Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-17
''Mine Uncle" Exchanges
Seasons In Pawns
. HESE are busy days in pawnshops.

~ HESE are busy days in pawnshops.
The topcoat reclaimers are max
- ing home runs-are visiting the
three-ball shops in punches and droVes.
This means for the pawnbroker emptying
of shelves and the filling of safes and
strong boxes. AS the overcoats and win
ter clothing go out jewelry comes in al
most by carload lots. The improvident
have figured it out that it Is far more
comfortable to deny themselves watches
and other jewelry than to take header
against the frost and snow covered
weather man.
But come with the writer and brush
right I'D against the pawnbroker and the
unfortunates who are forced to patronize
him. 1t is Saturday afternoon. Cold
weather is here. Actual want is driving
many to seek assistance from their uncle.
Saturdays there are more redemptions
than on any other day, and more loans
are made Mondays and Tuesdays.
However, every weekday is a iand-offlce
day for the Washington pawnbroker. and
this from the fact that there are only a
few paWnshops here, while there is al
ways an army of men and women ready
% let something so up the spout. The
laws governing pawnbrokers in the Dis
trict are so rigid as to make 1t extremely
dangerous for secondhand dealers anu m
dividuals to attempt doing paWnbrok-
ing business.
The greatest risk pawnbroker runs is
in making loans on stolen property. He
is the loser if the goods are found in his
possession, and about the only consoia-
ton he gets is seeing the thief go over
the way" For a number of years WASH
ington has been comparatively free of
fences" and thieves with stolen plumber
are forced to try to work 1t off on iegitl-
mate pawnbrokers However, several
wears ago this city had a few fences"
where everything in the shape of stolen
goods was received, and when the great
upheaval in the police and detective de-
partments took place thousands OF dol
lars worth of goods were found in sup
posed refrigerators and other receptacles
in saloons
My uncle" although protected by
stringent laws, claims that he has a
rocky road and is frequently duped. He
says that paWnbrokers do not get their
deserts in this world. Many will be con-
WINGED of l. nth of this assertion, Ven
turing the hope that they may accomplish
that laudable end in the next sphere. The
pawnbroker comes in contact with every
class-the rich. poor, gentleman, pun,
even monarchs have pawned In their day
Charles the Bold, when in Netherlands,
pawned a diamond noted as being the
largest in Europe. Christian. King of
Denmark pawned the Orkney Islands to
King James the III Of Scotland.
Here comes an old man with thin white
hair, miserable torn and soiled garments.
and yet with the bearing of gentleman.
He offered a handsome inlaid workbox.
-Four dollars" said the clerk, and the
old man nodded. The money was pro-
duced. and he vanished, giving room to
a stout Hibernian female. who offered a
comforter and got so cents. mechanic
comes in and pawns his box of tools; a
well-dressed young man let diamond
ring 60 in for $40: a seedy-looking in
dividual pledges a razor pistol and ring
for 50; typewriter found its way over
the desk and a youth walked of with 81;