Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-11-22
THE DEuOu VIOLIN.
BY WILLIAM A. TAAFE.

ern town. 1t was late. and Jim Reagan,
the night-shift, stood beside the bar In
front of it, couple of maudlin men, in
blue overalls and jumpers, clasped each
other in clumsy affection, talked loudly,
and frequently ordered drinks OF the
stolid and indifferent Reagan. Within
= door and behind wooden partition
were congregated thirty or forty men
miners, ranchers, ne'er- do wells of the
town. and a sprinkling of ''sure-thing"
gamblers. Four or five tables, like mag
nets, held each its quota Of players.
Around the floor lay strewn the packs Of
rejected playing cards like fallen leaves.
A piano. at one side of the room, gave
out loud and discordant sounds.
The man performing upon it was the
most striking figure in the room. With
tattered clothes, .disheveled hair, and
bleared eyes, he was yet distinctively
different from any of his companions.
The dark eyes and olive skin suggested
birth in southern cline. Work in the
mines or on the ranch was not indicated
by the slight frame. The well-formed
hands were not distorted by toll. Torn,
and soiled, and rusty brown, as it was,
his suit of clothes had once been black
mis- coat, frock "Crazy Paolo" they
called him. Wine, whiskey, little
food and nights lodging constituted
his hire at Hooley's to bang the miserable
piano and play his violin-the violin so
carefully locked in its case.
He had finished a narrowing popular
air at the piano for the twentieth con-
secutive time, and stopped to take a
drink from the glass at his elbow. Three
or four big, hulking men near by stood
looking at him stupidity from under their
broad felt hats. The chips clicked
at the gaming tables. Reagan, in re-
Spouse to an order, brought in tray of
liquor and cigars to one of the tables.
Paolo reached for his case and almost
reverently took out his violin. A little
preliminary tuning and it went to his
shoulder. The bow was drawn over the
strings, but so softly that none save him
self heard the sound. Again it glided
over the instrument, and then it began
to wander back and forth--now slowly.
now swiftly, now tremulously. As the
truant bars of famous old operas, sad
nocturnes, and gay gavottes poured into
MS yawning ear, his face lit up with a
strange joy. The vacant stare of the men
near him changed to a dull curiosity.
But the music was all for himself; it was
only a moments delicious communion
with his violin he was having. Too
we'll he knew that the next would bring
a command to play some horrible song OF
dance. But the poker chips still clicked.
the men about him said nothing, and
Paolo continued to play for the single
auditor-himself
With the music his thoughts uncon'
sciously went back to Italy. He and the
violin had never parted since leaving the
little Palermo home. The old mother
and father had gone long ago, and the
father had left him all he had-the won
dcrful violin. All! that was good of the
old father, but Giovanni did not thinl
so. Where was Giovanni9 A wild boy
was brother Giovanni. He did not lik,
the fathers violin. 1t was the demon o
the family. Giovanni said it had brought
and would bring, nothing but misfortune
to them; the old father had done moth
ing but play it, and he had lived in dis
tress and died in poverty. 1t would hav
been better had he left Paolo his ours,
than his violin. As for Giovanni, h,
would have none of music; he would q
away--an ywhere-and he would becom.
rich somehow. Yes, that was what ht
said. But Giovanni was not musician
and complacent smile stole over the
fortune? ISLANDERS on his dear violin
Had he not played to applauding thou
sands in Rome-in London in New
York? She had come to hear him, it i,
true; but was it the dear violin's faul,
that the dark-eyed actress, whom hi
married, deceived him and ruined hi.
life?
''Here! Paolo! you bloody dago
wake up there and play us something
lively" came a rough, good natured
voice from behind the clouds of tobacco
smoke.
just then man came swaying into the
room, a reckless drunken determination
on his face to assert himself in some bois
ferrous way. He heard the command,
looked sullenly toward Paolo, and Their
walk unsteadily to the piano. Suddenly
he seized the violin, tore it from the
players hands, and swinging it above
his head, brought it down upon the piano
oiHdSuiAS ~ W picCcs. WIN SuTlek
like that Of wild and wounded animal
Paolo gave bound and caught the man
by the throat. 1t was all over in mo
ment; they were graphing on the floor
together; the man, drunk though he was,
felt that the hands strangling were those
of maniac; he managed to reach his
pistol; no one saw exactly how it was
done. but the pistol was discharged and
Paolo rose to his feet; the other was
dead.
The pistol-shot, not the struggle or
the floor, instantly brought every one in
room up standing. They gathered ex
citedly around, but Paolo, with q wal
of grief, flung himself upon the piano
and pressed the shattered violin to his
heart. He kissed it and talked to i,
caressingly, pleadingly. 1t did not seen
that he knew he had killed man. He
only knew that his violin was dead-that
it would speak to him no more.
Soon the room was crowded, for the
news had spread quickly. The dead mar
lay stretched upon the floor, and the
throng gazed morbidly upon him and
<hen at GRAVY Paolo hu~oiuv b;o y;ol;,,