THE CURSED PEARL -

It is well known that many pearls found their way on to the black market as crews came up with all sorts of ways of pocketing the gems before their bosses got their hands on them.

When a pearl buyer who was known to deal in stolen pearls turned up floating face down in the sea near Chinatown in Broome, an investigation was launched into his murder.

When found, the dealer still had some 450 pounds in cash on him and it appeared that he had died from blows to the head.

The police eventually arrested three men, Marquez, Espada and Hagan. Marquez turned King's evidence in an effort to save himself from the gallows and admitted that the plan was to rob the dealer (Liebglid) of 500 pounds that he had agreed to pay for a large stolen pearl.

They lured Liebglid down to the mangroves near the Roebuck Hotel where they attacked him but not before he had the chance to cry out 'Murder!'. The attackers fled into the night without managing to collect the money and the dealer's body was found the following morning.

The men had been turned in to the police by a pearl diver called Toledo. He claimed that the three had been seen with wet clothes and were whispering together the night of the murder.

Marquez, Espada and Hagan were tried in Fremantle and hanged for their crime (turning King's evidence did not save Marquez.) but the pearl they had lured Liebglid to his death with had not been found.

Rumour has it that Toledo had originally stolen the pearl and Marquez had seen him hide it. Marquez then stole it for himself and that was why Toledo turned him in to the police.

The pearl is said to have been in the hands of an old Filipino who was almost destitute. He sold it to a man called Gomez and then returned on the proceeds to the Philippines but died almost as soon as he touched home soil.

Then the pearl was stolen from Gomez who committed suicide in a fit of despair. Then it turned up in Port Hedland and was bought by a man called Davis who was about to sail on the ship Koombana.

The Koombana sailed from Hedland on March 19th 1912, straight into the arms of a huge cyclone. The Koombana was lost with all hands.

Even the original thief, Toledo did not escape the curse of the pearl. He drowned in a cyclone off Eighty Mile Beach.

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