Metropolitan Opera Co., Chicago, Ill.
From this letter it was fairly inferable that although the defendant
might be innocent of the precise crime with which he was charged, he
was, nevertheless, upon his own evidence, guilty of having "faked" a
cheap Nicholas violin into a Strad., and of having offered it for sale
for the exorbitant price of five thousand dollars. This luckless piece
of evidence undoubtedly influenced the jury to convict him.
It will be recalled that ten witnesses for the prosecution had sworn
that the violin offered in evidence at the trial was _not_ the one
produced in the police court, as against the defendant's five who
asserted that it _was_.
The testimony was all highly technical and confusing, and the jury
probably relied more upon their general impressions of the credibility
of the witnesses than upon anything else. It is likely that most of the
testimony, on both sides, in regard to the identity of the violin was
honestly given, for the question was one upon which a genuine divergence
of opinion was easily possible.
Eller's letter from Chicago so affected the jury that they disregarded
his testimony and reverted to that of August Gemunder, to whose evidence
attention has already been called, and who swore that it was "The Duke
of Cambridge" which Flechter had tried to sell to Durden. Alas for the
fallibility of even the most honest of witnesses!
The case was ably argued by both sides, and every phase of this curious
tangle of evidence given its due consideration. The defense very
properly laid stress upon the fact that it would have been a ridiculous
performance for Flechter to write the "Cave Dweller" letter and state
therein that he was "a violin dealer or maker," thus pointing,
unmistakably, to himself, and to further state that for one in his
position to dispose of it would be difficult and dangerous. The only
explanation for the "Cave Dweller" letter which they could offer,
however, was that some one interested in procuring Flechter's downfall
had caused it to be sent for that purpose. This might either be a
business rival or some one connected with the prosecution.
While Palmer was summing up for the defense he noticed Assistant
District Attorney Allen smiling and dramatically turning upon him, he
shouted: "This is no laughing matter, Colonel Allen. It is a very
serious matter whether this man is to be allowed to-night to go home and
kiss his little ones, or whether he is to be cast into jail because you
used your brains to concoct a theory against him."
Another consideration, which seemed deserving of weight, was that if
Flechter did steal "The Duke of Cambridge" it would have been a piece of
incredible folly and carelessness upon his part to leave it in such an
exposed place as the safe of his store, where it could be found by the
police or shown by the office-boy to any one who called.
Yet the positive identification of August Gemunder and the fatal
disclosures of Eller, coupled with the vehement insistence of the
prosecution, led the jury to resolve what doubt they had in the case
against the prisoner, and, after deliberating eight or ten hours and
being out all night, they returned a verdict of guilty. Flechter broke
down and declared bitterly that he was the victim of a conspiracy upon
the part of his enemies, assisted by a too credulous prosecuting
attorney. Everybody admitted that it was an extraordinary case, but the
press was consistent in its clamor against Flechter, and opinion
generally was that he had been rightly convicted. On May 22nd he was
sentenced to the penitentiary for twelve months, but, after being
incarcerated in the Tombs for three weeks, he secured a certificate of
reasonable doubt and a stay until his conviction could be reviewed on
appeal. Then he gave bail and was released. But he had been in jail!
Flechter will never forget that! And, for the time being at least, his
reputation was gone, his family disgraced, and his business ruined.
A calm reading of the record of the trial suggests that the case
abounded in doubts more or less reasonable, and that the Court might
well have taken it from the jury on that account. But a printed page of
questions and answers carries with it no more than a suggestion of the
value of testimony the real significance of which lies in the manner in
which it is given, the tone of the voice and the flash of the eye.
Once again Flechter sat at his desk in the window behind the great
gilded fiddle. To him, as to its owner, the great Stradivarius had
brought only sorrow. But for him the world had no pity. Surely the
strains of this wonderful instrument must have had a "dying fall" even
when played by the loving hand of old Jean Bott.
At last, after several years, in 1899, the case came up in the Appellate
Division of the Supreme Court. Flechter had been led to believe that his
conviction would undoubtedly be reversed and a new trial ordered, which
would be tantamount to an acquittal, for it was hardly likely in such an
event that a second trial would be considered advisable upon the same
evidence. But to his great disappointment his conviction was sustained
by a divided court, in which only two of the five justices voted for a
new trial. Again Fortune had averted her face. If only one more judge
had thought the evidence insufficient! The great gilded fiddle seemed to
Flechter an omen of misfortune. Once more he gave bail, this time in
five thousand dollars, and was set at liberty pending his appeal to the
highest court in the State. Once more he took his seat in his office and
tried to carry on his business.
But time had dragged on. People had forgotten all about Flechter and the
lost Stradivarius, and when his conviction was affirmed little notice
was taken of the fact. It was generally assumed that having been
sentenced he was in jail.
Then something happened which once more dragged Flechter into the
limelight. Editors rushed to their files and dusted the cobwebs off the
issues containing the accounts of the trial. The sign of the gilded
fiddle became the daily centre of a throng of excited musicians, lawyers
and reporters. The lost Stradivarius--the great "Duke of Cambridge"--the
nemesis of Bott and of Flechter--was found--by Flechter himself, as he
claimed, on August 17, 1900. According to the dealer and his witnesses
the amazing discovery occurred in this wise. A violin maker named Joseph
Farr, who at one time had worked for Flechter and had testified in his
behalf at the trial (to the effect that the instrument produced in the
police court was _not_ Bott's Stradivarius) saw by chance a very fine
violin in the possession of a family named Springer in Brooklyn, and
notified Flechter of the fact. The latter, who was always ready to
purchase choice violins, after vainly trying for a long time to induce
the Springers to bring it to New York, called with Farr upon Mrs.
Springer and asked to examine it. To his utter astonishment she produced
for his inspection Bott's long-lost Stradivarius. Hardly able to control
his excitement Flechter immediately returned to New York and reported
the discovery to the police, who instantly began a thorough examination
of the circumstances surrounding its discovery.
The District Attorney's office and the Detective Bureau were at first
highly suspicious of this opportune discovery on the part of a convicted
felon of the precise evidence necessary to clear him, but it was soon
demonstrated to their pretty general satisfaction that the famous
Stradivarius had in fact been pawned in the shop of one Benjamin Fox on
the very day and within an hour of the theft, together with its case and
two bows, for the insignificant sum of four dollars. After the legal
period of redemption had expired it had been put up at auction and bid
in by the pawnbroker for a small advance over the sum for which it had
been pawned. It lay exposed for purchase on Fox's shelf for some months,
until, in December, 1895, a tailor named James Dooly visited the shop to
redeem a silver watch. Being, at the same time, in funds, and able to
satisfy his taste as a virtuoso, he felt the need of and bought a violin
for ten dollars, but, Fox urging upon him the desirability of getting a
good one while he was about it, was finally persuaded to purchase the
Bott violin for twenty dollars in its stead. Dooly took it home, played
upon it as the spirit moved, and whenever in need of ready money brought
it back to Fox as security, always redeeming it in time to prevent its
sale. One day, being at Mrs. Springer's, where he was accustomed to
purchase tailor trimmings, he offered it to her for sale, and, as her
son was taking violin lessons, induced her to buy it for thirty dollars.
And in the house of the Springers it had quietly remained ever since,
while lawyers and prosecutors wrangled and thundered and witnesses swore
positively to the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to
prove that Flechter stole the violin and tried to sell it to Durden.
On these facts, which did not seem to admit of contradiction, Recorder
Goff ordered an oral examination of all the witnesses, the hearing of
which, sandwiched in between the current trials in his court, dragged
along for months, but which finally resulted in establishing to the
Court's satisfaction that the violin discovered in the possession of the
Springers was the genuine "Duke of Cambridge," and that it could not
have been in Flechter's possession at the time he was arrested.
On July 7, 1902, eight years after Bott's death and the arrest and
indictment of Flechter for the theft of the violin, a picturesque group
assembled in the General Sessions. There was Flechter and his lawyer,
Mrs. Springer and her son, the attorneys for the prosecution, and lastly
old Mrs. Bott. The seals of the case were broken and the violin
identified by the widow as that of her husband. The Springers waived all
claim to the violin, and the Court dismissed the indictment against the
defendant and ordered the Stradivarius to be delivered to Mrs. Bott,
with these words:
"Mrs. Bott, it affords very great pleasure to the Court to give the
violin to you. You have suffered many years of sorrow and trouble in
regard to it."
"Eight years," sighed the old lady, clasping the violin in her arms.
"I wish you a great deal of pleasure in its possession," continued the
Recorder.
Thus ended, as a matter of record, the case of The People against
Flechter. For eight years the violin dealer and his family had endured
the agony of disgrace, he had spent a fortune in his defense, and had
nevertheless been convicted of a crime of which he was at last proved
innocent.
Yet, there are those who, when the case is mentioned, shake their heads
wisely, as if to say that the whole story of the lost Stradivarius has
never been told.