The Southern Herald

A GAMBLER'S WATCH.

Twelve Thousand Dollars Worth of Diamonds Set in Its Upper Lid.

"The most gorgeous watch I ever saw in my life," said a veteran jeweler and lapidary of the Old Quarter to a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Democrat, "was owned by a sporting man named George Denning, who came, if I remember rightly, from Helena, Mont. He dropped into my place one day, fully a dozen years ago, and left the timepiece with me to be cleaned and adjusted. There was nothing especially remarkable about the movement, but the case was certainly a wonder. The upper lid was entirely crusted with diamonds, set in a spiral line that started in the center and wound around until the last circle inclosed the rim. The stones at the beginning of the spiral were very small—mere chips, in fact; but they increased regularly in size, and the outer row consisted of 28 brilliants that weighed nearly a carat apiece. It was a most ingenious piece of workmanship, and the effect of the circular lines of gems was indescribably dazzling. Altogether the design contained about 300 separate stones, and I estimated roughly that it had cost something like $12,000. I cleaned the works and returned the watch as soon as possible, for I didn't like the responsibility of having it in the safe. I had no idea at the time that I would ever see it again, because Denning was then about to leave for the west; but, as it turned out, I was fated to run across it once more, under rather peculiar circumstances. In the fall of '96 I was in St. Louis, visiting my brother-in-law, who has a small jeweler's shop there, and one evening the conversation happened to drift to curious watches.

"That reminds me,' he said, 'of a very queer case I bought lately for old gold.' He went to his safe and came back with a massive hunting case, the top lid of which looked like a disk of wood that had been gnawed by some wild animal. It was literally covered with the marks of gouging and digging, and but for its thickness would certainly have been cut to pieces.

"The man who sold that to me,' said my brother-in-law, 'told me it was originally set with diamonds over the whole surface. A gambler owned it then, and when he got broke he had the stones dug out, a row at a time, until he finally stripped the case. That brought things back to me and I recognized the ruin as Denning's watch. There was no doubt about it, as his monogram was on the other side; but I made the queerest discovery when I took it to the light for close examination. At different places on the mutilated case I found that minute dates had been scratched, apparently with the point of a sharp knife. There were seven or eight in all, and they represented intervals of sometimes a year and sometimes only a few days. Of course it is mere guesswork, but I imagine they recorded the times he was forced to apply to his vest-pocket diamond mine for a fresh stake.' It was, to say the least, a curious chronicle of the gambler's luck, and I have been sorry since that I didn't secure the thing to keep as a souvenir. Denning died destitute, by the way, in a northern hospital."