Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 November 1891 — The Diamond Duke. [ARTICLE]

The Diamond Duke.

The Diamond Duke was a nickname given Charles Frederick William Augustus, a Duke of Brunswick in the present century, who was driven out of his dominions by his people in 1831 and who died in exile a few years ago. He was undoubtedly crazj-, and manifested his mental aberration in several peculiar wnj's. He thought everybody was trying to rob him, and his house in Paris was constructed like a fortress. No one was admitted save his intimates, and sometimes his freakish temper denied even them. He converted a large part of his wealth into diamonds, which he kept in strong boxes, secured in cellars and guarded with more precautions than are taken by most banks. The underground rooms where he kept his riches were accessible by secret staircases, the doors of which, when discovered, could be opened only by a knowledge of the numerous combination locks with which they were fastened. His valuable papers and most preciousjewels were kept in a large chest at the head of his bed, and by touching a button the box and its contents descended into a well 150 feet deep. During the last years of his life he spent his time either, in fondling his diamonds or in selecting his costume for the evening. Bewigged. powdered and painted be went nut in the afternoon far bis drive, then,

with ns many of his jowol# as he could bestow ou his person and guarded by half a doson private detectives, he visited the thoatre and returned home. He lived in mortal fear of being poisoned and finally died under the impression that his servants had given him arsenic, in his coffee. —[St. Louis Globo-Demo-crat.