HIDDEN PEARLS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2323, 16 October 1908, Page 1

HIDDEN PEARLS.

HOW A LOST NECKLACE WAS FOUND.

After being hidden for more than five mouths beneatlr'Tlie ledge ' of a window in her own house—a few feet above the pavement, where any pedestrian might have taken' it-—tho Countess von. Wartensleben’s famous £13,000 necklaeo of pearls, which had been missing since 13th February, and which has been the object of a world-wido search (writes the Berlin correspondent of tho London “Daily Mail”) lias been recovered.

• The hiding place was revealed as" the result of a clever trap laid'for the housemaid, who is. accused of having stolen and secreted ' the jewels. The alleged thief is a young married' woman named Steger, formerly tho countess’s maid, who was arrested immediately after tho pearls were missed, but was later released. Slio has been rearrested," and' says that slio had not intended to steal the pearls, but merely to distress the countess by! hiding them as an act of revenge for ill-treatment!

The 1-uso which finally led to. the recovery of tlio jewels was planned by! tho countess’s lawyer in connection with a suit slio instituted against a local periodical for.jiiisinirating that slio knew more" of the identity of the thief than she was willing to confess. Steger, tlio maid, had remained under tlio surveillance 'of'..’a private detective agency after her release from gaol, and the countess’s lawyer summoned' her to his office, to iiiform her that he proposed to' put her in tlio witness-box at the libel trial'to swear that she did not know wlio the thief was.

Stoger was completely' unnerved by tills proposal, arid observing lier. confusion, the lawyer suddenly confronted her with ah offer of L'oOO “and no questions asked” if she would assist-.in the recovery of the' jewels!, She did not immediately assent,' but the lawyer commissioned the detective agency to shadow her more, closely than ever. A woirian detective rented a room in Sieger’s bbarding-liouse, and contrived to become her intimate companion. Another detective, a man, was introduced, and had little difficulty in winning Steger’s confidence and affection. Finally she imparted her gre.it secret to him, arid arranged to escort him toy the Warten'sleben Palace a little/after midnight. ,

He stood on guard at the corner while Steger climbed nimbly up tlie wall and deftly prised open the lead covering of a window-ledge. She lifted out the pearls, which were wrapped in a ball of cotton, and triumphantly handed them to her sweetheart, who ivas to take them to the countess’s lawyer yesterday afternoon and arrange the details for Steger’s reward. He was then to meet her in the Cafe Friedrichof and divide the spoils. Steger appeared at the cafe at the appointed hour, but instead of meeting her friend she encountered a police official, who promptly -took her into custody. ■