The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1919-04-17

BOUGHT FROM A MAESTRO
Instrument Was Kept AS Keepsake
After the Death of It's Boy Owner
Critics Believe It Real
Stradivarius.

While virtuosos Of wide fame and
great fortune have been offering fabu
lous sums for Stradivarius violins, a
masterpiece of the great violin maker
has been hidden away in a Kenosha
attic among the "memory- things" of
its boy-oWner, lad who "went west"
almost forty years ago.
And now, If the authenticity of the
Hfind0 can be established, Kenosha
Will shortly become mecca for the
masters who want to try, if they can
not buy, an instrument made by the
wizard Of old Cremona.
The story Of the great discovery is
most romantic. A few Sundays ago
group of sailors were gathered in the
vaulted lounge Of the Army and Navy
Club. They were being entertained by
a Kenosha woman, especially interest
ed in the arts, and were finding her
very charming. They suggested that
one Of them would gladly play for her
lie he only had violin.
"There's one here, she said, "but
it may be little too cid for you. ("
She brought the instrument from the
back-room of the Memorial Church,
busted it off, and handed it to the
sailor virtuoso for his approval. He
looked at it critically. It had marks
Of both age and "class", as he ex-
pressed it. He inspected the curul-
ed opening and looked up with mas
ter's Light in his eyes.
do You know what this isg", he
asked almost skeptically.
emo, Whatf', she asked wonder
ingly.
"Wen'', he answered little nerv-
ously as if he were afraid to believe
the thing he saw, it Is marked here
automatically I should say Anton
Stradivarius, Cremona, 1892. An ar
fist with money would pay cold
ten thousand dollars for it. Where
did it come from?''
The woman thought a moment and
then remembered.
80 yes'', she said eagerly, it was
loaned to the canteen by the sister
Of the boy who once owned 1t. He
died thirty-nine years ago when he was
only fifteen years old. but he wanted
good violin and his mother, who was
well o-dos bought this one for him from
an old maestro. After the boy died
it was put with the rest Of his keep
sakes in the attic of his home until
we needed musical instruments for the
canteen a year or SO ago. Then his sis
ter, thinking it might mean something
to a soldier or sailor, loaned it to us
with the understanding that it should
be returned when the war was over, not
because she attached any particular
value to it, but rather because it had
been 'his' and was a keepsake.
"That listens like real story, the
sailor commented. "Forty years ago
that was before they began to fake the
Stradivariuses or is it Stradivarii9
Anyway wen try it out".
Then drawing the bow across the
strings he added enthusiastically:
:" The tone is wonderful; it's is a real
Stradivarius
The present owner of the violin, the
youthful virtuso's sister, was inform
ed of the strange discovery and veri-
fed the story Of the purchase Of the
violin from the old maestro. He, she
said, had apparently known of it's
quality but in a way, that musicians
have, had not exactly realized it's
great value. Accordingly he had sold
1t to her mother at less than the 1.-THE
Of the price Of Stradivarius.
And on Thursday tsthe old violin'',
neglected for so many years, viii be
tenderly wrapped in fine fannels and
taken down to Chicago where other
maestros will pronounce it real or
an imitation Stradivarius.