The evening times., 1896-07-29
Business Is Flourishing With
the Pawnbrokers. 8
RECORD BROKEN SATURDAY,
Over Two Hundred watches Deposits
ed With .'Uncles'' That Day-Tellss
Tale of Hard Times-Jewelry Not
the Only Thing Pawned-Actor Bor-
rowed Money ON His body.

tdic Ol uafu IlnleB WHICH DIOOks no Cohtf u,
diction. That is the lnuniber OF timepieces
which were pledged ut the loan offices in
this city on saturda last, as shown by the
reports submitted to. the police. =
Every pawnbpker Is required by law
to render each day to the detective Office
aDaccurate statemensof the articles pledged
at his office; II It he watch giving the
nBine or nuke, nuniher, whether gold, sil.-'
yer or nickel, open or hunting case and its
value, also what 1t would bring at forced
sale. Accompanying this is brief dess
scription of the pa rty offering 1t as pledge,
whether black or white, male or female.
This is done in the case OF every article
which may be hypothecated, whatever II
may be, and applies to All secondhand
dealers as well as pawnbrokers. Then IL
IN article is stolen the police have
definite and reliable clew upon which TO
work should the article have been disposed
of by the thief in this manner.
But these tickers are only one item In
the long list OF valuables which were sur
rendered for loans on this day. Almost
every form of non-perishable property pos
sessed of fcxchangcable value and for which
there is any sale may be found in one Of
these shops. -
WATCHES THE FAyORITE ARTICLE.
Watches, rings, diamonds and all sorts
and kinds Of jewelry, as well as musical In
struments ard clothing form the principal
articles of your ''uncle's' stock. or the
2l7 watches pawned on Saturday, 147
were silver, nine were nickel and the re-
mainder gold and gold filled.
This TO the police, and especially to De
tective Proctor, whose duty among other
things is to receive. and closely scan the
pawnbrokers' reports, means that these
loans were secured for the most part By
poor people and shows marked increase
in tn cir distress
Ordinarily the number oftimepieces which
pass over the pawnbroker's counter in ex-
change for coin Of the realm is but sixty
on the average, and this sudden jump TO
2l7 has hidden meaning which, after
all, Is not SO hard to discern.
According to the statement Of Detective
Proctor, whose opinions are drawn from
observations covering a long term OF
years and verified by the experience of
pawnbrokers themselves, most of those
who give up their treasures for temporary
loans "have seen better days"
"uncie'' to all the boys, is a keen reader
of human nature. As a rule he can tell the
character of customer at first glance and
the cause OF his parting with his property.
His patrons, while they have a deep interest
in the money question, do not discrfmi-
nate between the yellow and white metals.
any kind OF money will suit them.
WHY ARTICLES ARE PLEDGED.
The unusually large number OF pledges
made on Saturday is attributed to sew
eraI causes samrdny-is always the best
day in the week for the man whose ad-
vertising sign is three balls. This, too,
was the last Saturday in the month, aud
on the first many persons have certain
obligations falling due Rent must be paid
monthly, installmeuts on furniture are to
be met, and not infrequently some one
wants to have q good time over Sunday
and has not the wherewithal.
Another. cause lis that large numbers Of
wealthy peoplean outoftown. THIS throws
others who depend upon them out of en-
ploynent, and makes business dull q II
around. Again,it is a fact, as stated to-
day by lender who took In sixty watches
Saturday, that young men, and even young
women, pa wn their Jewels in order to get
money to go to the seaside for u week, and
| It is often long into the winter before they
redeem them, II at all.
A young man whose family name often
| appears In the society columns of the news
| papers during the season, one da 3 last week
| entered an Avenue pawnsbop followed by
| a coIored man carrying large box which
bore the name Of one OF Washington's
most fashionable tailors. 1t was a dress
suit. Last winter u high government Off
cial drew 500 check for that suit.
| PAwNED HIS DRESS SUIT.
| The young man walked out with ticket
| and a So bank note, and tile next day q
| paragraph In the papers announced that
he had gone to Asbury Park to spend the
season. His So had purchased him
| round trip ticket. This story is vouched
| for by the pawnbroker, and is only one of
many instances. -
| A Times reporter peered through the
| iron grating which separates the money
| lender from his customer, and asked the
clerks the condition of some of his patrons
and the courses which lead them to borrow
money at such high rate of interest "some
| OF the ladies' watches are brought here"
i w
may have money to buy whisky with"
He told a remarkable tale of an Incl
1 dent which occurred a few years ago.
1t was on Saturday night; a popular play
had been running a one of the theaters all
the week. The leading character was much
addicted to the flo wing bowl, and his man.
ayers had been successful IN keeping him
straight for five nights by refusing to
allow him any money or permitting the
actor to carry o watch orpawnablea articles.
HIS BODY AS SECURITY.
| The Thespian's thirst grew terrible, as
IL he were iourneying across the sand Of
Sahara Walking in under the three golden
balls, he explained the situation to the
! proprietor, and offered to pledge his tody
for ..tenner', 1t was nearly o'clock,
| and the money lender knew his pledge
/ would be redeemed In q few hours, and
| there was room for a big .'specs The
actor got the coin. and after shelving
himself as security sent small boy for
| bottle of the amber fluid sa51gs AZ &.
In. the meantime note had been sent
to the manager, who was searching the
! city over for his star. The pledge was re-
deemed, and after a half hours delay the
play was begun. and the redeemed pledge
/ won golden laHels and tremendous ap.
plause.
4 Four pawnbrolseB flourish in washing
ji.ton, and their daily loans amount to thou;
sands of dollars shes year around. Theirs is
a business that b never Dull. and the more
1 gloomy the prospects In other lines the
i brighter the , are fog the money lender. He
\ becomes accustamedto al sorts and condi-