Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-04-27
THE PUBLICs aUNCLE.n
What He Receives from His Nephews
and Nieces.

and Nieces.
$50 you want to know il there are many
strange things offered US in the course OF
business" said well known pawnbrOker
in reply to a question propounded to him
by Philadelphia Record reporter. "WelI,
l should say there were," continued the
presiding genius of the loan Office. ''Only
those in the business can realize the eX-
tent of our dealings. The funniest things
one could think of are offered as collateral
for loans. 1t was only the other day a
young man cautiously entered the shop
and, after taking good look around the
place, withdrew from under his coat a
grinning skull and cross bones. He wanted
TO get 81, but | told him that there was
not much OF demand in the market for
such things, and the young chap retired
with crestiallen cOuntenance l Judge
be was medical student who was hard
up"
''Oh, the best of people get strapped at
I times ana Will willingly part with any
thing, for the time being, to get some cash.
Young fellows who haven't any iewelry of
their own manage to borrow a girls ring.
and the next day the borrowed Jewel is
packed away in the big safe Of their
'Uncle's.'
"A few weeks ago man, apparently
about 30 years Of age. regular old rOun-
der, ambed into the shop, leaning heavily
on cane. In reply to his inquiry l told
him that we advanced money on nearly
everything of value. He said nothing
but walked out, and half an hour later
was astonished tn see the same individual
come stalking in on a pair of crutches
with Ork leg under his arm. He told a
story Of his landlord having threatened To
eject his family from the house unless the
rent was paid Immediately. / told him he
was lying, and refused to take the prof.
fered leg.
"On another occasion a customer. who
showed every sign of having been on a
long spree, unscrewed an artificial arm
from his shoulder, drew it out of the
sleeve of bis coat, laid it on the counter
and requested a loan of 81.
III paWnbroker took all the sets Of
false teeth offered him he would have
enough in the course of six months to
start secondhand dental establishment.
Unless the plates are gold brokers will
not take them.
Il once ran aplace down in the sIums.
and not day passe but l was requested
to loan money on nearly everything from
natlr0n to b. dstead. Flatirons gener-
ally commanded 10 cents each, which suf-
need to buy three or four drinks. | re-
member one woman in particular, who
was always til first customer every morn
ing. She usec to pawn the only lamp
owned by the family every morning and
redeem it again at night. 1 gave her 90
cents on the lamp, and she paid me Is
cents at nlght-5 cents being charged for
interest, do you seey How she ever got
the money with which to take out the
lamp at nightfall mystified me for long
while, until one day | found she sent her
two children out on the street to beg Tor
pennies. l refused to loan her money af-
ter that.
''There was a colored woman living
near the shop who appeared every Mon
day morning, as regular as clockwOrk,
with big basket of nice clothes. She
allowed the clothes to remain i'm pawn
until the middle of the week, and then
managed to scrape enough money to-
gether TO take them out. One week she
could not get enough money to redeem
the clothes. She seemed to be much
worried, and told me that she did the
washing for several families on West
Spruce street; that she got the clothes
from her employers every Monday MORN
ing and returned them on the following
Saturday. Had the heightened families
known that their garments had spent the
best portion Of every week in "a hook
shop they would no doubt have secured
the services of another washerwOman.
"lroning boards, tubs, was stands, cam
dlesticks, carpenters and shOemakers'
tools are offered to me daily, but have
such stock Of them on hand that have
shut down on such things. Nowadays
jewelrv and clothing comprise nearly the
entire business of pawnbroker. Re
Gently there was a good business done in
shaving pensioners warrants. The pas
sage OF law tOrbidding such business
compelled many to give it up. Others,
however, took their chances, and MANY
got left. ] know of one man who had adj
Vanced money to seventeen pensioners.
At the end OF the quarter the old veterans
came around to get their papers in order
to draw their quarterly allowance. The
documents were surrendered to them
as they were Of no value in the hands OF
other parties. One of the clerks
in the office accompanied the squad
to the pension Office, in order to
collect the amount due from each man
as soon as he received his money. There
was a shrewd old Irishman i'm the party, 1
and on the way 10 the pension Office he
fixed up q job with the other fellows to
hoOdWink the clerk. The scheme was
carried out successfully, and the pawn
brokers' representative succeeded in col (
Letting only from one man. The latter
the claim of the clerk, and while |
the two were engaged in controversy
the other sixteen slipped away. That |
broker gave up the business of dealing in I
pensioners warrants after that. The goods 4
that are not redeemed, which amount to 1
about 30 per cent, are sent away to the I
auction stores and sold to country store |
keepers and secondhand dealers. The 4
iewelry is sold to assayers and refners,
who melt the stuff down and make it up |
in new articles"