The sun., 1894-03-04
AN ODD BowERY EXPERT.
WISE nv 1HB MATTER or COLLEGE
FRl7ERNI1Y PINS AND BhDGEA


On the Dowery. not far from Broome street
Ia n pawnbroker's sale shop. tho proprietor ot
which makes a specially Of dealing In college
fraternity pins and badges. You may examine
every other pawn shop and sale store on the
Dowery and nnd not more than i've or six such
embiems in all Of them, but In this shop. occu-
pyng conspicuous position In the show
window. there is always a vet-covered tray
on which a dozen or more rIns OF different
secret societies are displayed. The place IL
getting to he known among college men and
people who have lost fraternity badges 90
there as the FIRST step to finding them.
Every few weeks the proprietor Of the place
goes on q tour OF tho pawn shops looking for
badges and In his long experience he has
picked up fund OF Information about college
fraternities that would put the average grad
uate to the blush. There is not much money
in that particular branch. he says. but he has
become interested in il and made II q sort OF
study. Not only docs he know the emblems Of
every fraternity in this part OF the country. but
he Is a perfect encyclopgdia OF Information re-
garding their relative size. i'm portance. and the
peculiar characteristics OF each society and
OF the colleges in which each has its chapters
One would be certain that he himself Ia n coll
leee man but for certain peculiarities Of speech
that proclaim the east slider and his positive
assertion that he has never been inside the
doors OF college. and has never even seen
any but the local colleges from the outside.
A Sun reporter in search Of . lost badge
which he thought might have found It's way.
as many lost articles do. into Bowery pawn
shor. went into this sale store few days
ago to look over the stock OF fraternity pins.
He didn't flnd his badge. but he found many
others. There was handsome jewslled Chi
Psi pin. and next to II q large Alpha Tau
Omega badge. Beneath was a small sized Psi
Upsilon pin. touching elbows with its rival.
also diam ond. shaped, a Delta Kappa Epsilon.
Zeta Psi. Chi Phi. and Phi Beta Gamma were
represented. The most peculiar badge In the
window was large plain gold one. shaped
much like shield and inscribed with three
characters that looked like the Cypriote In
scriptions. The proprietor had some interest,"
ing things to tell about some OF his pins.
" There amt many things In this line that's
fun" said he. "A man wouldn't 90 into II for
his health. But this secret society pin busi-
ness Is mighty interesting. or course. you
understand. it's only eide lay-not my reRu-
lar trade. How did l get into it7 Why. the
funny letters on the pins used to catch me
when was on the lookout for stuG in tho
hook shops and l began pickin' 'em up.
from the UnIyersity Club that was up on
about The Sndges nf sie Sd .G.r orsan
izations. Re came into my shop one day to
him. He used to send me books and msGs-
zine articles on iraternitles till got TO know
they amt many college societies In this part Of
the country that don't know enough about to
'Ffi:s 1s asg e6s ssaSsy f "a e. ;R. .
but what. I've handled one or more ofits pins.
ds bsSss hSss IL The G.us;
!. ! 2. get ,em cheap for they an't any demand for
buy IT, but It's mostly the pawn shops. How
DO I % s'pose thfy se., thersf We'll; most Of I'm
RosEE hE is his sScisty pin. When they ds
not up town. where they think other college
fellows ina, may go in and see ,sm; They get
are lead ieary OF things they don't Under.
stand. or course the pin itself has a good
man m may H' ret eth Rai It's value "ssV on Il Sen Pins
thss arr mHrkS I'D. design ni hSSs fS Ss
the star and crescent II the Al pRs Delta and
The he crosses % , Ike the Alpha Tau Omega or
plain monogram pins or tie dismond-shaped.
BY the twIy there's an Alpha Delta pin that
BrSsdway caols car arr man nT" has got t. sSgs he
Iound 1t In the gutter. But he won't sell Hos
lind ana Ss@Tf toasbe
Delta Chi shield on nswshGy on Grand street.
what paid for it. That's what you might call
i1cs dcs returns and big pTolt: hsys Ss. put
IN my window for months and months. Tor. you
the soEHfS FS a a. RoGGussT With
.S0 piS' S' 'esa cont mS thi. srualt.
s pin from the eass than ea. haa
here for. eighteen months. and not an otrer for
iop down bg ~ Canal street ehewin The nGs Gss
over couple of badges that the proprietor
'f % msyts. and prstty' TOO. % only she s looked
iind Of half starved. She unpinned the pin
How much will you loan mo on thisr
Her voice trembled. but she was game, and
ioilar and she turned to R 20 out. ut Ta When SAID
=, Il -, dop't want to sell T. shs said. 'Iwans
Well. IN keep It six months for you.,I
old her. and gave her my business card. She
There's nothing on the pin but her name"
me word Lizzie" He returned the pin to its
,rietor thsn took out the badge with the T pseu- @
ssrs M the initas II" R' the s dst. sas s.fs
500; This Is earlier than any recognized col
rows and looked at i curiousIy
There's one that pleases me, ;" said he I've
'outherp colleges. No '' one even We % know" % The The
ame OF It,, and the members wear their pins
ead q. I. Whether It's going now / don't
now. I've heard ii died out. and then again
mother in Virginia college. Some time when
.. get richer III go down to the uniyer.
line on 1t. Most likely I'll get my
ace broke for pokin' my nose into other pso-
les business. by the way that pin ain't
here to sell as much as il is for a bait. want
omebody to come after it. and then mayboI
an IND out things. Only one fellow ever came
or 1t yet in the two years I've had it. lie was
or while. Then he saws:
What q, y want fer tn pin with tn dinky
=" ,Tyspty.hye dollars I said to phase him.
nd Il did the trick.
Hally gseg he said. His nibbs would
tAnd that. don't tink'
Who're you gsttin' II torT Iasksd him,
ut he said it was none of my dam business
nd did a sneak. ! followed him around the
orner and saw him talkin' to a military
1okin' old man. When they spotted me they
lid, That's the last offer had for II. One Of
"HeTe,s O cOuple Of nlna Inn kaAnin.n h