The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-11-28
WHO STOLE THE GLEES (?
A Weird Question That Is Now
Puzzling Local Musical
Circles.
Dastardly Attempt to Squelch Out the
Harmony Choral Union at the
Pavilion.

puZZling over a strange incident which
happened during the recent festival for
the Children's Hospital. 1t was nothing
less than the sudden and mysterious dis
appearance of part of the music needed for
Wednesdays performance, its retention
during whole afternoon. to the despair
of the singers, who could not duplicate
their copies, and the sudden and secret re-
turn of the music when Robert Lloyd de-
cIared that neither king nor kaiser could
prevent him from announcing from the
platform that the scores had been willfully
and maliciously stolen.
At first it was believed that the mystery
surrounding the disappearance and re-
turn of the music would soon be cleared
up, and that the culprit, if culprit there
was, would soon be held up to public scorn
and contumely. But week has gone by,
the most diligent quiryhas failed to throw
any light on the subject, and the belief Is
beginning to gain ground that either a
passing Mahatma whisked the music OF
to Thibet for few hours uninterrupted
study of its beauties, or else that there
were several conspirators in the plot and
that they hired at least one skilled bur-
gler to assist them.
The story which the eyewitnesses tell is
as follows: On Tuesday the Harmony
Choral Union was called for a rehearsal
with orchestra of Now Tramp Ger Moss
and Fell' Shortly before the neigh boring
| calliopes and bells announced the hour of
noon, Conductor Hirschback entered the
Pavilion, bearing the orchestral and vocal
scores of the glee, which he deposited on a
table near the conductor stand. Care
| fully selecting "The Sailors Grave
Robert Lloyd's solo for that evening, from
among the pile, he put the vocal score in
his pocket, as he wished to make a few al
| terations.
1t is quite impossible that Mr.. Hirsch-
back, in one of those fits OF mental abstrac-
ton to which all great men are subject,
could have put the whole pile Of music
into his pocket, for the simple reason that
he had not pocket large enough to hold
it. He simply pocketed The Sailors
| Grave and went home to lunch with a
| clear conscience.
/ Just as the clocks were striking the hour
| of noon Robert Lloyd, the conductor of the
Harmony Choral Union, arrived on the
scene and found about forty of his singers
waiting to rehearse "Now Tramp" He
went to the table to distribute the music !;
the table was there, but the glees, alas !!
where were they? No one had been seen
to approach the table, but the music had
gone, vanished into thin air and left not
one copy behind. Robert Lloyd called the
boy in charge. He knew nothing, Mrs.
Hunt knew nothing, the singers, who had,
some of them, been present half an hour,
knew nothing. All the witnesses could
testify to was that whereas the music had
been there, now it was gone.
For two hours they waited and hunted
and conjectured, for the singers knew that
fresh copies of "Now Tramp" could not be
procured and that the loss of their music
meant the extinction of themselves, as far
as the festival was concerned. At o'clock
Robert Lloyd arose in his wrath and an
stamped out of Wednesdays programme.
ut shall stay there" he said, land when
! that number comes around will take the
platform and announce that our music
! has been stolen out of spite. | may say
now there is not any man big enough to
keep me from making that announcement.
/ No! nor any two men,"
! There was a dark insinuatlon about the
way in which the conductor shouted g
may say more" that he has declared since
was a bluff. Some of the singers declare
now that man, standing near Lloyd, was
observed tc gasp and turn pale at the an
nouncement as if he believed the sugges-
ton that Lloyd would tale unfold if he
chose. For obvious reasons this man 8
name is withheld, as he may have been
absolutely unconnected with the disap-
pearance of the music.
| As nothing was to be gained by waiting,
| the singers dispersed, and now comes the
strangest part of the story. At 6 o'clock
| that evening, the music was discovered on
| the table where it had been originally
placed. Not single copy was missing,
of the scores. How it got there, no one
connected with the Pavilion could tell;
the music had simply reappeared as mys-
/ teriously as it had disappeared.
When questioned on the subject yester-
day, Mrs. Hunt, the energetic business
manager of the festival, stated that she
was quite at loss to give any explanation.
1.-THE music was lost, and then it came
back. no one knows from where"
TT is no use talking about the thing, =
said Robert Lloyd. eff / knew who had
walked off with our scores, would de-
nounce him fast enough, but you see l
have no proof.
Have you any suspicions?" was asked.
mot to amount to anything" was the
! answer. "a man never knows who all his
enemies are, though could name several
of mine. twas cowardly sort of a thing
| to try to kill our glee out of spite, but
have no doubt that was the motive. As
| for suspicious, l don't let myself indulge
in them without proof, though will say
would stake almost anything on my assur-
! ance that the music was kept hidden during
the hours it was missing. and that IL would
not have been returned In time for the per-
| Torrance if had not used threats"
| Robert Lloyd has no belief III the Ma
hatma theory, but there are some of his
singers who say that nothing but an I'M
seen power could have removed the music
SO strangely The worst OF it is that the
mystery seems one of those that will never
be cleared up.
Mark Hopkins Institute of Art.
| Open daily including Thanksgiving day and
evening. The desire to see MulillO's great
| naintinps is steadily increasing the attend