The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-04-22
BLIND TOM.
The Famous Old Negro Pianist Is
Passing His Declining Years in
Great Comfort in New Jersey
Home
BY OWEN S. MARIN.

w nat mas become OF Blind IOmI -
This question is often asked by ole
theater-goers. who remember of the day.
"befo de wah," when the gifted musica
idiot was the star attraction in lyceums
town halls and lecture rooms, with which
the simpler tastes of most amusement
seekers of those times We're satisfied.
Tom was only a lad then, the slave OF
a Georgia planter. and his mental weak
/ ness. together with his blindness, served
| to increase the interest of those who
saw and heard this ignorant little slave
with unerring touch. draw from the pia-
1 nofOrte its sweetest and most melod-
iOus strains as we'll as its grandest and
I most solemn harmonies.
TOMS NEW JERSEY HOME.
The query as to Blind Toms" where
abouts can be answered best by tall.
! broad shouldered, neatly dressed cOlored
man. whose gray hair and sightless eyes
| increase the impressiveness of his ap-
pearance. and who resides in a comfort
/ able cottage at the highlands of Nave
I New York bay. This elderly colored man
/ is the Blind Tom of today. and for
several years he has lived there in ease
and comfort with his guardian. Mrs.
eliza Lercne. who was appointed ten
years ago by Justice Andrews of the
supreme court as committee of the per
son and property of the mind-clOuded
musician. She was then the widow of
John q. Bethune, who had charge of
Blind Tom" for many years, and the
latter was only given into her care after
long legal struggle with her father-iII-
law. James \. Bethune-
When Mrs. Bethune took charge of Tom
she found that his popularity as a public
attraction had greatly Waned, owing to
the fact that he had been before the
public many years. and that his former
managers had made all the money they
could out of the peculiar musical talent
of the simple minded colored man with
out preserving his value as an attraction
by replacing his WORKOUT repertoire with
more modern musical pieces. Tom was
also getting old, and was physically worn
out by the night and day travel conse-
quent on one-night stand performances.
He had been handed over to Mrs. Be
thune with no money and no property
personal or otherwise. out of the hun
dreds of thousands of dollars which he
had earned during the previous quarter
of a century. So IL was necessary to
keep him at work awhile longer to pro-
vide for his future maintenance in case
he became disabled by age or infirmities
and also 10 enable him to take care of
his old mother. who was still alive in one
OF the southern states, and looked to
Tom for support.
About three wears ago Mrs. Bethune.
who was then Mrs. Lerche. having mar
ried Albrecht J. Lerche. the lawyer who
had fought her legal battles in the
courts. had saved enough money to war
rant the temporary withdrawal of Blind
Tom from the amusement world so
that he might recuperate his health. and.
at the same time familiarize himself
with modern musical compositions.
CHEERFUL DECLINING YEARS.
Tom enjoys his long rest. after so
many years of incessant travel and
work. He does very little visiting
among his neighbors and receives few
callers at his cottage. He finds sufTi
Gent companionship in the piano givea
him by the late William Steinway. with
whom he was such a favorite that he
was called, years ago. .'Steinway's |
boy" He passes hours at a time at the
piano. playing his old pieces and prac- |
Using new ones. Occasionally he at
tempts improvisation, but even then
the initiative faculty predominates. as
the notes he picks out are usually the
reproductions of sounds that he has
heard. His best effort in this line was q /
piece entitled What the Wind and tho
Waves Told Tom. in which he initiated /
the whistling Of the wind. the roaring OF /