The times., 1899-02-26
loan OFFICES OF Till
NATIONS CAPITAL
More High Toned Than Those
of Other Places.
Women Give the PawnbrOker More
TroublA Than Men.
Spanish War Relics Appearing;
Among the Curios in the shops.
JeweIry Leads the Pledges.

The loan Office. or ''pawnshop." has been
a part of Washington since the first Office
seeker visited the first pie counter In the
interest of the first Office. And the divers
and various "uncles" have not Jared shah
billy in this capital.
Ii is a strange business-this advancins.
cash on the raiment and plumage Of eitf-
zens, and the clients and the pledges are
even stranger
Washington is not overcrowded with
pawnshops. but those which are in busi-
ness here make money and wax rich This
is feature of the business in every city.
as no well-conducted pawnshop ever fails.
but the loan Offices" of this city are OF
a higher order than those in other cities.
This is the result Of good class of clients.
The Mieawber-like oficeseeker does more
for the local pawnshop than the whole OF
the permanent population, and the Office
seeker cannot, as q rule. be downed until
his last collar button has transformed it
self into printed slip of pledge paper.
But there are times when the needy in
dividual gets down to the clink OF cop
pers, and here begins the grotssque phase
OF the business.
Here" said a local pawnbroker. Is al
umbrella which has been pawned and
taken out at least twenty times by ths
owner. l used to let him have a dol ar
on il, but we have brought the leans coEn
to 90 cents. Wear and tear you know
The owner evidently manages to make
small helps from his friends and when
matters get desperate he brings me his
umbrella. Then when he gets a few do
lars he comes and gets it out. | think [
have made about So ol that umbrella a
ready. oh, yes. there are lots OF them
pawn umbrellas We find they are good
sellers.
I'VE have more trouble with women than
men, continued the broker. a man viii
generally take you at your price and go
on. but woman will exhibit surprise G.
first. then make entreaties then tears. and
then agree TO take anything you offer Why.
the whole floor above this is packed with
stuff pledged by women. They bring
family heirlcoms and rings that their
relatives gave them and never redeem
them. A man will redeem in eight cases
out OF ten.
What have we here? Well. here. for
/ instance, is framed copy of the DecIara-
tion OF independence. Here is daguer-
| reotype of Stonewail Jackson. Here is
lnecklaee OF Confederate buttons Here is
framed photograph of Grover Cleveland
with genuine autograph. Here is ret
brooch said to have been worn by the wife
OF President Lincoln and presented to the
party who pledged it. Oh, we have lots OF
curioS.
Spanish war relics are beginning to pou-
into the local pawnshops. Mauser rifles.
| Spanish coins and medals. and even whole
| Spanish uniforms may be seen in scme OF
| the places whereat the three balls hang
pendant.
I'VE get an awful assortment of cloth
| ing" said another pawnbroker. Il wou,d
be willing to bet that the name strips
sewed into the collars OF the coats We
have here now viii repTesente at least
twenty-five different States. havs
known welI-dressed men to come in here.
go to the rear of the store and sftzr tx
ing off coat and vest. pawn them and 60
out covered only by their overcoats- Tha
mark in these coats always indicate a
tailor or a clothier in some distant STATE.
Now is the season for overcoats. We
receive On an average ten oyercoats each
day. and in month We will be offered at
least twenty every twenty-four hours
"Of course. jewelry is in the lead.
know lots of prominent men-and women.
tOo-in this city who have done business
here. \ loan of $50 sometimes helps out
and it can be done quietly. The loans
range from that figure to so cents on
watches. and if you don't believe that the
wealthy come to Us at times look at this
collection of stones.
There is a tiara worth 81 200 1t was
brought here from the wife of Congress-
man who has since left the city. | got IL
for $500, as she never redeemed it. sup
pose the poor husband spent $50 in adyer-
tising fol the lost tiara.
We refuse lot of valuable paying stuff
because we don't dare take it. 1 have been
offered valuable curios which l rem msmber-
ed having seen in the Smithsonian. Then
We get lots OF stuff from the departments
anything from a small library to chands-
lier. We turn these down. 1t doesn't pay.
y think the strangest offer l ever had
was a human foot preserved in alcohol. I
had no use for it, but the man who brought
it in insisted that it was very valuable.
We get lots of surgical instruments, drugs,
etc: in fact. this place is a complete hos
pital"
other strange things to be found in local
pawnshops are complete officers uniforms.
of both army and navy. swords, and even
silver nameplates from caskets. One of
these latter is displayed in a case in local
loan Office