The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-04-03
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
How an Autograph "Fiendn Makes Mon.
ey- Celebrities Duped-The Proc
ess Of "Seeing an Usher"
Especial Correspondence

| kSpeclal correspondence
There is young lady in this city who
makes good deal of money in a man.
her SO ingenious that it would be posi-
lively unkind to expose her to tho ex-
tent of giving her name and thereby cut
OF her principal pin money supply.
Whenever man or woman attains sud
den notoriety or fame she Mt once writes
q letter of such nature that reply is
inevitable, and the accompanying sig
nature is carefully cut Off with the
closing paragraphs of the letter, which
are almost always perfunctory and added
to the collection of autographs to be sold
from time to time us there may be q de-
mand from the regular dealers. In fact.
1T is said that whenever the dealers get
orders for the autograph of some living
person who is particularly difficult to
reach, they have recourse to the young
lady in question.
Ingenious If Not Honorable.
Some of the devices to which she re-
sorts i'll order to accomplish her purpose
are exceedingly ingenious if not always
strictly honorable. Some time ago she
| wrote note to famous woman who
was noted for her wariness in replying
to the communications of suspected au-
tograph fiends. The letter was couched
i'll the most beautiful language and ex-
pressed the sincerest sympathy of the
| writer for the writee i'll the latter's ter
rlble affilction. The pangs of wounded
heart over the departure of dear ono
were dwelt upon with the admonition
that we owe something to the living and
that no person of transcendent genius
had the right to deprive the world of
the pleasure of enjoying the gifts which
nature had bestowed upon her favorites
i'll trust for humanity.
AS the famous woman was not made
of adamant, the sympathetic communi-
cation touched her, and, being woman,
her curiosity was excited, for she had
not lost relative in many years. She
replied curteoously, thanking her CORE
spondent for the tender sympathy, and
then explained the true state of affairs
which the autograph hunter had known
of all along. Naturally the letter wound
up with an inquiry rs to how the report
of death i'll her home had originated.
Worthy of Better Cause.
There was an opening, and the New
York girl went for it with as much ell
ergy us n prizeiighter at the exposed
point of an adversary. 1t required very
little tact, coupled with mendacity, to
make satisfactory excuse for the terri
bic blunder, and naturally there was
plea for the pardon of the offending per-
son. Another reply came i'll which the
statement was made that there was no
necessity for apology, and, to make Il long
story short, before the correspondence
ended the autograph fiend had a fine
collection of the signatures of the celeb
rity, together with some of her most
beautifully expressed sentiments, all in
Der own handwriting too. She turned a
pretty penny on the transaction, and,
while the morality of the proceeding
must be condemned, the ingenuity, it
must DO admitted, was unique and
worthy of better cause
Seeing an Usher"
There is process much in vogue
among New York theater goers known as
"seeing an usher" 1t isn't everybody
that approves of it, but to the initiated
that doesn't lessen its value by any
means. Wasn't that jolly seat had
last night?'' you will hear ono man say
to another. Pay for it?'' "Not much !
didn't. I just went in on general adj
mission and then saw an usher" The
process appears perhaps to its best adj
vantage at the Metropolitan Opera
House. There it flourishes as nowhere
else. This is probably because prices
flourish at the Metropolitan Opera House
as they do nowhere else. The number OF
men who all winter long have been
gratifying their musical taste simply by
seeing" ushers would, were statistics
at hand to prove it, mount up into the
thousands. This is why the ushers OF
the opera house have such n prosperous,
cOntentcd air. The men who thus con-
tribute to tho joy and comfort Of usher
dom are, as a rule quito chary about
mentioning it. Now and then, however,
some particularly shrewd deal inspires
them to confide III others
His First Experience.
There was Il man Of this sort so in
spired the other evening. He simply
couldn't resist telling two bachelor
women of the way he had got ahead OF
an opera house usher few nights be.
fore. "You see," he said, sit was my
first experience at seeing an usher, and
that's why I'm particularly proud of it.
1t was Sunday night. Another fellow
and had just gone in on general adj
mission and We're standing around with
the other rail birds when suddenly he
said to me: Look here. You've heard
of this seeing an usher business? What's
the matter with our trying that?' ac-