The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-12-05
GREAT WORK ON A-E,pplE.
fAs Way Masical Scamp swtndlsd
the Money Leaders. =.

Tne way y AosscoA scamp 8wtA0Iod
the Money Leaders. :, X
"About . month ego" said Washing.
ton pawnbr0ker, ia seedy man, middle
aged, came in hsre with . violin. Be.
sides being seedy, he was - rummy look.
ing . chap o. I've done business with for
long while The violin which he put
on tho counter WAS an old, battered loath-
er case. opened the case, took out the
violin and thrummed on the strings bit.
Now, / don't know much about violins.
There are not many people living who
know much about violins. l suppose
since I've been doing q pawnbrok ing
business that I've handled close on to a
thousand violins Of one sort or another,
but violins are such q peculiar quantity
that don't make any pretense that un.
derstand their value. This one was In
tune, and when picked on the strings it
sounded pretty fair.
81 How much do you want on itP'
asked the rummy looking man.
Name NE figure, he replied.
Oh, we'll, a couple Of dollarsr I re-
piled.
THE man looked ut me mournfully.
It's q genuine Jacobus Steiner he
4 said, and It's nearly 800 years old. I've
had 1t myself for 30 years. I started out
with theatrical company A. orchestral
leader and the company busted IN Balti-
more few days ago. I'm broke. The
violin Is worth $500 at least. want $50
on It,
Stop your Kidding I told him.
How do know that you're not fakings
How do know you can play on the thing
at alp
''He didn't make any reply to this, but
he took the violin from the battered old
case, screwed up the bow and started to
play. Now, while don't profess to have
the inner know about the value of vio-
Inns, l do know good violin music when
hear 1t, and this man's playing was SIM
ply beautiful. He didn't play coon song
music, but he played the real thing. He
played all over the thing, from the neck
to the bridge Of 1t, and the chords he got
out of 1t had me going for fair. His music
sounded just as much like the playing of
this man Ysaye, whom heard at the CO.
iumbia last winter as any violin playing
that l ever heard. Thinks I to myself:
This duck is a tiptop musician who has
lot the booze get the best of him. A tip
top musician wouldn't play on bum I'D
die. Therefore this instrument he's play
ing on must be all right. After he gets
over this jamboree he'll come along and
take 1t out, anyhow, for supposed he
really does make his living playing tho
violin.
"He played on for about ten minutes,
until finally had to signal him to stop,
for crowd began to assemble in front of
the shop. and I've got no license to run q
concert hall
=" l guess this Instruments all right
said to him. III give you $50 on it,
1.-THE man hesitated.
al need $50 pretty bad, said he, but
III try to make out with $780,
so gave him a ticket and $50, and
he went out
"The next day friend of mine, who
plays the violin in one of the Washington
theater orchestras, was passing by here,
and called him in and showed him tho
violin and asked him what he thought Of
1t. He looked 1t over, picked on the
strings, drew tho bow across them, and
then handed it back to me.
" It's worth about 81. So said he.
ut certainly did knock me out.
"'You must be mixed said to him.
That's genuine Jacobus Steiner
HE grinned.
l can get all want Of em up at
New Jersey shingle factory for $3.50
gross, he said.
well, l had two or three other violin
players that l knew drop In to look at the
instrument, and they all told me the same
thing They said IT was simply COM
mon, everyday fddle-not violin at all,
but simply fiddle.
Last week took run over to New
York, and made tour of the pawnshops
Of friends Of mine over there. I told one
of EN- about how had been done on the
fiddle He looked at me qaserly, and then
he went back and pulled out violin case.
He opened it up and revealed an old look
Ing violin.
4 got done the same way, he said. I
coughed up $50 on this. It's worth 81,
I'm reliably informed
II described my man to him, and 1t
was the Same man. Washington Post.