Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1900-03-17
THE OLD fIDOLERS.
"A Unique and Side Splitting Musical
Contest at the Gennett Last
Night.

The attendance at the old fiddlers
contest last night, given under the
auspices of the Modern Woodmen,
was rather small. The cold weather
kept a great many away. The man
agement of the entertainment was in
charge of Messrs. Hull and Williams.
The audience was kept waiting until
nine O'Clock before the following
judges were secured: Henry Koling,
Professor Thompson and Walter
Dalbey.
Shortly after 9 o'clock the curtain
rose. Seated on the stage were about
20 fiddlers. There were several old
fiddlers and a few young ones from
the country. They were supposed TO
play in concert 1.-The Irish Washer
Woman. The product was a mass
of sound. Some of the fddles were
out of tune, some played too fast and
some too slow, and taken as a whole
it was rough on the ear.
The favorite tunes during the con-
test were Arkansas Traveller, .
THE Girl | Left Behind Me, Fish
er's Hornpipe." Kings Head, "
knocking Bird, Marching Through
Georgia., and Hell on the Wa
BASH" The chief old time contest
ants we're Ed Dalbey, George Hamil-
ton, Henry Williams, Henry Haw-
kins, Louis Verregge, Harry Court
right Bert Hawkins and Henry Mil
Ter. Ed Dalbey won the first prize
in the Arkansas Traveller. There
worse fddlers than Ed. He plays
with a great deal of vim, and gets q
great deal of physical action in his
music. During his performance he
mrde several futile attempts to raise
his shoulders up to his ears, and he
shook his head with such violence
every time he drew the bow that one
was inclined to think that they were
connected witha an invisible string. He
would hold his fiddle upwith much al
f ,ctionate regard under his chin,
and saw away in that manner until
the friction vas too great on his
chin, and then he would place the in
strument against his abdomen. Real
ly, it did not seem to make much diff
ference where he had the instru
ment. Mr.. Daley was easily the
most distinguished in professional
appearance of any. Every contestant
won a prize. George Hamilton was,
perhaps, the best representative of
the old time fiddlers; Henry Hawkins
was not bad. One of the original
features Of his playing was that he
always sat on his spine, and looked
continuously at the ceiling while be
was playing, without ever once wink
ing. Henry Williams played with.his
left hand, and made really the best
music of all. Louis Ferregge was
tall and awkward, and held his fiddle
between his abdomen and neck, and
great deal of noise with his left foot
in keeping time, but this was not OBJ
jectionable as the foot sound vas as
musical as that he produced with the
fiddle. Ed Daloey got tangled up
when he started to play 1.-The Girl |
Left hBeind Me-; he had forgotten
the tune, and it was a long time De
fore he finally got on to it.. Henry
Hawkins tried to play "Marcb'kg
Through Georgia" but made a ny
take and played Marching Thror3h
,.letsa With tlnA thu show w6oses1 -
was Clidence. He did a gre al
of fine trick playing. The Mand0tn
club played one selection very credyt-
ably, and a couple of colored Id s
named Mason favored the audieI e
with a selection on the guitar. There
was some dancing, too, by Some
colored boys. Paul Wilson, a little
boy, and two little girls, one named
Schwegman and one Elstro, played
selections on the violin. Marie
Myers, a sweet little girl about eight
years old, from Connersville, did
some very pretty dancing.
But the conspicuous dancing feat
ure of the evening was a jig by Will
liam Dalbey. He was very active on
his feet and went through a series of
motions that were surprising for a
N n past sixty years of age. His
urother Ed played for him.
The entertainment was still on at
i o'clock, but We suppose it is over
before this time.