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Show nobleman whose signet ring bears the NfciA . jT V I coat-of-arms of one of Europe's proud- ft'' 'jvy V v V " i$f erf families? Or was it the slender, KY1 ' '' ' :'v ' " r gcm-laccn hand of a vjoman prominent Ir7 . jPHHJjHpVy)j. in Phitrdclphi''' : ::clu:;ivz society I ff ''' .f yS jfl SO TITS for damages brought fey two former servants in the palatial home of George H. McFaddcn, fashionable Philadelphia millionaire, renew re-new interest in the disappearance of Mrs McFadden's $250,000 pearl neck-lice neck-lice and make it a more puzzling mystery mys-tery than ever. 1 . This is by all odds the st rangest mys- tery of its kind America has ever known, k. There is nothing to match it outside the ' psges of fiction, and in many of its aspects as-pects it even outstrips the imagination of the novelists. The mystery has heen studied from evpry angle by master detectives, by ! writT? of ik-r. . stories and by all I I the most expert criminologists. City, )l I Fed. si. i anl i!.vate detectives have I to unravel it, W led all over America and Europe But the whereabouts of the man'elous Ja McFadden rope of pearls, valued at a H quarter of a millon dollar? and the I rtdnner of their disappearance are still unknown ! According to the testimony of Mrs. j I McFaddcn the pearls vanished from her H I room one niccht while she lay asleep. She herself I,, d j d them in her jewel D0 just befo r ing; the next mpm- I fag they were :'one. Whose was the hand that stealthily HH Med the $250,000 rope of pearls from I t 'he . , i, ; hM Was .t the rough, grimy, work-stained nflti hand of a . r. w ' t 1 a ib man ipse Tb '?r''- ring the coat of arms of I one of Europe's, proudest families? 11 the slender, gem-laden ha-ri , a woman proni in Philft- 7.1 j 'phia's most ... ociety cii Jli : . w of the countless I Dorics which haw been advanced to ''''-" , ce of the pearls, be. thus far the nougli qvi- ? j j : ' ' ' ' we real explanation of the mystery. The robbery was discovered on the horning 0f October T, 1920 It wus """Je public several days later, after the I memer8 of the family, private detectives detec-tives and thy Philadelphia police had ben unable to get any information from rV:i!lls voul,j throw any I "Kb On th- n,y I A few nmn.h, Idn Bli.idv Maguit, Jnorial maid to Mrs. McFadden, and ; --hvlamo Jeanne Auberlet governess in McI a-i.K-n household, were arrested. I1"' arrest came just after thy gover-lSj gover-lSj had applied for passport to France. n the sensational legal fight that fol-d fol-d the women obtained their release trough habeas corpus proceedings, but Until a series of amazing and con-5tig con-5tig stories had been brought to light through sworn testimony. t, Before attempting to summarize some of these pointed out that George H. McFaddcn is a wealthy cotton broker and the leading member of the historic family of that name, known for genera- tions in the most exclusive socl- . . ety of Philadelphia. ' Mis. McFadden is considered f one of the most charming society women in America. She is the P: 1 daughter of Mrs. Benjamin p. " , Franklin Clyde, who is said to b- f the real owner of the missing I rope of pearl?. , All the elements of mystery used by fiction writers and scenario experts are to be found in this extraordinary melodrama i'-of i'-of actual society life. One of them concerns a grand duke who was said to havo been madly infatuated with Mrs. McFadden. His name was never given, but sworn reference was made to him in the habeas corpus proceedings , On the last night the rope of p rl was seen the McFadden were the hosts of Philadelphia society at a big social function in their Villa Neva home. The pearls were missed the next day. Mr. McFadden hnd gone to his Philadelphia office when he was notified by his wife of their disappearance. He in turn notified noti-fied John G. Bell, former Attorney General of Pennsylvania and widely known lawyer. Mr. Bell "and Mr McFaddcn hurried out to the house. They summoned Captain Cap-tain Sweeney of the Radnor police and a conference was held. Servants were questioned one by one and released. Private detectives were employed, and as a result of their investigations a valet was arrested. He was held in prison for many days, but finally released. It was five days after the lo;s of the $250,000 necklace before it became public, through the arrest of the irileti In November of 1920. when public interest began to lag again, it became know that a woman had telephoned to William E. Miller, an insurance adjuster, offering to retjirn the jewels if she could be assurey! of the reward of 50,-000 50,-000 that had been olTered. Negotiations continued for some time, but got no-. no-. where. In the mean time the insurance companies that had issued policies totalling total-ling SK.S.000 on the pearls refused to make payment. Investigations dragged along until March of 1W, Then the case was HBP B Blanche Maqult, m?.id to Mrs. McFadtltn nt t'ic lime the peaii3 vanished stirred up again by the arrest tf the two women servants. It was the plan of the McFadden attorneys to delay the preliminary hearing hear-ing until the investigation could be completed. com-pleted. The attorneys for the girls forced a showdown. As a result they were held in $5,000 bail, although there was little evidence to show that either of them had anything t do with the disappearance of the jewelry. In the testimony of Mrs. McFadden, with the prompting.; of her attorneys, an effort was made to create the impression impres-sion that the jewelry was removed by the maid, and thut it was hidden In Mrs. McFadden's discarded silken lingerie. She said she retired shortly after midnight, mid-night, placing the pearls in a jewel box on her drcsscY. After she had finished dressing in the morning she looked in the jewel box and saw the pearls were gone. The two servants were remanded to jail in $",000 bail each, and then began the legal battle for their release. When their habeas corpus proceeding was started the charge was made that the McFaddens were trying to "railroad" the servants. But the real sensation came when McFaddcn charged that the former governess told him that his wife was responsible for the disappearance of the pearls, t , . :frf. -j? "V y . . ., .' . ' , i v i- . I . "'- v . 2 ' . " ( i - ' ; 0 j Mi&s Marion Renee Carhart, whose pearl necklace was strangely lost and found again in the carefully guarded millionaires' colony at Tuxedo Park, N. Y. According to this story the jewels had been placed in a black bag on the night of the party and had been hidden undej a hush near the house. The next day Mrs. Clydc-rthe mother of Mrs. McFadden, McFad-den, carried away the bag. it was charged by the servant, according to Mr. McFadden. The cotton broker asserted that Mme. Auberlet had tried to extort $50,000 from him "to save the family honor." His reply was to have her arrested. McFadden testified that the governess generally ate breakfast with him and with the two McFadden children, while Mrs McFadden had breakfast in her room. One morning shortly before her arrest Mme. Auberlet said, according to McFadden: "I don't see what this row is all about. You've got the jewels and you took your wife down to your office in January, Janu-ary, cross-examined her for three hours and forced a confession from her. If you will give me tlje moin y, I will pro-r. pro-r. t the family honor and go back to France." "L had a series of interviews with Mme. Auberlet over a period of six weeks," said Mr. McFaddcn "At the first interview she said she knew the plans by which the jewels were taken. She stated she could not give the plans because she wanted to discuss the matter mat-ter with a Mr. Kimball, who was coming over from New York. I pressed her to tell me about it and she hinted that my own family was connected with it. "At the second interview she asked me what guaranty I would give that she would not be put In jail. I told her if she was innocent she needed no guaran-. ty. At this interview Charles H, Bryant, a private detective, was present, and Mme Auberlet repeated her question about a guaranty several times She said I hod promised her $50,000 if she produced the jewels or the culprit or the plan, saying I had made this promise at my house in October. I had told her I thought the insurance company would increase the reward to $50,000. "At the later interview she stated that the plan was created by my wife and my mother-in-law, Mrs. Clyde. According Ac-cording to Mme Auberlet, my wife got up late in the night, put the stuff in the black leather bag and hid the bag fortune in pearls has so mysteriously vanished in the bushes, my mother-in-law, who I arrived next day, went to the bushes and put the bag under the cloak sh wore, giving as the reason for all this M that she and my wife wished to go to Europe and hvo independently I "I asked Mme. Auberlet for the facts, but she said she could not give them to I me. She told me she was very fond of my children and that as she wanted to I preserve the family honor she would , I keep quiet and go to France, intimating t in the presence of Mr. Bell that for $50,000 she would remain silent and I save Mrs. McFadden and Mrs Clyde I this scandal. I told her that our family , I had nothing to conceal." I It was the McFadden attorney who I brought out the reference to the grand duke. John C. Bell, testifying as a wit- I ness for his clients, swore that at one of I the conferences with Mine. Auberlet I she explained Mrs, McFadden's desire to go abroad by her alleged liking for a grand duke- who had been attentive to her. Both Mrs. McFadden and her mother laughed at that story. Judge Johnson ordered the release of ! the two servants when the McFaddens v ere unable to produce any more incriminating in-criminating evidence and when the governess gov-erness indignantly denied that she had . ' attempted to blackmail her employer. But this did not end the investigation. Detectives throughout the world arc still trying to solve the McFadden jewel mystery. mys-tery. Jewel markets are being watched for the famous rope of pearls, which, according ac-cording to one expert, is worth $300,000. And now the whole case is to he reopened, re-opened, apparently, by damage suits brought by the two servants-There servants-There arc some who think that Mrs. McFadden's pearls will turn up again even at this late day, and as mysteriously mysterious-ly as they vanished. They base this belief be-lief on the recent surprising experience of Miss Marion Renee Carhart, the HffiUj New York heiress. Miss Carhart's pearl necklace disappeared disap-peared one night much as Mrs. McFadden's McFad-den's did. Its disappearance could not be traced to any of the servants, and it seemed incredible that it could have been carried off by burglars, for Tuxedo Park, where the Carhart mansion is located, is one of the mo6t carefully guarded places in the world. A few days later, while detectives were scouring the country, the pearls reappeared right in the place where Miss Carhart had left them the nigh 1 they vanished |