Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 October 1893 — SAFE FROM THIEVES. [ARTICLE]

SAFE FROM THIEVES.

A Costly Ring Left to It* Fate in Spain'* Capital. A costly ring, unguarded by police or other special protection, hangs suspended to a silken cord round the neck of a statue of the Maid of Almadena, the patron saint of Madrid, in one of the much frequented parks of the Spanish capital, says the Philadelphia Record. It is set with valuable diamonds and pearls, but, notwithstanding, there is not tho least danger of its beinn stolen; the greatest thief in Spain would sooner steal the plate from his own mother’s coffin than to even so much as to touch the uncanny relic. Its history is curious and interesting, being equal to anything related In mediaeval folklore. It was made in accordance with a special order from the late Alfonso XII., who gave it to his cousin, the beautiful Mercedes, on the day of their betrothal. She wore it constantly during her short married life. Upon her death the King presented it to his grandmother, Queen Christina. She died soon after accepting it and tho King then passed the deadly little jeweled band of gold to his mother, Infanta de Pilar, who died within a month after. Again the accursed circlet started on its ahadly ronnds, next finding a place upon the finger of Christina, daughtefc of the Duke de Montpensier. In less than one hundred days she, too, was dead. Alfonso then put the cursed iowel in his own casket of precious relics, and lived less than a year after so doing. Is it any wonder that such a harbinger of death can safely hang on a statue in an unguarded square?