THE CASTLECOURT DIAMOND CASE [Illustration: _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 [Illustration] 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 recently figured as a housemaid at Burridge’s Hotel, London, under the alias of Sara Dwight 47 Statement of Cassius P. Kennedy, formerly 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 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, London 157 Statement of Gladys, Marchioness of Castlecourt 189 Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady’s maid to the Marchioness of Castlecourt. Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady’s maid to the Marchioness of Castlecourt. I had been in Lady Castlecourt’s service two years when the Castlecourt 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 disappearance 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 Burridge’s Hotel, for the season. Lord Castlecourt’s town house at Grosvenor Gate was let to some rich Americans, and for two years now we had stayed at Burridge’s. It was 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 Cranbury 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 estate 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: