Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-02-28
LETTER FROM NV YORK.
TIE REMARKABLE COWBOY
PIANIST.

Seme Ter'cs OF the Great Metropolis -
nns,o. i.aw. Scc,rv ind Finaucs.
! Correspondence ofthe Richmond Dispa,chl
New YORK, Feb. 26, 1856.
The most extraordinary musical
event Of the past week has been the
sudden descent upon the town Of per-
son calling himself the "cowboy pia-
MIST" cannot remember when |
struck another such phenomenon. lie
is the typical guyhooter " in appear
apce. Long. coarse black hair, broad
bIimmed slouched hat, and blue shirt
with open collar. showing his brawny
neck. His name is Babel. lie is about
twenty-three, and he has come here to
challenge the world Of pianists. He
calls the instrument " pi-anner," and
is spoken OF by his Tanchman agent as
an executioner." This agent, whose
name is Pike, told me that he hadn' t
found any pi.annists yet, but he'd
/ heard that there was one in this country
( some time ago called Rubinstein.
Like all the men about Fourteenth
street and Steinway Hall, | regarded
this strange apparition as something of
a guy until heard him play. went
with a small party Of musicians and
/ critics to John Pattison's rooms to see
the wild Western youth macerste
the masters and enjoy the prai-
RE school. But he astounded us.
In facility, force, brilliancy, and rapidity
! Of execution / confess that he amazed
me. Mr.. Pattison is the best Jrdrura
player that we have, and this young
man simply took his breath away. !
never, not even when Rubenstein was
here, heard such a stroke or such octave
playing. He does not know one note
Of music and declares that he never re-
ceiyed a lesson in his life. His ante
cedents are known and they corroborate
his statement. Up to within the last
six months he has been upon a ranch
on the borders Of the Indian Territory.
lie has all the characteristics OF the
cowboy, but he fingers like musician
who has given life to the instrument.
lie playe a sonata Of BeethOyen's, a
scrap Of Schumann that he had heard,
and then he improvsed. We laid a
cloth over the keys so that he could
not see them and he played with the
same knowledge Of the keyboard. OF
course, we could see that the sonata
was turned into a romano and that
those were not Beethoyen's resolutions.
but there was the marvellous execution
minus the technical knowledge.
This boys story, if true-and have
no reason to doubt it, for have en-
countered similar things before-is
equally strange. He told me in a
straightforward way that his father
bought an old Chickering piano for
twelve bushels Of corn from party of
emigrants. 81 was them" said he,
about sixteen years old. My father
didn't know anything about planners,
but he thought it would be handy for
mother to iron on. 1t was put in a
corner, and the old woman used to cut
out clothes on it, and when she wasn't
using it it was covered with old
harness and potatoes. When | was
tW enty-one | started one night to
90 to a roundup. You know what
the boys are out there. We had
a tide of sixty miles. and we stop
ped half way and got drunk. About
3O'clock in the morning started to go
on. My pony got his foot in gopher
hole and threw me, for | was pretty
full, and | broke my arm in two
places. They had to take me back and
then 90 to Fort Sill, which was sixty
miles for a surgeon. Well, | was laid
up for several months. One day | had
a shock. | didn't know what it was
then, but know now. It was electri-
city. 1t tingled down to the ends of
my fingers. didn't know what was
the matter with me. | was scared. |
got up and wanted to look into that
old pianner. / took the harness of and
got it open. Then | began to play. !
hope may die here if knew how |
did it, but played it. 1t made me so
glad l howled. The old woman
thought had gone mad. If I'd ever
seen the inside Of it before | hope |
may drop"
This extraordinary story is corrob-
Grated by several people, and strange
as il may be, it is not outside the
range Of psychologist phenomena. The
fellow plays like one possessed. He
has taken the rooms in Thirteenth
street formerly occupied by Mrs.
Langtry, and is arranging to give con-
cert here, probably at Steinway Hall.
If he does not attract great deal of
curious attention | am very much mis-
taken.
A LOOK AT FINANCES.
Cyrus W. Field, keen-eyed, alert,
and vigorous, in his sixty-ffth year,
suggests locomotive in trousers. The
whole man suggests power; there Is
power in the New England nose, power
in the square Jaw and firm lips, power
in the whole bearing of the man. | was
struck with this anew in a recent con-
versation with him about the silver
question. The gray eyes are usually
urbane in their glance, but they can
also peer half-closed with penetrating
scrutiny into those Of an interlocutor
they are as searching as the coal-black
eyes Of him whom so many fear--Jay
Gould. Mr.. Fields's offices are in the
seventh story of the Washington build
ing, corner OF Battery place and State