Blind Man's Strad

Thirteen years ago Henry Campbell, a blind Negro, bought a nice new fiddle for a few dollars. Henry was a lively hand with the ragtime bow. He knew a black boy who had an old fiddle. The blind man tried the old violin and liked its tone. He traded the new fiddle for the old. The other day in Baltimore this same Henry Campbell haled William Hill, colored, into court for stealing the old violin out of the trunk in its owner's room. A policeman recovered the instrument from a pawnshop where it was reposing as guarantee for $1.75. At the station house a man familiar with violins looked closely at the ancient " box." He was vastly interested. He had a violin maker open the instrument. Inside was the label--" Antonius Stradivarius, Cremonensis, faciebat anno 1723." Experts said that the "Strad" was genuine.