The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-04
REMENYI AND HIS FIDDLE.
1t Was Restored by the Skill of John
Birch, the Il street Hermit.


The illness of Remenyi, the violinist,
out in Iowa, and the greatest of them all
after the famous Ole Bull" said a we'll
known local musician to a Star reporter,
recalls to my mind a visit he made to
this city some years ago. When perform
ing in Paris, his principal violin and the
one ON which he relied the most suddenly
became dumb. 1t fiattened out so in sound
that Remenyi could not make its music
heard in the large concert halls in which
he appeared, and the loss of the instru-
ment seriously interfered with his busi-
ness. He consulted a number of artists OF
renown in violin circles as to the cause
of the trouble and a remedy for it, but
failed to get any valuable advice or assist
ance. Ole Bull took the violin in hand and
tried his utmost to make it speak, but il
was no use, the violin did not respond
even at the masters touch.
Lay it aside for six MONTHS said Ole
Bull, and IL Will cure itself: l have had
the same thing happen to me several times
and the rest cure did the work
My engagements are SUCH answered
Remenyi, that l cannot spare it for SO
long q time. Can't hurry its cure up any
1.-The only possible thing 1 can rec
ommend in the case, replied Ole Bull.
is that you take it to the United States
there who can put life into it, if any
one cam I don't remember his name,
but the music Stores there will tell you
his name, and where you can find him.
his concerts and started in less than ten
days for this city in search of a man
whose name and address were unknown
to him. On arriving there he was di-
rected to the haunt of John Birch a
hermit, who had for many years lived i'm
a tumbledown shanty on + street. two
or three doors east from Tenth street.
The rear part of the lot ran down to
the old Ford's theater. The front on +
street was a billboard, and was covered
up by show bills. In this place Birch
and SfGfpT lived for 20
Though the sister, Mary, was now and
then seen on the streets, John never put
in a public appearance except on Christ
mas and the Fourth of July. He was
generally regarded as insane, though
there was not much evidence of it in his
conversation or manner, except that he
persisted in living the life of hermit.
His pastime was music, the invention
and repair of musical instruments, though
his leisure hours We're devoted to the
working out of a machine for perpetual
motion. One of his inventions was a. bass
instrument, in size not much larger than
the ordinary accordion, by which he
thought sounds equal in volume to the
bass violin could be produced.
Though Birch had lived in the same
house for over forty years, there were
but very few persons who had ever seen
or ever heard of him.
'In an hour after Remenyi had arrived
in Washington" continued the speaker,
''he was in Birchs shanty, and had pro-
duced the dumb violin from it's case. Birch
, be cured.
Return in a half hour he said to Re
menyi, and I'll have it fixed. But Remen-
vi declined to allow his violin to be that
long out of his personal control, and urged
Birch to fix it while he was present This
Birch consented to do provided Remenyi
would not look at him while he was at
work on it. In less than five minutes he
handed the violin to Remenyi, with the
remark, Now try it, and see if it is not as
good as ever" Remenyi did try it, and to
his great pleasure he found that it was as
good as ever
HE feared to let Birch touch it again,
thinking that possibly he might take the
charm of life out of it, but played several
Of his best selections for Birch. Though
Birch had been repairing violins as well
as other instruments nearly all of his life,
he had never before heard a great per-
former play. In the enthusiasm and ex-
element of the moment Remenyi packed
M his violin and walked away. In talking
about the incident afterward, Birch told
me that Remenyi, in his indescribable
pleasure, had actually forgotten to pay
mn !" That fellow said Birch, sis the wild
est fiddler I ever heard of or saw. The
only thing the matter with his fiddle was
that the bridge was too high. He had put
in a new bridge without thinking of it,
and supposed the old bridge was in all of
the time All l did was to take it out and
sandpaper it off at the bottom.