minister, and I don t
know what all besides. My lady was
to wear a new gown, from Paris and
the diamonds. She told me when she
went out what she would want and
when she would be back. That was
21
THE CASTLECOURT
at four, and I was not to expect her
in till after six.
Some time before that I got her
things ready, the gown laid out, and
the diamonds on the dressing-table.
They were kept in a leather case of
their own, and then put in a des
patch-box that shut with a patent
lock. When we traveled I always
carried this box that is, when my
lady used it. A good deal of the
time it was at the bankers . Lord
Castlecourt was very choice about
the diamonds. Some of them had
been in his family for generations.
The way they were set now in a
necklace with pendants, the larger
stones surrounded by smaller ones
had been a new setting made for his
mother. My lady wanted them
changed, and I remember that Lord
22
DIAMOND CASE
Castleeourt was vexed with her, and
she couldn t pet and coax him back
into a good humor for some days.
One of the last things that I did
that afternoon while arranging the
dressing-table was to open the des
patch-box and take the leather case
out. Tho it was May, and the eve
nings were very long, I turned on
the electric lights, and, unclasping
the case, looked at the necklace.
I was standing this way when
Chawlmers comes to the side door
of the room (the whole suite was
connected with doors), and asks me
if I could remember the number of
the bootmakers where my lady
bought her riding-boots. Some
friend of Chawlmers wanted to know
the address. I couldn t at first re
member it, and I was standing this
23
THE CASTLECOUET
way, trying to recollect, when I
heard the clock strike six. I told
Chawlmers I d get it for him. I was
certain it was in my lady s desk,
and I put the case down on the bu
reau, and Chawlmers and I together
went into the sitting-room (the door
open between us and my lady s
room) and looked for it. We found
it in a minute, and Chawlmers was
writing it down in his pocket-book
when I thought I heard (so light
and soft you could hardly say you d
heard anything) a rustle like a wo
man s skirt in the next room. For
a second I thought it was my lady,
and I jumped, for I d no business
at her desk, and I knew she d be
vexed and scold me.
Chawlmers didn t hear a thing,
and looked at me astonished. Then
24
DIAMOND CASE
I ran to the door and peeped in.
There was no one there, and I
thought, of course, I d been mis
taken.
We didn t leave the room directly,
but stood by the desk talking for a
bit. When I told this to the detect
ives, one of the papers said it
showed "how deceptive even the best
servants were." As if a valet and
a lady s maid couldn t stop for a
moment of talk! Poor things! we
work hard enough most of the time,
I m sure. And that we weren t long
standing there idle can be seen from
the fact that I heard half -past six
strike. I was for urging Chawlmers
to go then as Lady Castlecourt
might be in at any moment but he
hung about, following me into my
lady s room, helping me draw the
25
THE CASTLECOTJRT
curtains and turn on all the lights,
for my lady can t bear to dress by
daylight.
It was nearly seven o clock when
we heard the sound of her skirts in
the passage. Chawlmers slipped off
into his master s rooms, shutting
the door quietly behind him. My
lady was looking very beautiful. She
had on a blue hat trimmed with blue
and gray hydrangeas, and under
neath it her hair was like spun gold,
and her eyes looked soft and dark.
It never seemed to tire her to be al
ways on the go. But I d thought
lately she d been going too much,
for sometimes she was pale, and once
or twice I thought she was out of
spirits the way she d been in the
country last summer.
She seemed so to-night, not talk-
26
DIAMOND CASE
ing as much as usual. There were
some letters for her on the corner
of the dressing-table, and I could
see her face in the glass as she read
them. One made her smile, and then
she sat thinking and biting her lip,
which was as red as a cherry. She
seemed to me to be preoccupied.
When I was making the side "ondu-
lations" of her hair which every
body knows is a most critical oper
ation she jerked her head, and said
suddenly she wondered how the chil
dren were. I never before knew my
lady to think about the children
when her hair was being attended to.
She was sitting in front of the
dressing-table, her toilet complete,
when she stretched out her hand to
the leather case of the diamonds. I
was looking at the reflection in the
27
THE CASTLECOURT
mirror, thinking that she was as per
fect as I could make her. She, too,
had been looking at the back of her
head, and still held the small glass
in one hand. The other she reached
out for the diamonds. The case had
a catch that you had to press, and I
saw, to my surprise, that she raised
the lid without pressing this. Then
she gave a loud exclamation. There
were no diamonds there!
She turned round and looked at
me, and said:
"How odd! Where are they,
Jeffers?"
I felt suddenly as if I was going
to fall dead, and afterward, when my
lady stood by me and said it was
nonsence to suspect me, one of the
things she brought up as a proof of
my innocence was the color I turned
28
DIAMOND CASE
and the way I looked at that mo
ment.
"Jeffers!" she said, suddenly ris
ing up quick out of her chair. And
then, without my saying a word, she
went white and stood staring at me.
"My lady, my lady," was all I
could falter out, "I don t know I
don t know!"
"Where are they, Jeffers? What s
happened to them?"
My voice was all husky like a per
son s with a cold, as I stammered:
"They were in the case an hour
ago."
My lady caught me by the arm,
and her fingers gripped tight into
my flesh.
"Don t say they re stolen, Jef
fers!" she cried out. "Don t tell me
that ! Lord Castlecourt would never
THE CASTLECOURT
forgive me. Hell never forgive
me! They re worth thousands and
thousands of pounds! They can t
have been stolen!"
She spoke so loud they heard her
in the next room, and Lord Castle-
court came in. He was a tall gen
tleman, a little bald, and I can see
him now in his black clothes, with
the white of his shirt bosom gleam
ing, standing in the doorway looking
at her. He had a surprised expres
sion on his face, and was frowning a
little; for he hated anything like
loud talking or a scene.
" What s the matter, Gladys?" he
said. " You re making such a noise
I heard you in my room. Is there
a fire?"
She made a sort of grasp at the
case, and tried to hide it. Chawl-
30
DIAMOND CASE
mers was in the doorway behind my
lord, and I saw him staring at her
and trying not to. He told me after
ward she was as white as paper.
"The diamonds," she faltered out
"your diamonds your family s
your mother s."
Lord Castlecourt gave a start, and
seemed to stiffen. He did not move
from where he was, but stood rigid,
looking at her.
"What s the matter with them?"
he said, quick and quiet, but not as
if he was calm.
She threw the case she had been
trying to hide on the dressing-table.
It knocked over some bottles, and lay
there open and empty. My lord
sprang at it, took it up, and shook it.
"Gone?" he said, turning to my
lady. "Stolen, do you mean?"
31
THE CASTLECOURT
"Yes yes yes," she said, like
that three times; and then she fell
back in the chair and put her hands
over her face.
Lord Castlecourt turned to me.
"What s this mean, Jeffers?
You ve had charge of the diamonds."
I told him all I knew and as well as
I could, what with my legs trembling
that they d scarce support me, and
my tongue dry as a piece of leather.
When I got toward the end, my lady
interrupted me, crying out:
"Herbert, it isn t my fault, it
isn t! Jeffers will tell you I ve tak
en good care of them. I ve not been
careless or forgetful about them, as
I have about other things. I have
been careful of them! It isn t my
fault, and you mustn t blame me!"
Lord Castlecourt made a sort of
32
DIAMOND CASE
gesture toward her to be still. I
could see it meant that. He kept
the case, and, going to the door,
locked it.
"How long have you been in these
rooms?" he said, turning round on
me with the key in his hand.
I told him, trembling, and almost
crying. I had never seen my lord
look so terribly stern. I don t know
whether he was angry or not, but I
was afraid of him, and it was for
the first time; for he d always been
a kind and generous master to me
and the other servants.
"Oh, my lord," I said, feeling sud
denly weighed down with dread and
misery, "you surely don t think I
took them?"
"I m not thinking anything," he
said. "You and Chawlmers are to
33
THE CASTLECOURT
stay in this room, and not move from
it till you get my orders. I ll send
at once for the police. "
My lady turned round in her chair
and looked at him.
The police V she said. Oh, Her
bert, wait till to-morrow! You re
not even sure yet that they are
stolen."
" Where are they, then?" he says,
quick and sharp. "Jeffers says she
saw them in that case an hour ago.
They are not in the case now. Do
either you or she know where they
are?"
I was down on my knees, picking
up the bottles that had been knocked
over by the empty jewel-case.
"Not I, God knows," I said, and
I began to cry.
"The matter must be put in the
34
DIAMOND CASE
hands of the police at once," my
lord said. "I ll have the hotel police
man here in a few minutes, and the
rooms searched. Jeffers and Chawl-
mers and their luggage will be
searched to-morrow."
My lady gave a sort of gasp. I
was close to her feet, and I heard
her. But, for myself, I just broke
down, and, kneeling on the floor with
the overturned bottles spilling co
logne all around me, cried worse
than I ve done since I was in short
frocks.
"Oh, my lady, I didn t take them!
I didn t! You know I didn t!" I
sobbed out.
My lady looked very miserable.
"My poor Jeffers," she said, and
put her hand on my shoulder, "I m
sure you didn t. If I d only a six-
35
THE CASTLECOURT
pence in the world I d stake that on
your honesty."
Lord Castlecourt didn t say any
thing. He went to the bell and
pressed it. When the boy answered
it he gave him a message in a low
tone, and it didn t seem five min
utes before two men were in the
room. I did not know till after
ward that one was the manager, and
the other the hotel policeman. I
stopped my crying the best I could,
and heard my lord telling them that
the diamonds were gone, and that
Chawlmers and I had been the only
people in the room all the afternoon.
Then he said he wanted them to
communicate at once with Scotland
Yard, and have a capable detective
sent to the hotel.
"Lady Castlecourt and I are going
36
DIAMOND CASE
to dinner, " lie said, looking at Ms
watch. "We will have to leave, at
the latest, within the next twenty
minutes."
Lady Castlecourt cried out at
that:
"Herbert, I don t see how I can
go to that dinner. I am altogether
too upset, and, besides, it will be too
late. It s eight o clock now."
"We can make the time up in the
carriage," my lord said; and he went
into the next room with the police
man, where they talked together in
low voices. I helped my lady on
with her cloak, and she stood wait
ing, her eyebrows drawn together,
looking very pale and worried.
When my lord came back he said
nothing, only nodded to my lady
37
THE CASTLECOURT
that he was ready, and, without a
word, they left the room.
I tried to tidy the bureau and pick
up the bottles as well as I could, and
every time I looked at the door into
the sitting-room I saw that police
man s head peering round the door
post at me.
That was an awful night. I did
not know it till afterward, but both
Chawlmers and I were under what
they call " surveillance." I did not
know either that Lord Castlecourt
had told the policeman he believed us
to be innocent; that we were of ex
cellent character, and nothing but
positive proof would make him think
either of us guilty. All I felt, as I
tossed about in bed, was that I was
suspected, and would be arrested and
probably put in jail. Fifteen years
38
DIAMOND CASE
of honest service in noble families
wouldn t help me much if the de
tectives took it into their heads I
was guilty.
The next morning we heard about
the disappearance of Sara Dwight,
and things began to look brighter.
Sara had left the hotel at a little
after seven the evening before,
speaking to no one, and carrying a
small portmanteau. When they
came to examine her room and her
box they found a jacket and skirt
hanging on the wall, some burnt
papers in the grate, and the box
almost empty, except for some cheap
cotton underclothes and a dirty wad
ded quilt put in to fill up. Sara had
given no notice, and had not at any
time told any of her fellow servants
39
THE CASTLECOURT
that she was dissatisfied with her
place or wanted to leave.
That morning Mr. Brison, the
Scotland Yard detective, had us up
in the sitting-room asking us ques
tions till I was fair muddled, and
didn t know truth from lies. Lord
Castlecourt and my lady were both
present, and Mr. Brison was for
ever politely asking my lady ques
tions till she got quite angry with
him, and said she wasn t at all
sure the diamonds were stolen; they
might have been mislaid, and would
turn up somewhere. Mr. Brison was
surprised, and asked my lady if she
had any idea where they were liable
to turn up ; and my lady looked an
noyed, and said it was a silly ques
tion, and that she " wasn t a clair
voyant."
40