January 31, 2025 • 32 mins
Could a life of crime be born from the pages of a fashion magazine? Join me, Carole Townsend, as we uncover the thrilling story of Doris Payne, the woman who turned the allure of Harper's Bazaar into a blueprint for an extraordinary life as a master jewel thief. Raised amid the challenges of poverty, domestic violence, and racial inequality in 1930s West Virginia, Doris defied the odds stacked against her. From her audacious heist of a $20,000 diamond ring to the international escapades that followed, Doris's story is a fascinating mix of charm, skill, and boldness, each step drawing her further into the spotlight of Southern folklore.
Doris Payne's life wasn't just about the jewels she took; it was about the intricacies of a woman navigating a world eager to pigeonhole her. Discover her daring heists from Pittsburgh to Monte Carlo, and the personal relationships that shaped her path, including her bond with her mother and a mysterious Israeli associate. Despite brushes with law enforcement, her cunning ensured she remained a step ahead, turning her life into an unforgettable chapter of Southern history. With insights from NPR’s 2014 feature, we invite you to explore this captivating tale and subscribe for more stories that unravel the mysteries and allure of the South.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carole Townsend (00:04):
Welcome my friends, to the twelfth episode
of Front Porch Mysteries with me, Carole Townsend.
To those of you who havelistened from the beginning, I
thank you.
To those who have just recentlyjoined us, I welcome you to
this fascinating journeythroughout Southern history, one
that spotlights theextraordinary people and the
(00:27):
unique circumstances that haveshaped this intriguing region of
the country.
Up until now, the truehistorical cases we've examined
have largely centered aroundcrimes, murders and unexplained
disappearances in this podcast.
If it's true and it happened inthe South we'll take a look at
(00:50):
it Tonight.
Join me as we turn our gaze toa woman named Doris Payne, an
African-American woman born in1930 in Slab Fork, west Virginia
.
Woman born in 1930 in slab fork, west Virginia, doris decided
at a very young age that shewould not let her humble
(01:11):
Appalachian roots define her.
She would not let her race orher gender define her.
The steps she took to make sureshe lived a life draped in
finery, dotted dotted with worldtravel and spiced with
excitement are truly stunning,intriguing.
True crime and history don'talways end in murder or in
(01:33):
disappearances.
Sometimes they end in acaptivating adventure and
sometimes they never end at all.
(01:56):
History.
It's a subject that, in myopinion, gets sold short.
Too often what comes to mindwhen we mention history is the
rote memory of name, date andplace.
(02:17):
At first glance, history isflat, dry and forgettable, but
that's because we forget thatit's people who make that
history.
It's people, it's greed, it'sdesire, it's lust.
It's people.
It's greed, it's desire, it'slust.
It's anger and shame and deceit.
It's pride and courage andpassion.
It's fascinating and sometimesit's ugly.
(02:40):
The names and dates, my friends, are merely window dressing.
As an author and a journalist, Ihave investigated Southern
history and crime for more than20 years and I know that it's
anything but boring.
There's something differentabout the South, and if you've
ever spent any time here you mayknow what I mean.
The air is thicker, the soil isheavier, the colors is thicker,
(03:06):
the soil is heavier, the colorsare richer.
The history of this region isladen with mystery, with
intrigue and often withastounding surprise, even shock.
Southern legends are oftenspoken in whispers, in close
circles and among friends.
Spoken in whispers, in closecircles and among friends, lest
(03:31):
the ghosts of those who walkedbefore us begin to stir and take
notice.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing.
Listener discretion is advised.
(04:05):
Any child born in Appalachiaduring the Great Depression knew
hardship, they knew hunger andthey knew poverty.
Not only had the Depressiondecimated communities, but the
Great Southern Drought of 1930hit mountain farmers especially
hard.
A child of color born into thatregion nearly 100 years ago had
limited prospects, and a femalechild of color had even fewer.
(04:29):
Even the coal mines wouldn'temploy women at that time.
Doris Payne was born one offive siblings to parents David
and Clemmie Gilbert Payne.
Her African-American father,was a coal miner who brutally
abused her Cherokee mother, andDoris was fiercely protective of
(04:51):
her mom.
In fact, in her memoir Doriswrote that marriage just ties
you to brutality, and she vowedat a young age to earn her own
money and to never depend on aman for support.
She was also resentful of theracial inequality she saw in her
(05:11):
world.
Even tucked away in themountains of southern West
Virginia, she would read theHarper's Bazaar magazines that
belonged to her mother, and sheknew even then that the flawless
models dripping in diamonds onthose pages were no better than
she was.
In fact, it was from those verypages that Doris got the idea
(05:34):
that would change her life andthe lives of those she loved
forever.
Make no mistake, Doris had beentaught by her mother and the
other women in the mining townof Slab Fork how to carry
herself.
She had been taught how to keepher home and how to conduct
herself when among strangers.
(05:55):
The families in Slab Fork wereAfrican American, native
American and European.
Yet they all lived together intheir small community and there
was something different aboutthem.
They took Town Country magazineand Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.
They cared about keepingthemselves trim and well
(06:19):
presented.
There was just somethingdifferent about them.
Truth be told, doris' childhoodset her on the path she chose
to take and eventually to blaze.
As a child, Doris played apretend game she called Miss
(06:41):
Lady, in which she would dressup as a fine lady with a hat and
a purse, and she'd imagineherself far away from the
illiteracy, poverty andsegregation that defined her
world.
She got very good at pretendingthat she was someone else.
As her father's abuse of hermother worsened, something
(07:04):
became hardwired in Doris, tothe core of her being.
She knew that she would neverbecome trapped in marriage and
in helpless desperation.
She would be the master of herown fate.
And all the while, those photosin Harper's Bazaar flashed on
an endless loop in her mind.
(07:27):
One day, when Doris was still ayoung girl, her father came home
from work in a foul mood, andhe naturally turned his anger
toward his wife.
When Doris saw and heard herfather beating and berating her
mother in an especially brutalmanner, she walked into the
kitchen and picked up a pot ofpinto beans that were boiling on
(07:49):
the stove.
She carefully carried the potinto the living room and
screamed at her father to getoff of her mother.
When he ignored her, dorispoured the beans and the boiling
water on her father's back, andafter that he didn't ignore her
demand.
He ran to the bathroom anddoused cold water on his back,
(08:11):
and when Doris heard hisfootsteps coming back down the
hallway, she braced herself forhis wrath.
Instead, her father leanedagainst the doorframe, crossed
his arms and said well, I'll bedamned.
He never punished Doris fordefending her mother.
When Doris was a teenager, thecoal mines had become more of a
(08:34):
danger to miners than a way ofmaking a living.
Accidents were on the rise,workers began striking and
demanding safer workingconditions, but the demand for
coal was on the decline.
So work was unpredictable atbest.
Doris's daddy began stayinghome more and more, usually
(08:56):
spending the entire day in bed.
Her mother had always grown arespectable vegetable garden,
but in late fall and winter thatfood was hardly enough to
sustain the whole family.
There was a local market thatsold eggs, produce, beef and
sometimes even livestock.
Lines at the market were longand it was usually very
(09:20):
understaffed.
Families would go to the market, which was near the same place,
where the wives would go topick up their husbands' meager
checks.
Lines were so long that whilewives and mothers stood in line
for the checks, their childrenwould stand in line at the
market.
When it was their turn they'dselect the items they were told
(09:43):
to get, bag them and then waitfor the items to be weighed and
totaled.
Complete confusion is how Dorisdescribed this weekly process,
but she paid attention to theprocess anyway.
She learned that by confusingand flustering the market
employees she could walk awaywith all the groceries her
(10:04):
family needed for a fraction ofwhat they cost or for nothing at
all.
Proudly, she would give hermother the grocery items she had
selected, along with most orall of the money her mom had
given her to pay for them.
Doris would smile a sly smileand her mother knew exactly what
(10:25):
she was doing.
Still, the survival drive in ahuman is very strong, and mother
and daughter never exchangedwords about the sleight of hand
skills Doris was grooming.
A young woman who has knownpoverty and inequality and
(10:46):
domestic abuse very oftensuccumbs to the fallout of these
conditions.
She will walk in the footstepsof her parents, even as she vows
never to be like them.
Doris was not one of thesewomen.
A logical, level-headed younggirl, she knew that the market
(11:07):
skills she developed could comein very handy in other
situations, like jewelry stores.
Cut-out pictures of elegantwomen frosted with jewels and
covered in furs adorned herbedroom walls.
Magazine photos of smartlydressed women accompanied them,
and they drove Doris.
(11:27):
They were the first thing shesaw when she awakened every day
and the last thing she sawbefore drifting off to sleep at
night.
She wrote in her memoir All Ihad to do was to make people
forget.
If she could confuse a girlselling vegetables and eggs,
(11:49):
then she could confuse a man ora woman selling expensive
jewelry, couldn't she?
All it took was the rightpresentation, the right outfit
and accessories, the rightaccent and that attitude she had
seen and admired in the pagesof Harper's, that attitude that
said I like this, but I don'tneed it.
(12:12):
I deserve it.
That was the key.
When she was just 16 years old,doris told her friend Lil that
she could pull off a jewelryheist.
Lil laughed nervously becauseshe never knew if Doris was
serious when she said thesethings or not.
(12:33):
Eventually, though, lil agreedto go along with Doris, just to
see if she could really pull offsuch a feat.
They dressed up in their bestSunday clothes, styled their
hair in chic curls, pulled ontheir gloves and took the
three-hour bus ride to Cleveland.
Both girls could easily havepassed for grown women, and the
(12:56):
thought of that made them giggle.
Doris used that time on the busto show Lil how to cross her
feet when she sat, how to placeher hands when she spoke to
someone or admired an item in ashop window, how to hold her bag
just so on her arm, and how tohold her head up and look people
(13:18):
in the eye.
Strolling across a busy streetin Cleveland, the two girls came
upon a Woolworth's departmentstore.
Doris spotted the jewelrycounter and sized up the
situation.
In an instant.
You go in and sit at the maltcounter and just watch me, she
told her friend.
(13:38):
I'm about to make that manforget that I'm wearing his
jewelry and I'm about to makehim know that that mistake will
be his fault.
Sure enough, doris sashayed upto that jewelry counter with
every bit as much confidence andpresence as any of those
cut-out models on her bedroomwall.
(14:00):
The salesman she rememberslooked just like J Edgar Hoover.
Would you like to see any ofthese watches, ma'am?
He asked.
Yes, she answered, and then thegame began.
Doris told the man that she wasa college student home for the
(14:20):
weekend and her parents had toldher to go into town and pick
out a watch.
She would ask that it be setaside and they would come in and
pay for it the next day.
The two stood there pleasantlyconversing as Doris tried on
first one watch, then another.
They discussed the economy andits impact on the world.
(14:42):
The man was impressed with herknowledge and her ability to
articulate her thoughts.
Her intelligence and herdemeanor put him at ease.
When the conversation was over,the man told Doris what a nice
young woman she was and shethanked him.
Walking back over to the maltcounter, the two girls locked
(15:06):
eyes and Doris pulled a watchout of her glove.
Lil nearly choked on her maltedand Doris said I told you so.
She then turned and walked backto the jewelry counter Excuse
me, sir, you forgot that I hadthis on my wrist.
She handed the watch back tothe salesman.
(15:26):
He thanked her and she walkedaway smiling.
She was ready.
But first Doris took a detour.
At age 18, she became pregnantby a young man her age.
There was a home for unwedpregnant girls near the
Cleveland apartment she and hermother and brother had taken.
(15:46):
When they finally left Doris'father and she went to live
there until she gave birth toher son, ronald.
Still, she never lost sight ofher ambitions.
Besides, now she had her mother, her brother, her baby and
herself to provide for.
Doris took a job in a nursinghome.
(16:09):
It was the perfect front forher true calling of being a
jewel thief.
Four years after Ronald was born, doris became pregnant, again
by the same man.
They discussed getting married,but Doris never believed that
marriage was a good path for awoman to choose, a woman she
believed should always providefor herself.
(16:32):
Doris gave birth to a littlegirl named Rhonda and when she
was able she went back to workin the nursing home.
One day Doris took one of herfancy dresses to work with her.
She had befriended a white girlnamed Norma, and Norma was
(16:52):
struggling financially, having ahard time affording her
mother's medication.
That day, doris told Norma tochange into the fine dress she
had brought to work and Dorisremained in her nurse's uniform.
The two young women took theirlunch break together and headed
down to the May Companydepartment store on Euclid
(17:14):
Avenue, taking the elevator tojewelry and accessories.
Doris whispered to Norma forher to slump over and shuffle
her feet, like one of thosesickly Victorian heiresses she
had seen before.
Doris whispered to Norma forher to slump over and shuffle
her feet, like one of thosesickly Victorian heiresses she
had seen before.
The two women approached thejewelry counter and Doris told
the salesman that her patientwas soon to be married and she
(17:37):
wanted to see some wedding sets,in the hopes that she might
have some say in the selection.
Norma really played the part,her hands trembling as she tried
on ring after ring.
Finally, doris palmed one ofthe sets and slipped it into
Norma's pocket, telling theclerk that her charge wasn't
(17:57):
feeling well and that they'dhave to return another time.
They took a cab back to thenursing home and Norma couldn't
believe what she had just seenDoris not wanting it to get all
over town that she had theseskills, gave Norma $100 and told
her that she'd pawn the weddingset the next day, giving her a
(18:19):
little more money to help withher mother's medication.
Doris made sure to let Normaknow that she did the deed to
help Norma and for no otherreason.
Doris was as good as her word.
The very next day she walkedinto a pawn shop and got $1,500
for the set.
Then she went out and boughtherself a beautiful dress, a hat
(18:44):
, shoes and a bag to match.
With $1,300 left over she wentto another pawn shop and bought
a bigger wedding set with thatmoney.
Now she looked like a married,moneyed woman of class.
Goodbye Euclid Nursing Home,goodbye Norma, and goodbye to
(19:05):
wiping old people's backsidesfor a living.
Doris's first big heist tookplace in Pittsburgh.
She turned heads as she walkedthrough the bus station wearing
her recently purchased finery.
The tall, exotic-looking womancarried herself well, and when
(19:27):
she walked into thatPennsylvania jewelry store she
blended seamlessly with theother customers, casting a cool,
disinterested look around.
Doris approached the jewelrycounter and told the salesman
she wanted to see a two-caratdiamond ring, something that
would look nice for evening wear.
(19:47):
He nearly tripped over his ownfeet when he heard that and he
went right to work.
Another clerk brought over atray of diamond rings ranging in
price from $5,000 to $20,000.
Right away Doris knew the$20,000 ring was hers and she
(20:07):
set about doing what she hadpracticed hundreds of times she
slipped first one ring on herfinger and then another, then
two at a time, and then triedthe rings on her other hand, all
the while chatting up the salesclerks.
Before long they had broughtout a second tray of rings.
The chatter continued, theconfusion mounted.
(20:31):
Finally Doris slipped the big$20,000 rectangular diamond ring
onto her finger.
The talking never stopped andthen, just like that, she stood
up slipping her white glovesonto her hands.
As she explained to the clerkthat she would discuss the
purchase with her husband andthey would definitely be back
(20:54):
the next day to buy the ring ofher choosing, doris maintained
her cool as she walked at aleisurely pace toward the door,
past the doorman, then out ontothe street.
The farther she got from thestore, the harder her heart
pounded.
I did it, I got away with it,she told herself.
(21:15):
And still walking briskly, sheimagined the poor clerk looking
for that ring the rest of theday, finally having to tell his
boss what had happened.
It was his fault.
At least that's how theinsurance company would see it.
Quickly her thoughts turned tothe things she could buy with
(21:35):
the money the ring would bringand to all the things she could
do for her family.
Doris stole that $20,000 ring,fenced it and gave the money to
her mother to get out of townand away from her father.
Clemmie Payne did just that,moving to New York City and
(21:55):
becoming a seamstress in ahigh-end dress shop.
This was her first heist and itleft Doris feeling so paranoid
that she spent the night in abathroom stall in a Greyhound
station.
She spent that night feelingguilty and she decided to take
the ring back to the store thenext day and somehow return it.
(22:15):
But as she was walking back tothe jewelry store the next day,
she happened to walk pastanother jewelry store store.
The next day she happened towalk past another jewelry store.
She walked in playing thefamiliar part of Miss Lady that
she played as a child andmanaged to sell the ring she
stole for an additional $7,000.
(22:38):
This experience was a heady onefor young Doris.
She learned a few things thatday.
She learned that being asuccessful jewel thief required
more than just looking the partof a fine lady.
It required more thanconfidence and luck.
What it demanded.
Doris learned that long ago dayin Pittsburgh was owning the
(23:00):
effortless ability to makepeople forget that she was a
black woman.
She learned to make thesalespeople forget how many
pieces of jewelry they had outof the case at one time.
She learned that putting peopleat ease was important, because
a person at ease is a person whocan be distracted, a person who
(23:22):
can be fooled and never evenknow they'd been fooled until it
was too late.
Being a successful jewel thiefrequired artistry.
Doris practiced this particularheist over and over again,
playing the scene in her minduntil she knew it by heart.
(23:42):
She would walk into a store,ask to see some rings and talk
pleasantly with the clerk untilhe didn't know which way was up.
All the while she'd be playingthree-card Monty with those
rings, eventually slipping oneonto her finger to keep.
What if I get caught?
(24:02):
She thought.
What if I go to prison?
She pushed the panic down whereit belonged.
It wouldn't do to have a salesclerk see anything but
self-confidence coming from thisyoung woman, would it?
Before long, doris was able toprovide a very comfortable life
for herself and for her mother.
At her insistence, her childrenlived with their father.
(24:26):
As everyone knows, a good jewelthief isn't home much.
Still, she sent checksregularly to help pay for their
care and their needs.
Her deeply religious mothernever approved of Doris' choice
of careers.
Those religious beliefs didn't,however, prevent her from
enjoying the perks of havingseveral homes, fine clothes and
(24:51):
the lifestyle she had alwaysdreamed about.
During the late 1950s, stealingjewels became Doris Payne's
full-time job.
She traveled from Los Angelesto Montreal and she studied both
jewels and people with intensescrutiny.
In 1957, doris began dating anIsraeli with strong ties to the
(25:16):
criminal underworld.
Harold Braunfield, nicknamedBabe, was a 6'4 Cleveland man
with enough legal muscle toprotect, pay pain when necessary
, and he did.
But by the late 1960s, picturesof Doris were being published
in newspapers and this forcedher to work in smaller cities.
(25:38):
Babe had passed away in 1968from complications of cosmetic
surgery, so he could no longerprotect her.
In the early 70s, doris decidedto move her operations to Europe
where, as she said, diamondsmake their first stop on the
black market.
Her first destination in thesummer of 1974 was Monte Carlo.
(26:05):
She brazenly targeted Cartierand made off with a 10.5 carat
diamond ring worth half amillion dollars, she didn't make
it far.
Her biggest mistake, sherecalls, was forgetting to
change her clothes beforeheading to the airport.
The police got to her beforeshe boarded the plane.
(26:29):
Amazingly, despite severalfull-body searches, they never
found the ring.
She hid it first in someKleenex, pretending to have a
nose cold, and then she borroweda needle and thread from a
guard to fix the hem of herskirt, but she used it to sew
the stolen ring into the hem ofher girdle, where it stayed for
(26:52):
months without finding thestolen ring.
Police couldn't hold herforever for the crime.
In 1980, just after her 50thbirthday, doris went to Zurich.
On the way sheuncharacteristically consumed
too many cocktails, with herdriver breaking her hard and
(27:14):
fast no-alcohol rule Drifting inand out of consciousness.
She had fuzzy memories ofwandering into a store that sold
Rolexes, she wrote in hermemoir.
She ended up at a club whereshe danced till late and was
surrounded by police at the coatcheck.
When she tried to leave, thepolice escorted her to a train
(27:39):
bound for the embassy in French,switzerland.
At some point that earlymorning she asked permission to
use the bathroom and she jumpedoff the train during a stop.
Wandering through a darkcornfield, she found a taxi to
take her to a hotel in Zurich.
It was only then that sherealized she was in possession
(28:02):
of a stolen Rolex, but she hadno memory of taking it.
This carelessness was notDoris's usual modus operandi.
She then thought that she mightbe slipping, or maybe that she
was too old to live thelifestyle of an international
jewel thief.
Doris Payne eventually did doprison time, but it was only a
(28:25):
few years, and that was neverfor the crimes that made her
infamous.
In 1999, she was sentenced to12 years for stealing a $57,000
ring in Denver, but she onlyserved five of those.
She was arrested again in 2011,five of those.
(28:48):
She was arrested again in 2011when the then 81-year-old was in
the middle of a Californiacrime spree, stealing diamonds
from Palm Desert to San Diego.
She was arrested for theftwhile she was wearing an ankle
monitor from a previousconviction.
She was then arrested again inthe summer of 2017 for allegedly
leaving an Atlanta Walmart with$86.22 worth of groceries and
(29:13):
electronics, and then she wasarrested for stealing a diamond
necklace from a high-enddepartment store at Perimeter
Mall in Dunwoody, georgia.
Today, doris Payne lives alonein a rented penthouse in Atlanta
.
She lost her Shaker Heightshome to foreclosure and her
(29:40):
savings have long since beendepleted.
She enjoys occasional visitsfrom her adult children, perhaps
like any retiree.
Diamond Doris, as she came to beknown, found it hard to fully
step back from her 60-plus yearcareer.
She can certainly be describedas a career criminal, having
stolen items ranging from ahalf-million-dollar diamond ring
(30:02):
to expensive watches, earrings,other rings and bracelets, a
Burberry coat and Walmartgroceries.
She's been arrested severaltimes in Greece, france, britain
, switzerland and the UnitedStates, and she's spent a good
deal of time in jail.
(30:22):
The thing is, none of thatseemed to scare her.
Really, as she said in adocumentary interview when she
was in her mid-80s, she neverregretted her life of crime.
She did, however, very muchregret getting caught.
(30:51):
I'm Carole Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at www
.
caroletownsend,com.
As always, thanks for listening, and if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
(31:11):
friends.
Subscribe to this podcast onSpotify, apple Play, iheart and
anywhere you listen.
My team and I used the followingsources to put together this
story about Diamond Doris theNPR show titled Inside the Life
(31:37):
and Crimes of a Career.
Jewel Thief dated November 8,2014.
Thief dated November 8, 2014.
The book Diamond Doris the TrueStory of the World's Most
Notorious Jewel Thief, by DorisPayne with Zelda Lockhart, and
the article Not Sorry,international Jewel.
Welcome my friends, to the twelfth episode
of Front Porch Mysteries with me, Carole Townsend.
To those of you who havelistened from the beginning, I
thank you.
To those who have just recentlyjoined us, I welcome you to
this fascinating journeythroughout Southern history, one
that spotlights theextraordinary people and the
(00:27):
unique circumstances that haveshaped this intriguing region of
the country.
Up until now, the truehistorical cases we've examined
have largely centered aroundcrimes, murders and unexplained
disappearances in this podcast.
If it's true and it happened inthe South we'll take a look at
(00:50):
it Tonight.
Join me as we turn our gaze toa woman named Doris Payne, an
African-American woman born in1930 in Slab Fork, west Virginia
.
Woman born in 1930 in slab fork, west Virginia, doris decided
at a very young age that shewould not let her humble
(01:11):
Appalachian roots define her.
She would not let her race orher gender define her.
The steps she took to make sureshe lived a life draped in
finery, dotted dotted with worldtravel and spiced with
excitement are truly stunning,intriguing.
True crime and history don'talways end in murder or in
(01:33):
disappearances.
Sometimes they end in acaptivating adventure and
sometimes they never end at all.
(01:56):
History.
It's a subject that, in myopinion, gets sold short.
Too often what comes to mindwhen we mention history is the
rote memory of name, date andplace.
(02:17):
At first glance, history isflat, dry and forgettable, but
that's because we forget thatit's people who make that
history.
It's people, it's greed, it'sdesire, it's lust.
It's people.
It's greed, it's desire, it'slust.
It's anger and shame and deceit.
It's pride and courage andpassion.
It's fascinating and sometimesit's ugly.
(02:40):
The names and dates, my friends, are merely window dressing.
As an author and a journalist, Ihave investigated Southern
history and crime for more than20 years and I know that it's
anything but boring.
There's something differentabout the South, and if you've
ever spent any time here you mayknow what I mean.
The air is thicker, the soil isheavier, the colors is thicker,
(03:06):
the soil is heavier, the colorsare richer.
The history of this region isladen with mystery, with
intrigue and often withastounding surprise, even shock.
Southern legends are oftenspoken in whispers, in close
circles and among friends.
Spoken in whispers, in closecircles and among friends, lest
(03:31):
the ghosts of those who walkedbefore us begin to stir and take
notice.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing.
Listener discretion is advised.
(04:05):
Any child born in Appalachiaduring the Great Depression knew
hardship, they knew hunger andthey knew poverty.
Not only had the Depressiondecimated communities, but the
Great Southern Drought of 1930hit mountain farmers especially
hard.
A child of color born into thatregion nearly 100 years ago had
limited prospects, and a femalechild of color had even fewer.
(04:29):
Even the coal mines wouldn'temploy women at that time.
Doris Payne was born one offive siblings to parents David
and Clemmie Gilbert Payne.
Her African-American father,was a coal miner who brutally
abused her Cherokee mother, andDoris was fiercely protective of
(04:51):
her mom.
In fact, in her memoir Doriswrote that marriage just ties
you to brutality, and she vowedat a young age to earn her own
money and to never depend on aman for support.
She was also resentful of theracial inequality she saw in her
(05:11):
world.
Even tucked away in themountains of southern West
Virginia, she would read theHarper's Bazaar magazines that
belonged to her mother, and sheknew even then that the flawless
models dripping in diamonds onthose pages were no better than
she was.
In fact, it was from those verypages that Doris got the idea
(05:34):
that would change her life andthe lives of those she loved
forever.
Make no mistake, Doris had beentaught by her mother and the
other women in the mining townof Slab Fork how to carry
herself.
She had been taught how to keepher home and how to conduct
herself when among strangers.
(05:55):
The families in Slab Fork wereAfrican American, native
American and European.
Yet they all lived together intheir small community and there
was something different aboutthem.
They took Town Country magazineand Harper's Bazaar and Vogue.
They cared about keepingthemselves trim and well
(06:19):
presented.
There was just somethingdifferent about them.
Truth be told, doris' childhoodset her on the path she chose
to take and eventually to blaze.
As a child, Doris played apretend game she called Miss
(06:41):
Lady, in which she would dressup as a fine lady with a hat and
a purse, and she'd imagineherself far away from the
illiteracy, poverty andsegregation that defined her
world.
She got very good at pretendingthat she was someone else.
As her father's abuse of hermother worsened, something
(07:04):
became hardwired in Doris, tothe core of her being.
She knew that she would neverbecome trapped in marriage and
in helpless desperation.
She would be the master of herown fate.
And all the while, those photosin Harper's Bazaar flashed on
an endless loop in her mind.
(07:27):
One day, when Doris was still ayoung girl, her father came home
from work in a foul mood, andhe naturally turned his anger
toward his wife.
When Doris saw and heard herfather beating and berating her
mother in an especially brutalmanner, she walked into the
kitchen and picked up a pot ofpinto beans that were boiling on
(07:49):
the stove.
She carefully carried the potinto the living room and
screamed at her father to getoff of her mother.
When he ignored her, dorispoured the beans and the boiling
water on her father's back, andafter that he didn't ignore her
demand.
He ran to the bathroom anddoused cold water on his back,
(08:11):
and when Doris heard hisfootsteps coming back down the
hallway, she braced herself forhis wrath.
Instead, her father leanedagainst the doorframe, crossed
his arms and said well, I'll bedamned.
He never punished Doris fordefending her mother.
When Doris was a teenager, thecoal mines had become more of a
(08:34):
danger to miners than a way ofmaking a living.
Accidents were on the rise,workers began striking and
demanding safer workingconditions, but the demand for
coal was on the decline.
So work was unpredictable atbest.
Doris's daddy began stayinghome more and more, usually
(08:56):
spending the entire day in bed.
Her mother had always grown arespectable vegetable garden,
but in late fall and winter thatfood was hardly enough to
sustain the whole family.
There was a local market thatsold eggs, produce, beef and
sometimes even livestock.
Lines at the market were longand it was usually very
(09:20):
understaffed.
Families would go to the market, which was near the same place,
where the wives would go topick up their husbands' meager
checks.
Lines were so long that whilewives and mothers stood in line
for the checks, their childrenwould stand in line at the
market.
When it was their turn they'dselect the items they were told
(09:43):
to get, bag them and then waitfor the items to be weighed and
totaled.
Complete confusion is how Dorisdescribed this weekly process,
but she paid attention to theprocess anyway.
She learned that by confusingand flustering the market
employees she could walk awaywith all the groceries her
(10:04):
family needed for a fraction ofwhat they cost or for nothing at
all.
Proudly, she would give hermother the grocery items she had
selected, along with most orall of the money her mom had
given her to pay for them.
Doris would smile a sly smileand her mother knew exactly what
(10:25):
she was doing.
Still, the survival drive in ahuman is very strong, and mother
and daughter never exchangedwords about the sleight of hand
skills Doris was grooming.
A young woman who has knownpoverty and inequality and
(10:46):
domestic abuse very oftensuccumbs to the fallout of these
conditions.
She will walk in the footstepsof her parents, even as she vows
never to be like them.
Doris was not one of thesewomen.
A logical, level-headed younggirl, she knew that the market
(11:07):
skills she developed could comein very handy in other
situations, like jewelry stores.
Cut-out pictures of elegantwomen frosted with jewels and
covered in furs adorned herbedroom walls.
Magazine photos of smartlydressed women accompanied them,
and they drove Doris.
(11:27):
They were the first thing shesaw when she awakened every day
and the last thing she sawbefore drifting off to sleep at
night.
She wrote in her memoir All Ihad to do was to make people
forget.
If she could confuse a girlselling vegetables and eggs,
(11:49):
then she could confuse a man ora woman selling expensive
jewelry, couldn't she?
All it took was the rightpresentation, the right outfit
and accessories, the rightaccent and that attitude she had
seen and admired in the pagesof Harper's, that attitude that
said I like this, but I don'tneed it.
(12:12):
I deserve it.
That was the key.
When she was just 16 years old,doris told her friend Lil that
she could pull off a jewelryheist.
Lil laughed nervously becauseshe never knew if Doris was
serious when she said thesethings or not.
(12:33):
Eventually, though, lil agreedto go along with Doris, just to
see if she could really pull offsuch a feat.
They dressed up in their bestSunday clothes, styled their
hair in chic curls, pulled ontheir gloves and took the
three-hour bus ride to Cleveland.
Both girls could easily havepassed for grown women, and the
(12:56):
thought of that made them giggle.
Doris used that time on the busto show Lil how to cross her
feet when she sat, how to placeher hands when she spoke to
someone or admired an item in ashop window, how to hold her bag
just so on her arm, and how tohold her head up and look people
(13:18):
in the eye.
Strolling across a busy streetin Cleveland, the two girls came
upon a Woolworth's departmentstore.
Doris spotted the jewelrycounter and sized up the
situation.
In an instant.
You go in and sit at the maltcounter and just watch me, she
told her friend.
(13:38):
I'm about to make that manforget that I'm wearing his
jewelry and I'm about to makehim know that that mistake will
be his fault.
Sure enough, doris sashayed upto that jewelry counter with
every bit as much confidence andpresence as any of those
cut-out models on her bedroomwall.
(14:00):
The salesman she rememberslooked just like J Edgar Hoover.
Would you like to see any ofthese watches, ma'am?
He asked.
Yes, she answered, and then thegame began.
Doris told the man that she wasa college student home for the
(14:20):
weekend and her parents had toldher to go into town and pick
out a watch.
She would ask that it be setaside and they would come in and
pay for it the next day.
The two stood there pleasantlyconversing as Doris tried on
first one watch, then another.
They discussed the economy andits impact on the world.
(14:42):
The man was impressed with herknowledge and her ability to
articulate her thoughts.
Her intelligence and herdemeanor put him at ease.
When the conversation was over,the man told Doris what a nice
young woman she was and shethanked him.
Walking back over to the maltcounter, the two girls locked
(15:06):
eyes and Doris pulled a watchout of her glove.
Lil nearly choked on her maltedand Doris said I told you so.
She then turned and walked backto the jewelry counter Excuse
me, sir, you forgot that I hadthis on my wrist.
She handed the watch back tothe salesman.
(15:26):
He thanked her and she walkedaway smiling.
She was ready.
But first Doris took a detour.
At age 18, she became pregnantby a young man her age.
There was a home for unwedpregnant girls near the
Cleveland apartment she and hermother and brother had taken.
(15:46):
When they finally left Doris'father and she went to live
there until she gave birth toher son, ronald.
Still, she never lost sight ofher ambitions.
Besides, now she had her mother, her brother, her baby and
herself to provide for.
Doris took a job in a nursinghome.
(16:09):
It was the perfect front forher true calling of being a
jewel thief.
Four years after Ronald was born, doris became pregnant, again
by the same man.
They discussed getting married,but Doris never believed that
marriage was a good path for awoman to choose, a woman she
believed should always providefor herself.
(16:32):
Doris gave birth to a littlegirl named Rhonda and when she
was able she went back to workin the nursing home.
One day Doris took one of herfancy dresses to work with her.
She had befriended a white girlnamed Norma, and Norma was
(16:52):
struggling financially, having ahard time affording her
mother's medication.
That day, doris told Norma tochange into the fine dress she
had brought to work and Dorisremained in her nurse's uniform.
The two young women took theirlunch break together and headed
down to the May Companydepartment store on Euclid
(17:14):
Avenue, taking the elevator tojewelry and accessories.
Doris whispered to Norma forher to slump over and shuffle
her feet, like one of thosesickly Victorian heiresses she
had seen before.
Doris whispered to Norma forher to slump over and shuffle
her feet, like one of thosesickly Victorian heiresses she
had seen before.
The two women approached thejewelry counter and Doris told
the salesman that her patientwas soon to be married and she
(17:37):
wanted to see some wedding sets,in the hopes that she might
have some say in the selection.
Norma really played the part,her hands trembling as she tried
on ring after ring.
Finally, doris palmed one ofthe sets and slipped it into
Norma's pocket, telling theclerk that her charge wasn't
(17:57):
feeling well and that they'dhave to return another time.
They took a cab back to thenursing home and Norma couldn't
believe what she had just seenDoris not wanting it to get all
over town that she had theseskills, gave Norma $100 and told
her that she'd pawn the weddingset the next day, giving her a
(18:19):
little more money to help withher mother's medication.
Doris made sure to let Normaknow that she did the deed to
help Norma and for no otherreason.
Doris was as good as her word.
The very next day she walkedinto a pawn shop and got $1,500
for the set.
Then she went out and boughtherself a beautiful dress, a hat
(18:44):
, shoes and a bag to match.
With $1,300 left over she wentto another pawn shop and bought
a bigger wedding set with thatmoney.
Now she looked like a married,moneyed woman of class.
Goodbye Euclid Nursing Home,goodbye Norma, and goodbye to
(19:05):
wiping old people's backsidesfor a living.
Doris's first big heist tookplace in Pittsburgh.
She turned heads as she walkedthrough the bus station wearing
her recently purchased finery.
The tall, exotic-looking womancarried herself well, and when
(19:27):
she walked into thatPennsylvania jewelry store she
blended seamlessly with theother customers, casting a cool,
disinterested look around.
Doris approached the jewelrycounter and told the salesman
she wanted to see a two-caratdiamond ring, something that
would look nice for evening wear.
(19:47):
He nearly tripped over his ownfeet when he heard that and he
went right to work.
Another clerk brought over atray of diamond rings ranging in
price from $5,000 to $20,000.
Right away Doris knew the$20,000 ring was hers and she
(20:07):
set about doing what she hadpracticed hundreds of times she
slipped first one ring on herfinger and then another, then
two at a time, and then triedthe rings on her other hand, all
the while chatting up the salesclerks.
Before long they had broughtout a second tray of rings.
The chatter continued, theconfusion mounted.
(20:31):
Finally Doris slipped the big$20,000 rectangular diamond ring
onto her finger.
The talking never stopped andthen, just like that, she stood
up slipping her white glovesonto her hands.
As she explained to the clerkthat she would discuss the
purchase with her husband andthey would definitely be back
(20:54):
the next day to buy the ring ofher choosing, doris maintained
her cool as she walked at aleisurely pace toward the door,
past the doorman, then out ontothe street.
The farther she got from thestore, the harder her heart
pounded.
I did it, I got away with it,she told herself.
(21:15):
And still walking briskly, sheimagined the poor clerk looking
for that ring the rest of theday, finally having to tell his
boss what had happened.
It was his fault.
At least that's how theinsurance company would see it.
Quickly her thoughts turned tothe things she could buy with
(21:35):
the money the ring would bringand to all the things she could
do for her family.
Doris stole that $20,000 ring,fenced it and gave the money to
her mother to get out of townand away from her father.
Clemmie Payne did just that,moving to New York City and
(21:55):
becoming a seamstress in ahigh-end dress shop.
This was her first heist and itleft Doris feeling so paranoid
that she spent the night in abathroom stall in a Greyhound
station.
She spent that night feelingguilty and she decided to take
the ring back to the store thenext day and somehow return it.
(22:15):
But as she was walking back tothe jewelry store the next day,
she happened to walk pastanother jewelry store store.
The next day she happened towalk past another jewelry store.
She walked in playing thefamiliar part of Miss Lady that
she played as a child andmanaged to sell the ring she
stole for an additional $7,000.
(22:38):
This experience was a heady onefor young Doris.
She learned a few things thatday.
She learned that being asuccessful jewel thief required
more than just looking the partof a fine lady.
It required more thanconfidence and luck.
What it demanded.
Doris learned that long ago dayin Pittsburgh was owning the
(23:00):
effortless ability to makepeople forget that she was a
black woman.
She learned to make thesalespeople forget how many
pieces of jewelry they had outof the case at one time.
She learned that putting peopleat ease was important, because
a person at ease is a person whocan be distracted, a person who
(23:22):
can be fooled and never evenknow they'd been fooled until it
was too late.
Being a successful jewel thiefrequired artistry.
Doris practiced this particularheist over and over again,
playing the scene in her minduntil she knew it by heart.
(23:42):
She would walk into a store,ask to see some rings and talk
pleasantly with the clerk untilhe didn't know which way was up.
All the while she'd be playingthree-card Monty with those
rings, eventually slipping oneonto her finger to keep.
What if I get caught?
(24:02):
She thought.
What if I go to prison?
She pushed the panic down whereit belonged.
It wouldn't do to have a salesclerk see anything but
self-confidence coming from thisyoung woman, would it?
Before long, doris was able toprovide a very comfortable life
for herself and for her mother.
At her insistence, her childrenlived with their father.
(24:26):
As everyone knows, a good jewelthief isn't home much.
Still, she sent checksregularly to help pay for their
care and their needs.
Her deeply religious mothernever approved of Doris' choice
of careers.
Those religious beliefs didn't,however, prevent her from
enjoying the perks of havingseveral homes, fine clothes and
(24:51):
the lifestyle she had alwaysdreamed about.
During the late 1950s, stealingjewels became Doris Payne's
full-time job.
She traveled from Los Angelesto Montreal and she studied both
jewels and people with intensescrutiny.
In 1957, doris began dating anIsraeli with strong ties to the
(25:16):
criminal underworld.
Harold Braunfield, nicknamedBabe, was a 6'4 Cleveland man
with enough legal muscle toprotect, pay pain when necessary
, and he did.
But by the late 1960s, picturesof Doris were being published
in newspapers and this forcedher to work in smaller cities.
(25:38):
Babe had passed away in 1968from complications of cosmetic
surgery, so he could no longerprotect her.
In the early 70s, doris decidedto move her operations to Europe
where, as she said, diamondsmake their first stop on the
black market.
Her first destination in thesummer of 1974 was Monte Carlo.
(26:05):
She brazenly targeted Cartierand made off with a 10.5 carat
diamond ring worth half amillion dollars, she didn't make
it far.
Her biggest mistake, sherecalls, was forgetting to
change her clothes beforeheading to the airport.
The police got to her beforeshe boarded the plane.
(26:29):
Amazingly, despite severalfull-body searches, they never
found the ring.
She hid it first in someKleenex, pretending to have a
nose cold, and then she borroweda needle and thread from a
guard to fix the hem of herskirt, but she used it to sew
the stolen ring into the hem ofher girdle, where it stayed for
(26:52):
months without finding thestolen ring.
Police couldn't hold herforever for the crime.
In 1980, just after her 50thbirthday, doris went to Zurich.
On the way sheuncharacteristically consumed
too many cocktails, with herdriver breaking her hard and
(27:14):
fast no-alcohol rule Drifting inand out of consciousness.
She had fuzzy memories ofwandering into a store that sold
Rolexes, she wrote in hermemoir.
She ended up at a club whereshe danced till late and was
surrounded by police at the coatcheck.
When she tried to leave, thepolice escorted her to a train
(27:39):
bound for the embassy in French,switzerland.
At some point that earlymorning she asked permission to
use the bathroom and she jumpedoff the train during a stop.
Wandering through a darkcornfield, she found a taxi to
take her to a hotel in Zurich.
It was only then that sherealized she was in possession
(28:02):
of a stolen Rolex, but she hadno memory of taking it.
This carelessness was notDoris's usual modus operandi.
She then thought that she mightbe slipping, or maybe that she
was too old to live thelifestyle of an international
jewel thief.
Doris Payne eventually did doprison time, but it was only a
(28:25):
few years, and that was neverfor the crimes that made her
infamous.
In 1999, she was sentenced to12 years for stealing a $57,000
ring in Denver, but she onlyserved five of those.
She was arrested again in 2011,five of those.
(28:48):
She was arrested again in 2011when the then 81-year-old was in
the middle of a Californiacrime spree, stealing diamonds
from Palm Desert to San Diego.
She was arrested for theftwhile she was wearing an ankle
monitor from a previousconviction.
She was then arrested again inthe summer of 2017 for allegedly
leaving an Atlanta Walmart with$86.22 worth of groceries and
(29:13):
electronics, and then she wasarrested for stealing a diamond
necklace from a high-enddepartment store at Perimeter
Mall in Dunwoody, georgia.
Today, doris Payne lives alonein a rented penthouse in Atlanta
.
She lost her Shaker Heightshome to foreclosure and her
(29:40):
savings have long since beendepleted.
She enjoys occasional visitsfrom her adult children, perhaps
like any retiree.
Diamond Doris, as she came to beknown, found it hard to fully
step back from her 60-plus yearcareer.
She can certainly be describedas a career criminal, having
stolen items ranging from ahalf-million-dollar diamond ring
(30:02):
to expensive watches, earrings,other rings and bracelets, a
Burberry coat and Walmartgroceries.
She's been arrested severaltimes in Greece, france, britain
, switzerland and the UnitedStates, and she's spent a good
deal of time in jail.
(30:22):
The thing is, none of thatseemed to scare her.
Really, as she said in adocumentary interview when she
was in her mid-80s, she neverregretted her life of crime.
She did, however, very muchregret getting caught.
(30:51):
I'm Carole Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at www
.
caroletownsend,com.
As always, thanks for listening, and if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
(31:11):
friends.
Subscribe to this podcast onSpotify, apple Play, iheart and
anywhere you listen.
My team and I used the followingsources to put together this
story about Diamond Doris theNPR show titled Inside the Life
(31:37):
and Crimes of a Career.
Jewel Thief dated November 8,2014.
Thief dated November 8, 2014.
The book Diamond Doris the TrueStory of the World's Most
Notorious Jewel Thief, by DorisPayne with Zelda Lockhart, and
the article Not Sorry,international Jewel.
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