The morning call., 1893-11-26
HIS LAST VIOLIN.
Joseph Urban Will Never
Make Another.
HE MAY YET BE RENOWNED.
Experts Say His Fiddles Will
Gain i'm Value.
HE DIED OBSCURE AND POOR.
A Passion for Stocks Absorbed the
Money Made by the Sale of
His Instruments.
HE DIED OBSCURE AND POOR

Outside a house in the 400 block on
Kearny street hangs an old wooden sign.
rudey formed in the shape of a violin. 1t
bears the legend 'Jos. Urban. VloliDs
made and repaired"
In the shop upstairs two half-made vlo-
lins lie on the table, as they fell from the
paraly Zed hands of the old workman. The
instruments will never be completed. for
Joseph Urban is dead \ yesterday the
yioIin-maker's remains were inferred in
Odd Fellows Cemetery in manner so
humble that no uninitiated beholder could
have guessed that the deceased had any
claims to fame.
Experts in musical instruments, how
ever, say that Urban was not only the
best violin-maker in America, but one OF
the best. il not the best, of the present
day. The value of his instruments is
scarcely acknowledged as yet They are
scattered here. there. in various parts OF
America and Europe, but as time goes on
their fame will probably vastly Increase.
Some experts go so far as to say that
one or two hundred years hence vlollns
bearing the Urban label will be known
and appreciat ed as those by the old Gre
mona and Venetian makers are to-day.
Stradiyarius and Seraphino worked in
shops almost as humble as the kearny-
street one, and scarcely guessed how their
handiwork would gain in value as the Gen.
turies went on.
Joseph Urban was born in Bohemia,
Austria seventy-one years ago. At an
early age he showed marked ability for
music, and was apprenticed in Pragae to
the trade of stringed-instr trUment making.
After completing hls studies he worked
for some time in Prague and later in
Vienna, where his success in making
viOlns. violas. violoncellos and contra
bassos attracted attention. 1t was upon
violins, however, that he particularly
loved 10 work.
In IS47 the young instrument-maker de-
termined to try his fortune in the New
World. He emigrated first to New 7 ork,
where he was Immediately engaged by a
large Bro dway firm TO make violins and to
pass judgment upon imported instruments.
The spirit of rowing, however, seems to
have possessed Joseph Urban in his
younger days, for in 1852 he came west
to California. He went about his
business Immediately he arrived here"
said one of the deceased's Oldest friends to
CALL reporter yesterday. 1.-The only oc-
cupation he ever practiced besides making
fiddes was to lead the second vtolins In
opera Orchestras."
Gradually the California makers viOlins
began to be known and appreciated. Or
ders came from Chicago, st. Paul, New
York, as far away even as Europe. This
work was well paid for and brought money
to the State, and Urban invested it all in
mining stocks. AS the years went by,
years in which he should have grown rich,
he still invested in stocks that swallow wed
up all the money his vi0lins brought in.
Old age crept up n him, without any pro-
vision being made for it, but Urban hoped
against hope till the day of his death.
HE was good man. noble charac-
ter" said the doctor. who attended the
instrument-maker through his last sick
ness. His one weakness was his belief
in his mining stocks. Often have l begged
him to get rid of them, but the week before
he died he exclaimed, Oil you will see. I
have fortune in them yet.
Fifteen years ago the old man could
have sold his stocks for $4,000. At the
time of his death they were not worth a
cent. His old friends thought too much
of him to see him want. however. Not
that the violln-maker would have ac-
cepted the smallest charity. 1t was un-
known to him that his friends forestalled
his modest wants during the last months
of his lite, when he had been stricken
with paralysis. His faculties were still clear
ana to the last he could not be persuaded
to lay down the tools from his trembling
hands. Death alone ended his lahors.
The late Joseph Urban was unmarried.
His only relation in this country is
nephew. who came from Russian River to
attend his uncle's funeral yesterday.