The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-12-07
TALE OF AN OLD VIOLIN.
shrewd Tricks Played By swindlers
On a Host of Pawnbrokers.
washington Posto

washington Post.)
About a month ago." said Wash
ington pawnbroker, "a seedy man,
middle-aged, came in here with a vio-
lin. Besides seedy, he was as rummy-
looking a chap as I've done business
with for a long while. He seemed to be
soaked and sozzled in whisky. The
violin which he put on the counter was
in an old, battered leather case. L
opened the case took the violin, and
thrummed on the strings a bit. Now,
l don't know much about violinS. There
are not many people living who know
much about ViolinS. l suppose since
I've been doing a pawnbroking business
that I've handled close on to thou
sand violins Of one sort or another, but
violins are such a peculiar quantity
that 1 don't make any pretense that I
understand their value. This one was
in tune, and when I picked on the
strings it sounded pretty fair.
How much do you want on it?'
asked the rummy-looking man.
" Name a figure, he replied.
" Oh, well, a couple of dollars, re-
piled.
1.-THE man looked at me mournfully.
It's a genuine Jacobus Steiner he
said, and it's nearly 200 years old. I've
had it myself for twenty years. 1
started out with q theatrical company
as orchestral leader, and the company
| busted in Baltimore a few days ago.
/ I'm broke The violin is worth $500 at
least. 1 want $50 on it,
"'Stop your kidding I told him.
! How do l know that you're not fax
ing? How do I know you can play on
the thing at alp
He didn't make any reply to this,
but he took the violin from the bat
tered old case, screwed up the bow
and started to play. Now, While
don't profess to have the inner knowl-
edge about the value of violins. L do
know good violin music when L hear
it, and this mans playing was simply
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 it, and the chords
he got out of it had me going for fair.
His music sounded just as much like
/ the playing of this man Ysaye, whom
1 heard at the Columbia last winter,
as any violin playing that I ever heard.
J Thinks l to myself This duck is a tip
top musician who has let the booze get
the best of him. A tip-top musician
wouldn't play on a bum fiddle. There
fore this instrument he's playing on
must be all right. After he gets over
! this jamboree he'll come along and take
1 II out, anyhow, lOT SuppoSe nc realty
| does make his living playing the vio-
| lin
He played on for about ten minutes
until finally I had to signal to him tC
stop, for a crowd began to assemble in
front of the shop, and I've got no H.
cense to run q concert hall.
"I guess this Instruments all right,
I said to him. I'll give you $50 on it.
.'The man hesitated.
! !,
but I'll try to make out with the $780,
so I gave him ticket and $780, and
he went out.
''The next day a friend of mine, who
plays the violin in one of the Washing
/ ton theatre orchestraS, was passing by
here, and I called him in and showed
him the violin and asked him what he
thought of it. He looked it over, picked
on the strings, drew bow across them
and then handed it back to me.
It's worth about a dollar and g
half said he.
"It certainly did knock me out.
You must be mixed said to him
That's a genuine Jacobus Steiner
HE grinned.
"'I can get all [ want of 'em up a
a New Jersey single factory for $3.50 6
gross he said.
well, [ had two or three other vio-
lin players that knew drop in u, lool
at the instrument. and they all told me
the same thing. They said it was sim,
ply a common, ornery, everyday fiddle
not a violin at all, but simply a fiddle
Last week I took a run over to New
York, and 1 made a tour of the pawn,
shops of friends of mine over there.
told one of 'em about how 1 had beer
done on the fiddle. He looked at ms
queerly, and then he went back anC
pulled out a violin case. He opened i
up, and revealed an odd-looking violin
I got done the same way he said
I coughed UP $50 on this. It's wortl
81, I'm reliably informed
Il described my man to him, and i
was the same man. At three othe,
New York pawnshops heard the sam,
story. The man had got all the way
from $40 to $40 on bum fiddles. He's {
good player, and a sharp besides, anC
he's making business of doing tn,
money-lenders. The beauty of hi.
game is that he can't be pinched. III,
simply cons us people into giving hin
about forty times the value of hi
goods, and there's nothing crimina
about the dodge. But I'd like to NEE
him on dark night all the same.''
Mister Snow.