The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-02-14
RAGGED GENIUS
Gives CONCERT
Wizard Of Piano Enterta.nS Pc
lice Staten l1r ates Vita
Jazz and c ass.C Stuff.
LIFE STl1Y &C. CT Taiozg7
Unkempt Prodigy of "HoboeS' Col
lese" Retains ais Love OF hasic
Through Vicissituoes Int
Pursue shampIing Life.

Philadelphia.-Music critics have L.
lored the concert given at the pIano
II the police station the other evening
y Harry Tannehill OF Pittsburgh and
points West, more recently musical
director Of the Hoboes' college and
pianist extraordinary.
Tannehill. clevefly disguised as a
hobo-and n in all reality-gave
the police several hours of uninter-
rupted ragtime and then tore off 6
lot of classical numbers that LETT the
Yeriest patrolman feeling like an am
bassador. He glided through a little
List, gave some Chopin dirges and
then threw the whole outfit int rap
lures with a masterful Interpretation
of Rachmaninoff.
1t was an impromptu affair entire
". The artist arrived at the little
bare room opposite the cell tier short
ly before seven o'clock, conveyed by
Mulholland of the motorcycles" His
escort had lured him from the con-
crete campus of Hoboes' college.
For four hours he played his roper
toire of melodies, Jazz and classic.
The station house did its usual night
ly business of the district. DRINKS
were brought in-many of them.
Migrants were lodged. The police
surgeon made his round. And all a
glance into the music room disclosed
TO any of them was the sight of a lit
tie ragged figure. cap tossed aside,
battered shoes, dirty sweater and I'M
%forgiyable linen, sounding chords in
a revery. Two revolver shots sound
ed, just around the eorner. Someone
receiving wrong change in a nearby
cigar store had said it with gunfre.
The music stopped. 1t ever
grew stronger.
Tells Life Story.
Lieutenant Cocoran finally poked his
head into the music room and ordered
a halt. Then they got him talking.
By now a metamorphosis had taken
place. The bum had given way to
the musician and Tannehill dis
.oursed of music and his eventful
past as if he were drinking wine with
intimates on a terrace in fair Capri.
He was forty-six, he said. Had taken
up music at fourteen, studied the
piano for eight years, three in the
conservatory at Mount Union. O.. and
then for a time had gone on the con-
cert stage. After that he tried teach
ing.
Eight years ago" Tannehill said,
my wife deserted me and she took
with her our three-year-old daughter.
She may be alive today, she may be
dead. I don't know and l haven't
been able TO find out. My little girl
was my world; when she went, ambi-
ton followed"
The pianist came to Philadelphia
nearly three years ago, but other
than a few moyie-palace performances
he has been without work. He tried
carpentry for a while. and other work
more arduous, but was not equal to 1t.
you know the rules of the Hoboes'
college, don't your asked the bluff
Mulholland of his protege. IF you
get work, you're automatically ex-
PEELED. You'll have to leave the in
s%titution."
A "curtain Call"
Il don't care" answered the macs
tro. "Give me a few decent looking
toys and several good meals in sue
cession and I'll defy any of them to
tell the bum from the musician. Just
once more. before I die. I'd ike to
get loose in the vicinity Of a grand
piano."
A taste for music. like the love of
a horse or a dog, is a saving grace:
The last characteristic to go in the
drop to degeneration; the first thing
to build upon in the climb to re-
mobilization. The police made up a
purse for their visitor and asked him
10 play n more before he left.
"Tll give you a little William Tell,'n
he announced. And under the manip-
ulatlon of the nimble fingers of a
master. the old piano awoke to a life
1t had never known. The master
arose and bowed. Then, slowly, he