The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-03
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VIRGINIA HOT SPRINGS

enough. Supposing a person has a $40
bill and wishes 10 use little money.
When the ordinary man breaks a bill
the whole OF 1t disappears Therefore.
as matter of precautions, he paWns the
Dill for what change he needs and then
when he wants it he can come and redeem
It,
Il remember one peculiar case that mada
me laugh, although II was rather pathetic.
TOO. An old colored woman came 10 me-
several years. ago with a trade dollar.
which she Dawned for rs cents I sup
posed IL was a keepsake but didn't in
quire For nearly five years she paid her
interest on the coin, and after the inter-
est had amounted TO nearly SO the old wo-
man redeemed the coin. Curiosity i'm
PEELED me to inquire why she valued the
coin so highly She said she intended to
sell II 70 coin collector, as she UNDER
stood Il was very valuable When told
her IL was worth 90 cents she was highly
Indignant at my ignorance. as she CALI
ed IL.
you would be surprised at the number
of times the shrewdest of pawnbro<ers
are victimlzed. One day when / returned
from my dinner found that the clerk In
my absence, had received an immense
Saratoga trunk, packed full of rich at
tire. He had advanced 81 on the lot and
was boasting of the good risk he had SCI
cured. Well. 1t was the biggest trunk I
had ever seen, and was very heavy IL
occupied very valuable room and took
three or four men TO move it, At the end
OF four months the owner returned from a
trip to Europe and redeemed the trunk.
The interest on the loan was 10 cents Tho
shrewd owner had stored his trunk for
four months under a safeguard, with fire
Insurance, all for 70 cents. After that the
clerk didn't think so well of his iudg-
mont He should have advanced at least
500 on the trunk and refused to take Il in
at smaller valuation.
Further downtown, in the nelghborhood
of Ninth and South streets. there are
many pawnshops, and they do an. i'm
mense business with the poorer class. One
broker, who has been in business for
twenty years or more, had many queer
experiences to relate
Probably the greatest surprise I ever
got IN the business" said he, was just
before the recent big blizzard The door
opened one day, and all could see was a
big black coffin, being carried in by a bur-
ly old colored man. He wanted 10 pawn
1t, but couldn't stand hoodoo like that.
j learned that the old fellow was PEN
sioner Of the civil war. Some months be-
fore after getting his back pay. he took
precautions against a pauper burial by
purchasing a coffin.
Among the odd things which are con-
sidered pretty good security are marriage
certificates They are often pawned, but
they are always redeemed. When a wo-
man pawns marriage certificate you can
be pretty sure that she needs the money
badly, and she is always accommodated.
"a queer transaction that attracted my
attention occurred years ago. when / first
went into che business. A sea captain.
who had arrived in port and was celebrate
ing, ran short OF money. He came to
me and hauled a silk-wrapped package.
When ] opened the package l saw what
looked like a piece of dried parchment.
looked in astonishment while my employer
quickly handed the man IS. the amount
he mad asked for. II turned out that the
thing was a caull, charm highly priced
by sailors as a sure preventive of death
by drowning. 1t was redeemed promptly
before the captain sailed