Diamonds Are a Con Man’s Best Friend

I first came across the Great Diamond Hoax of 1872 many years ago, when I was writing a non-fiction book titled San Francisco, You’re History! The gist of the story goes like this: In the early 1870s, a pair of prospecting cousins from Kentucky worked out an audacious scheme, built upon wild rumors of previously undiscovered diamond deposits in the American West, that proved to be more successful than anyone involved could have predicted.

Not until the late fall of 1872—a century and a half ago this year—was that confidence game spectacularly debunked. And by then, a galaxy of notables, among them an eminent newspaper editor, an erstwhile Union Army commander and presidential candidate, and the nation’s foremost jeweler, had fallen prey to the scheme. Meanwhile, the flimflammers had made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more than $10 million in today’s currency)!

When, a few months ago, I drew up a list of additional stories I could write for CrimeReads, I included among them the Great Diamond Hoax—the first time I’d proposed a true historical crime piece for the Web site. My editor responded quickly, and enthusiastically. “My God,” he wrote, “this story sounds right up my alley. I can’t wait to read it.” And so I then had to hunker down and do the research necessary to present that tale in authoritative and dramatic fashion.

The results can be enjoyed today in CrimeReads.

While investigating the history of this scam, I discovered it had inspired at least two episodes of the old syndicated western TV series Death Valley Days. One of those was titled “A Killing in Diamonds,” and was broadcast in October 1955. The other, “The Great Diamond Mines,” featuring future Love Boat captain Gavin MacLeod, was shown in February 1968. You can watch both at the links provided.

It’s hard to believe how canny—or gullible—some people can be.