The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-23
THE BROTHER OF MY FATHER
The Beginning and Progress of Pawn
brokerage in Indianapolis.
The People Who Receive My Uncles Bounty
Characters of the Pledges-Incidents
of Growing Industry.


into pawnbrokers shop-not on business this
time, however A young was leaning
against the counter, examining diamond ring
with a view to purchase. ''How much" he in
quired.
''Sixty-fve dollars" was the reply. The custo-
Iner produced watch that he said he would like
to apply on the trade
''For how muchl" said the man behind the
counter
at cost me forty-five dollars in Pittsburg, was
the answer.
The trade was not consummated and the young
man passed out
STRANGE" said the pawnbroker musingly,
''but nearly every body tries to take advantage of
people in this business. Now $25 would be big
price for that watch"
The conversation went on. 1.-The first pawn
broker shop opened in this city was on North II
linois street." said Joseph Solomon, Gin a small
brick house then owned by Mr. Norwood The
site is now covered by the st. Charles Block 1t
was opened by Edwin May, afterwards State
house architect about the year 1860. It did a
small loaning business, but was not really a
pawn shop. My brother Morris Solomon, and
myself were the first to hang out the true insig-
VI pIOltSSlOll, Tie SOluen III
1862, at No 1S5 East Washington street, after
wards removing to South Illinois street. 1 well
remember the first pledge I took. 1t was a
watch, and the pawner wanted $12. As it would
have been bad luck to have refused the first
pledge l took it. I have the watch yet. 1 guess
its actual value is not more than fifty cents.
'It was uphill work at first, but when the
war got under way it improved rapidly
and wonderfully. Soldiers who had not been
paid were anxious to have some money;
many of them needed it badly. We often used
to loan them-those we knew-without security
but when they were paid were sure to get
our money. Notwithstanding these risks, which
under other circumstances, would have been ex-
ceedingly unbusinesshke, we lost little nothing
through soldiers. Along in 1868, sometime, a
man who had been one of the confederates i'm
prisoned at Camp Morton. but who had been
leased on some account, came here He wanted
clothes We.fxed him up and also staked him
with little money He said that, though a
Southerner, he was Union man and had been
forced into the confederate army. Well soon
after he enlisted in the Union army and went
South. He owed us 20, but 1 had forgotten all
about it, until year OF more after the war.
when exUnion soldier came in. He had met
the Southerner, at the close of the war, and he
had sent So North by him to give us when he
came to indianapolis. The soldier had carried
it in his haversack, along with his sow-belly
until It was greasy enough for soup
''What is the limit of your loans!"
1--WE loan on pledges all the way from 81 to
$500. The pledges taken for large amounts are
diamonds, valuable watches, and iewelry. The
average amount loaned on pledge is 49, PEG
pie hold the mistaken notion that hard times are
best for our business, when the contrary is true
IT is when huSirtaSS * good that
it is good with We then want pledges be
cause we know they more apt to be re
deemed The firearms trade has always been a
part of the pawnbroking business in this city
You ask if a fire arms law prohibiting the sale
of revolvers to any not having q license to
carry concealed weapons would not injure
our business9 l think not 1t would proba-
bly, cut off the sale of cheap pistols that
are more dangerous to those who fire them than
to those they may be fired at, but it would have
the tendency to increase the sale of better
weapons. Some pawnbrokers sell brass krrucks,
billies, and bowie knives. do not, and think
the trade in them should be prohibited. pawn
broker needs to be a close student of human ma
ture, and, above all, know his business. Many
of the people who deal with us have little con
science and we must be entirely guided by our
own judgment Sometimes they come in between
lights about dusk, or on a cloudy day and stick
with something in the iewelry line-not of
ten But eternal vigilance is the price of our i'm
munity. We are never imposed on by diamonds
as regards their genuineness, but occasionally
we may overestiInate their value and advance
more money on them than they are intrinsically
worth.
allow many pledges remain uncalled forr'
about one-fourth. Awhile ago I made a cal
eulation that three in ten We're left on our
hands. There is much expense attached to
this business as to any brokerage business. We
are compelled to do considerable book keeping
and there's special burglarproof 81 900 safe re
quired, in which to keep the pledges In addi-
ton to the pledges we sell we do general jew
elry business. We used to do good trade in
clothing but we are going out of that There is
such competitor, and there are so many second
hand dealers that the pawnbroker has been
forced out We no longer take carpenters tools
in pledge. They always kept us in trouble, as
they were pawned by thieves, and the owners al
ways turned up and proved property. The pledges
we now take are for the most part diamonds;
Watches jewelry revovers and shotguns. There
are now nine legitimate pawnshOps in this city.
There are number we might call amateurs.
Some of our banks do a pawnbrozing business
occasionally, when you come down to it, as they
advance money on diamonds and valuable pledges
Of various kinds"
DO you have much trouble with stolen
goods"
Very few stolen goods get into our hands.
Not that it is always easy to tell thief, but we
are very careful A great many peo-
pie labor under the impression that when
ever thing is stolen it finds its way to the pawn
broker. Stolen goods may find their way to
pawnshops in other cities; they do not here. We
DO not care to risk our money by putting it in
goods that are likely to be in controversy. 1t
doesn't happen in a year that this house
takes any stolen goods On the other hand, we
are often the custodians of valuable family
relics"
"How is thatl"
'In this way: 1t often happens that family
that has been way up comes down. in this uncer-
tain world of ours Their money goes; every
thing but their pride Then away they HE to
the pawnbroker shop as fast as they can go, with
the family plate or the family jewels. Some of
these heirlooms have been in our hands not only
for months but for years. Sometimes fortune
has smiled on them again, and the family jewels
have been restored from their secluson to glitter
again in the aristocratie circle from which they
had temporarily retired. Pawnbrokers have time