New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-10-07
TIE UNCLE OF HIS COUNTRY.
LIFE UNDER THE THREE GOLD BALLS.
SOME PECULIARITIEs OF PAwNBRoKERs AM
THE PEOPLE THEY DEAL WITH.

SOME PECCLIARITIES OF PAWNBROhEES AMI
THE PEOPLE THEY DEAL WITH.
The pawnbroker is certainly not the incest kind Of
a person in the world ard generally gets credit for
being good deal worse than he really is; and yet
society puts ups with him, TO speak, with re-
marka6le unanimity and some Of the most exclusive
people call him unclc' His business brings him in
contact only with the gloomy and seamy side Of
human nature, not day passes but two or three
people try to cheat him by getting loan worthless
stolen stuff, he is freely abused by his customers
who appear to think that he has entered on the
business of lending his money because he does not
know what to do with It, and he cannot but know
that most of the people who deal with him regularly
better off the less mone- thew have what wonder
then that he is, far his business relations go.
oblivlous to Others sorrow, dead TO sympathy and
neither be fattered insulted? There IS one
instance record, however, where a pawnbroker
allowed himself TO be worried into vtnperati0n. He
was awakened from his bed the shop cold
night by a vigorous ringing IF his bell and putting
his head out of the window demanded who the I'M
timely visitor and what he wanted.
"Whasher time, OF fell' asked berry voice.
Have you reused out of bed Just for that, you
dog7" shouted the furious pSwnbroker III have
you arrested as"
"shh-h OF mani Thash alri'-you got my ticker,
y know y came up from below in husky tones that
the pawnbroker recognized belonging to man who
had pledged his watch that morning
WIDE RANGE OF CUSTOMERS.
The poor, of course. are his best customers Wives
Of laborers and mechanics who out Of work, on
spree' or on strke' are constantly pawnlng their
household furniture with him. The liquor dealer
and the walking delegate HIS best friends he
watches tho gradual march from comparative plenty
to downright penury of many a promising artisans
family; but he piles his trade among many other
grades of society we'll Lawyers preachers. actors.
merchants men in good society and women in seal
skins and diamonds as we'll as rags touch shoulders
before his counter and he often sees people meet
and recognize each other in his shop who would have
starved rather than there If they could have
foreseen such awkward predicamenL Thieves do
not patronze him so much as formerly The rputa-
ton of " fence" is dangerous one. but he sees as
much Of sporting men Of any other class above
the genuine poor Gamblers whose luck has deserted
them and who must raise stake" to start again
generally keep some article Of value about them for
this purpose, which they make point OF redeeming
as fortune smiles on them again.
Some people 90 so regularly to the pawn-shop
with certain article they keep for the purpose that
both they and the article they bring become well
known and all they have TO do is to lay 1t on
the counter in silence the pawn-broker passes out
the ticket and the usual of money and the
transaction is closed without word certain
lender had become accustomed, In this way, 10
have one woman pawn her sunday dress every
Monday morning and redeem It every Saturday night,
that he got into the way of tossing the bundle on
his shelf without opening 1t. One Saturday night
his old customer failed TO come for her Sunday
gown. thought struck him and he opened the
parcel She had pawned some no doubt interesting
back numbers of the daily papers, but they had no
intrinsic value. Still the pawnbroker is not often
taken in He must Of course, have a wide ac-
Quaintance with the value of all movable commodi-
ties. and. As the tnvariaole rule seems 10 pc ~
advance not over One-quarer OF his own valuatloh'
the margin Is ample any errors In Judg-
ment Tnredeemed articles which sold generally
bring nearly their real value, because people nave
mus be a great bargain and therefore are nearly
always content 10 pay the price demanded ms
interest charged, render tho business lucrative one
The number of pawnshops Increases seadly anu anu
proportion TO the amount of capital invested.
SOME CURIOUS ARTICLES PLEDGED
Pawnng household goods that have been obtained
from manufacturers on the instalmen plan favorite
trick of dishonest schemcrs, who sometimes escape
undetected and sometimes caught at IT. Some nj
the articles pledged curious indeed. a man Will
sometimes draw money his glass eye, going
without it for a few days probably making the excuse
10 his friends It hurts him and the ooulist Is
repairing it. Women frequently leave their false
teeth. and cork legs have been seen on the sheyes
his weapon in Bowery pawnshop, because his
most valued relic, a scalp was refused Probably
more Overcoats are hung up 81 the pawnshop fof
a number of months at time than any other article
and many weldressed young fellows Of expensive
habits or shallow purses seldom have more than one
change Of apparel of hock7 they call IL, at
time but 60 TO their uncle" for a clean shirt a
sunday coat regularly as most people do TO their
trunks. Many women, too. whose rage for fine
apparel has carried them beyond the reasonable limit
OF their husbands income and on to that height of
their ambition, a seaskn coat. pawn the garment
regularly every spring. This serves double
purpose; it gives them money in hand to pur-
chase summer outfits, and also stores the fur where
moths will not spoil IT, The pawnbroker packs the
valuable filrs away carefully. much for his
protection as for that of his customers and the interest
he exacts on the loan. big IT is amounts to little II
anv more than the customary charge for storage
with a regular furTfer.