DESCRIPTION OF THE I. D. B.—PUBLIC MORALS.—THE MUSIC HALLS AND THEIR
SONGS.—“M. L. A.’S AND M. L. C.’S IN LEAGUE WITH THIEVES AND RECEIVERS.”
Illicit diamond buyers are like the devils recorded in the gospel, whose
name was “legion, for they were many.” The illicits are not only many in
number, but also many in species.
The genus has little changed from the earlier times, for the I. D. B.
was and is simply a receiver of stolen goods, well knowing them to be
stolen, nothing more and nothing less. But the species of this genus are
so numerous that their accurate categorist would almost rival a Linnæus
or a Cuvier.
Some of the species are as extinct as the dodo; others have changed as
remarkably as diseases, which once epidemic have become endemic, and
members of the latter class, might, if classically inclined,
appropriately quote, with reference to their altered position: “Tempora
mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.”
The I. D. B. of 1872 was not the I. D. B. of to-day; the I. D. B., whose
canvas canteen, thronged by semi-nude Shangaans, Zulus, Basutos or
Ballapins, was occasionally burnt over his head, was a different person
in his _modus operandi_ and manner of living from the “speculator” of
1885.
The “kopje walloper,” who was generally a gentleman of the Hebrew
persuasion hailing from Petticoat Lane or the Minories, was one of those
who, when diamond buying was as legal in the open air as in a properly
registered office, used to haunt the edge of the mine. With satchel at
side, well lined with gold and notes, sometimes on the chance of buying
a diamond cheaply, trading on the ignorance of the finder, but generally
with the view of tempting sorters to steal from the sorting table, he is
now almost forgotten, although his moral counterpart exists to this day
in the scoundrel who tempts, and but too often successfully, the white
servants of a company or a claim-holder to become thieves, or to
conveniently wink at the thieving of others.
The I. D. B. digger who could turn out as many diamonds in an
afternoon’s wash-up as mealies on a cob, and by a marvelous dispensation
of Providence was always hitting upon “splendid ground” in his claim, is
now a _rara avis_, for the _onus probandi_ of _bona fide_ possession
being now thrown upon the holders of rough and uncut diamonds, the
digger who discovers priceless gems in notoriously worthless ground and
by the aid of the poorest appliances runs a serious risk of being
confronted with the judge of the special court.[48] To those
unacquainted with diamond digging the awarding of a punishment for what
might, at first sight, appear to be merely exceptional “luck” may seem
more than Draconian, but this point will be referred to in a succeeding
chapter.
The bogus licensed diamond buyer too who, frequently subsidised by some
hidden man, merely pretended to transact legitimate business as a cloak
for his illicit transactions, but did all that remunerated him in the
“dead waist and middle of the night” is rapidly becoming extinct, owing
to the stringent rules as to the proof of _bona fide_ possession and the
enforced registration of sale and purchase, though at the same time he
is still extant in this year of grace, 1887. Like the cat employed by
the ingenious monkey, however, in removing chestnuts from the fire, or
the policeman in Gilbert’s opera, “his life is not a happy one.”
Again, the native claim-holder and digger who either bought a claim or
was put into one to find diamonds, which, as a matter of fact, came from
some other claim, perhaps some other mine, or even the river digging,
now finds a more congenial occupation in running parcels over the Free
State line or to Christiana in the Transvaal, or acting as an unlicensed
diamond broker within the limits of the camp. “Jonas” and “Kleinboy” may
still be seen with rings on their fingers and attired in a “masher”
style which would not disgrace a West End tailor, but they are no longer
diggers, though apparently their present occupation pays them handsomely
enough.
Before the act of 1882 came into force Kimberley was a different place
from what it is now—a nervous activity was universal. The booted and
spurred I. D. B. could then be seen galloping on his well-groomed steed
to his favorite resort, the canteen bars were thronged day and night,
the billiard-rooms were crowded. The “Free and Easy,” too, had its
frequenters, who were posted in all the comic songs of the day, and
nightly twitted and tickled each other with the chorus of one at that
time just out from home. These gentlemen evidently appropriated and
appreciated the point of its refrain, singing with great gusto.
“They all do it, they all do it,
Though they very often rue it,”
as if their vile traffic and its consequences were one huge grim
joke.[49]
At another music hall the song most in favor and nightly sung with
immense _éclat_ was one in which the adventures of a fortunate I. D. B.
were told in the following doggerel, which was always sure of a
vociferous encore, especially as many thought it had a peculiar local
application:
“I’m shortly about to retire,
Then to Flo of course I’ll be wed,
I shall do the thing fine, buy shares in the mine
Or else float a company instead.
I’ll of course have a carriage and pair,
And later I shall not despair,
In the council I’ll get, and if _you_ wait a bit
No doubt you will see me made mayor.”
The fact of a song like this being sung in public speaks volumes as to
the utter demoralization which then existed in certain circles.
In their well-known houses of call the popping of champagne corks was
like one continuous fusilade, and money flowed like water, for at this
time the illicit buyer had little or no fear of a detective tapping him
on the shoulder and asking him to account for the diamonds in his
pocket.
Professor Darwin may write about the development of species, but if he
resided here he might describe how an eminently respectable (?) member
of society is evolved from a thief. There are I. D. B.’s and I. D. B.’s,
all grades from high to low, from rich to poor, some accounted among the
_creme de la creme_ of Kimberley society, even pillars of this or that
church, pious receivers and ex-receivers of stolen property well knowing
it to be stolen, others buying from hand to mouth to ward off
starvation.
The I. D. B. moving in society, probably now the manager of a digging
company, or a licensed buyer, but nevertheless a rank hypocrite who has
worked his way through all grades of rascality to a certain position,
wishes by associating with men of acknowledged social status to avoid
suspicion, and therefore, as a matter of tact, he rails against the
illicit trade and preaches morality _ad nauseam_.
If he has money or influence he is surrounded by satellites, who shine
but by a borrowed light, or to alter the simile, by dogs who support
their miserable existence by licking up the “crumbs that fall from the
rich man’s table.”
So powerful is the leaven of corruption engendered by this illicit
system, that men, otherwise of undoubted probity, “kowtow” to the man
whom in their heart of hearts they know to be, to quote thieves’ Latin,
a simple “fence,” because they think that
“Thrift may follow fawning.”
From the passing of ordinance 48 of 1882 until the extension of that
ordinance to the entire colony in the session of 1885, Capetown and Port
Elizabeth were the head-centres of the I. D. B.’s, who, possessing
capital, wished to evade the consequence of their nefarious trade. These
scoundrels bought diamonds which were stolen and smuggled from
Griqualand West, and men, supposed to be honorable (?) merchants, even
members of the legislative assembly, were reported as trading with these
characters in diamonds which they must have known to be stolen.
An apparently legal, though in reality a dishonest trade, was carried on
by these men, who were described by the editor of the Orange Free State
_Advertiser_ as “M. L. A.’s and M. L. C.’s, in league with thieves and
receivers of stolen property.”
The Diamond Trade extension act has however been of infinite service in
checking the illicit traffic at the Bay and Capetown, though it has not
entirely extinguished it.
As a matter of fact, there does not exist anywhere a more unredeemable
set of miscreants than the arch-thieves who are at the head of the
illicit diamond trade in South Africa.
Illicit diamond buying, like all crime the root of which is greed of
money, tends to kill all humane instincts, and leaves those who practice
it more selfish than the very brutes and absolutely dead to every better
feeling.
The flattering unction which the confederates of the I. D. B. fraternity
lay to their souls, if any grain of conscience remains, is that they are
merely guilty of a revenue offense. It is therefore only to their
cowardly fear of punishment that the law of the land must appeal if a
stop is to be put to the wholesale system of robbery which they have
organized and carried on so long with comparative impunity.
The I. D. B. now and then boasts in his cups that he has bought hand
over fist, and cares nothing for, the adjective detective; but when the
aforesaid adjective detective lightly lays his hands on his shoulder, he
usually manifests the craven cowardice of a Noah Claypole rather than
the bravery of a bold outlaw like Robin Hood, or the semi-chivalrous
audacity and recklessness of a Claude Duval or a Dick Turpin.
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