The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-03


| pected Dealer for an Instrument
Violin is Taken to the Young Mans
| Home where the Owner of the Fiddle Is
| Concealed-Recognizes its Tone - The
Dealer is Arrested.
/ New York. July 1.-The examination
of Victor Fletcher, the instrument-deal-
| arrested last Wednesday on the charge
of having in his possession the stolen
and long-missing Stradivarius violin or
| the late Prof. Bott, was called today be-
| fore Justice Simms in the Jefferson
| Market police court, but was adjourned
| until July 5. Assistant District Attor-
neys Allen and McNanus appeared for
| the prosecution and for Mrs. Bott, the
slaimant of the instrument; while Mr..
Palmer of Hoadly, Lauterback & john
| son acted for the accused man.
Before the hearing Mrs. Bolts said:
Il knew our violin as soon as 1 heard it
played in the distance, and when I had
| chance to see it last Tuesday recog-
nized it at once. There is no other fid-
die like it. Its back is of one piece,
inside there is a small bit of wood MISS
ing, which shows by reason of the light
er color when you peer inside. On an
other part of the violin small piece of
wood was once broken off by my hus-
band, and l had to glue it ON after
wards. The violin was in our posses
sion for more than twenty years, and
was the chief treasure of our household
for all that time so that I could not
x.1yy L.
Prof Bot acquired it even, he used to
get the permission of old Herr Baurath
Hausman, the friend of the Duke Of
Cambridge, to whom this StradivariUs
originally belonged, to play on the in
Strument on the gala nights of the Han
over Orchestra or the Royal ConServa-
tory, where my husband was director
and teacher. l should not have under
taken this prosecution" added the old
German woman with tears in her eyes,
IF my husband had not been brought
to his death by this terrible affair, and
If he had not bequeathed the lost violin,
OF which he left minute description in
his will, to our young son, who is now
serving the colors in Germany. Never
theless," she concluded reverently,
PROF. Bott forgave all his enemies on
his death-bed, although he shook his
head and frowned when ! mentioned
Mr.. Fletcher's name on the day before"
The hearing today was to have been
In a private room in the interior of the
old Jefferson Market building. At an
early hour the room began to be filled
with lawyers, witnesses and connos-
seurs. Among the experts who had
come to testify for or against the genu-
1neness of the instrument were old
George Gemuendner and young August
Gemuendner; Remenyi, the Hungarian;
Albertini, the Spaniard; P A Josephs,
the Scotch maker; Leopold Lichtenberg,
the first teacher of the violin at the Ma
tional Conservatory; Henry Schradick,
of the LeOipsic Conservatory; John
Friedrich. an instrument maker in this
city; Nahan Frankie, the present leader
of the Casino orchestra; Carl Richter
Nicolai, the violinist, and many other
musicians and experts. When Justice
Simms saw the large number of wit
neSseS, indicating long hearing,
which would probably have to be adj
Journed to next week, since there were
many other cases awaiting disposition,
he ordered the postponement.
The story Of the recovery of what is
believed to be the famous violin was
obtained from one of the friend of Mrs.
Bott, who was in court It proved to
be equal in interest to that of the loss
of the instrument last year, when two
men drove up to Prof. Bolts house and
in his absence distracted the fiddle
from a locked bureau drawer. 1t ap-
pears that the arrest of Fletcher was
due almost entirely to the clever ruse
of an amateur detective, who was
moved to work on the case by his
friendship for Assistant District Attor-
ney Allen and by his sympathy for old
Prof. Bott and his widow. This gen.
tleman. II. P. Durdan, who is an officer
of the Canadian Pacific railway. and an
q N nor in;o -.x~
ago met Prof. Bot at No. % Gramercy
Park, the residence Of Colonel Allen,
who has had charge Of the case for
more than a year. Detective Sergeants
Valley and Ivanhoe, the police detect
ives who had been put on the robbery
when the complaint was first made,
had made so utter failure OF their work,
cover the lost fiddle and bring the thief
to justice. From that time on he work
ed necessarily on the case.
After clue indicating that the vio-
lin had been recovered in Paris had
proved to be misleading. Mr.. Durdan
opened negotiations with Fletcher. TO
whom suspicion had been first directed
by his former friend, the old violipist. |
fietcher previous to this. had been
sued in the court of common pleas by
Miss Maud Powell the violiniste for
the recovery of $500 which she paid for
an alleged Duiffoprugear violin that af- |
forwards proved to be modern instru- |
ment of almost worthless make Judg-
ment for s+S5. confirmed by the court of |
appeals. was rendered against him. |
Fletcher came into prominence again |
when sued Nathan Frankie, the violin |
list, for defamation of character The
violinist, who claimed Fletcher owed |
him money, confronted the instrument
dealer with three witnesses. Victor Her
Der. the 'cellist. Herr Oestreicher of NJ.
Thomas orheStra, and Mr.. Benedix. a |
violinist OF Herr Seidls orchestra. all |
OF whom stated in court that they
would not believe Fletcher under oath: |
and an nstrument-maker named |
Tubbs. who now resides in Boston tes-
titled in court. before the then Police |
Justice Smith, that he had been employ
ed by Fletcher for several years In |
aging instruments. and had thus |
6 ged no less than two hundred vioIins. |
changing them from worthless fiddles |!
to odd instruments of high price. Ac-
cording TO the expert testimony of /
George Gemuendner & Josephs, we'll |
known instrument makers in this city.
this was done in so cunning and skill |
ful manner that even experts were de- |
ceived. Fletcher was sued by young |
English 'cellist. ]. Beresford OF Fox. a |
relative of Lord Reresford in London. |
10 whom Fletcher sold an alleged Strad-
iyarius cello for ESQ. The instrument /
turned out TO be & French cello Of infer
Tor make. and the English musician |
sued for the recovery of s2.40. where
upon he was in turn sued for dsfama-
ton Of character. This latter suit was /
while Tire former. upon /
Mr. FoXs return 10 London. was settled |
out of court Justice Lawrence dis
charged Fletcher from custody on the |
ground that the evidence was not sufi- |