Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 November 1875 — A Diamond of Ill-Omen. [ARTICLE]

A Diamond of Ill-Omen.

A lady of great accomplishments, and one who has had considerable experience of life—none other than the wife of Capt. Burton, the. renowned African traveler—has just published a book in which sho foretells much peril to England, and especially to Queen Victoria, if that sovereign persists in retaining irfher possession the celebrated Koh-i-noor diamond. That stone has always had a bad reputation. It is said, though without sufficient reason, to have been discovered in the mines of Golconda, and that in consequence of some terrible deed of cruelty perpetrated on its- tinder his dying curse still clings to it. Mrs. Burton traces the history oi the gem through many possessors, all bf whom suffered some terrible disaster or came to a violent death. The first lost his kingdom, the second died in exile, others were strangled or assassinated in different ways. The fall of the once great Empire of Aurungzebe she attributed to’the Mountain of Light. When Nadir Shall captured Delhi he took away with him to Persia treasure and jewels of incalculable value, among them the Koh-i-noor. From the moment he reached Persia “everything went wrong.” The Emperor was soon after assassinated and his jewels stolen. Its next possessor was poisoned; the two next had their eyes put out. and so on, disaster ever following the stone till it came into the possession of Runjeet Sing, the Lion of the Punjab. He died soon after—then his son was poisoned, and at brief intervals his grandson and great-grandson also were assassinated. Anarchy followed —then came the conquest of the Punjab, and so the diamond fell into its present destination.

This is all matter of history, and has been recounted by previous writers. But Mrs. Burton does not pretend to go only over the old ground qgain. She declares that she did not know the history of the gem until she had had a dream, wherein it was made known to her. She then looked into the question, though it must be allowed that she is not quite accurate in her account of the fortunes of the former proprietors. Many of them whom she does not mention were prosperous and powerful ruters; some died peaceable deaths, and one, the monarch of the Sikhs, so far as regarding the diamond as illomened, valued it as a holy relic and bequeathed it to Juggernaut. But Mrs, Burton is a firm believer in omens, and entreats the Queen to discard the stone, which she sometimes wears. She says that Lord Dalhousie, who sent it to the Queen, died soon afterward; that the Duke of Wellington, who gave the first stroke to the new cutting, lived but three months, and that Prince Albert next fell a victim to the ancient curse. Now, it is not-difficult to understand how a belief in the ill-omen of this diamond should .have prevailed in the East. Apart from the facts connected with its history, its extreme value—since it is by far the purest diamond now in existence —would have induced some to malign it in order to possess it. But it is not so easy to Account for the credulity or superstition, call it what we may, which we find displayed in a woman of such high culture, talent and practical knowledge of the world as Mrs. Burton.—TV". F. Times.