The Washington herald., 1908-06-28

Ildlngs or the death OF Blind Tom at
Hoboken. where he had been living IN
retirement the wires tell us. and sub
sisting on charity" reach at least one
heart that loved and pitied him, and sum
mon from the land Of shades and dreams
many a ghost Of days and dear ones long
since departed. I must be his oldest liv-
ing friend. II is not true. as I have some
times seen it stated. that I taught him
what little he knew Of music: but I was
In at the outset Of his strange career and
am familiar with all its beginnings. says
Henry Watterson, in the Courier-Journal
I first heard Of him through Robert Hell
ler-William Henry Palmer-best known
In his day as a popular magician, but a
most accomplished pianist. II was at
Washington and in the autumn OF 1850
Palmer had just come up with Blind
Tom" in Louisville. think. and had
been. OF course. at once perpleNed and
amazed by his extraordinary character
istics. His crude often grotesque. at
tempts 10 initiate whatever fell upon his
ear. either vocally. or on the keyboard.
were startling He had heard Judge
Douglas speak and graphically reproduced
a few sentences He had heard a reign
ing prima donna sing and repeated her
soprano in a few bars The Bethune
girls, daughters OF Gen. Bethune. Of
Columbus, Ga. his old master. had taught
him a few jingles. which he ratified of
upon the piano. He knew nothing very
complicated, or very well. But he was
blind and clearly an idiot; in short. he
was a prodigy.
Palmer gave him several lessons
that is, he played over and over for him
such pieces as Thalberg's Home, Sweet
Home" Mendelssohn's Spring Song. d"
and the salient passages out Of some Of
LISTS transcriptions. Excepting a few
additional lessons" OF this kind had later
along from Eugene Baylor. who taught
him his famous "Margrave Dance" Tom
made little further progress and learned
nothing new
He would spin about the piano. like
baboon. mumbling TO himself while
Palmer or Baylor played. and. If they
stopped, he would rush headlong TO
the instrument and try 10 follow after
N'tN+'i ~ A'NtNFi1 40 AAt1 GuQ pDTdSeu- TWO
or three OF such lessons" suniced. and
though he learned nothing accurately.
nor played with any other expression
than they had rendered what he did was
surprising, even TO those who knew the
process and the limitations
There was In the Tennessee line a GER
tain Maj. Macconico, who had great
barytone voice, lie taught Tom to sing
Rocked in the Cradle Of the Deep" very
much as he sang H. There was a tailor
I'm Griffin. Ga, by the name OF Hanlon,
whose tenor voice was fetching. and he
taught Tom two or three love ditties.
which Tom repeated IN rich though rather
cultural tones yet in undoubted tenor. 1t
was something more than a phenomenon
OF memory. Though blind, he could han
die the keyboard readily. while his vocal
limitations from bass 10 treble, from deep
barytone to mezzo soprano. were suffi-
ctently accurate and indvidualized 10 be
recognized.
Tom seemed a woman hater Whether
It was pure misogyny or a kind of shy
ness manifestlng itself boorlshly. I know
not well remember. in Atlanta, where
a party Of us had him with US of and on
for two or three months. a young lady
one day sat down at the piano and began
70 play. Tom was at the dark end OF
the chamber, spinning upon hands and
heels, and mumbling 10 himself. lie
caught the sound Of the instrument. He
stood for a moment still and upright.
Then. like wild animal. he made a dash
and swooped down upon her. Terrified.
the poor girl shrieked and ran. while tho
rest OF US held him, wrlthing and irem-
bling with what seemed TO be rage.
"She stole my harmonIes," he cried over
and over. "she stole my harmonies." and
never again did he allow her 70 come
near him. n she were even in the room.
he knew IL somehow and became restive
and angry.
In the autumn OF 1860. Tom reappeared
at the North under the manaCtnent of
his old masters family quite impoverished
by the war. and an attempt was made
TO ''liberate" him from what some mis-
taken and oveTzealous humanitarians
called his "enslavement" Happily. this
failed. The case showed for itself. and
Tom was left with those who had cared
for him from his babyhood. had been
most kind TO him. and knew as none
others could, his real wants and needs.
The notion that the Bethunes had a
gold mine in his performances was not
true. They made at the height OF his
popularity hardly much more than a liv-
ing. and / suppose that eventually this
failed them. They must be all OF them
dead now How Tom came to live in
want at Hoboken, Just how he was sep
arated from his old friends. and how he
dropped out Of public notice, I cannot