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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
RECENT LEGAL
DECISIONS.
[PREPARED FOR THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.]
CLAIMS AGAINST ESTATE—EVIDENCE.
In an action to establish a claim against an
estate, it appeared that decedent, a man of
wealth, gave claimant a mortgage on land own-
ed by him, which was not recorded until decedent
had paralysis, four years later, and that, on the
day after its record, claimant executed a release,
acknowledging its payment. It did not appear
that there was any consideration for the mort-
gage, or that any interest was paid on it. Short-
ly after the execution of the release, decedent
sold the land covered by the mortgage, and then
changed his will, increasing a bequest to claim-
ant to an amount nearly equal to the sum real-
ized from this sale. Claimant testified that she
executed the release on decedent's agreement to
pay the mortgage from the proceeds of the sale ;
that he did not do so, but gave her a check for
the face of the mortgage on a banking firm of
which he was a member, telling her that, if she
did not " collect " it before he died, to present
it to his executor for " collection " ; and, to ex-
plain the loss of the check, testified that she
gave it to the executor. The executor, who had
no personal interest in the estate, denied its
receipt, and, though there was evidence that the
check was in fact given, it did not appear to
have existed after the change in the will. Held,
that the evidence did not sustain the claim. 21
N. Y. Supp. 329, reversed.
Van Slooten v. Wheeler, Court of Appeals ot
New York, November 28th, 1893.
FRAUDULENT CONVEYANCES—INTENT TO DELAY
CREDITORS.
A debtor executed to one W., his father, a bill
of sale of all his property, valued at $9,500, tak-
ing notes for the entire price, which were to run
for periods of from two months to three years
from their date. Two months afterwards W.
made a general assignment for the benefit of
creditors. The property assigned consisted only
of what W. received under the bill of sale, a
judgment for $274, and a house and lot valued
at $i,6oo, and subject to a mortgage of $800.
The debtor testified that he gave the bill of sale
to W, in order that W. might take the property
and pay his (the debtor's) debts. Held that the
bill of sale was made with the intent to hinder,
delay, or defraud the debtor's creditors of their
lawful suits, deuiands, etc., within the meaning
of 2 Rev. St. N. Y. p. 137, g 2, and was void.
Warner v. Lake, Sheriff, Supreme Court,
General Term, Fifth Department, March, 1891.
CORPORATE STOCK—REFUSAL TO ENTER TRANS-
FER—LIABILITY OF CORPORATION.
The transferee of corporate stock can recover
only nominal damages from the corporation for
refusal to enter the transfer on its books, in the
absence of evidence of special damage by such
refusal.
McLean v. Charles Wright Medicine Co.,
Supreme Court of Michigan, July 25th, 1893.
THE Wirsching Church Organ Company of
Salem, O., have given up the ghost. Their ma-
chinery and other effects will be disposed of in a
short time.
ONE of the features of the great concert given
by the Metropolitan Orchestra and the 22d Reg-
iment Band last Sunday evening was the magnifi-
cent Wissner Grand. All the noted musical
stars seem to be in love with the Wissner.
MUSIC AND
ELECTRICITY.
| R . CHARLES H. O'BRIEN, the electrical
inventor, of Augusta, is a musician of
ability, and now has turned his attention in an-
other direction, combining both electricity and
music. For months he has been employed in
inventing and perfecting a musical instrument
the like of which was never seen under the sun.
It consists, in brief, of a variety of musical in-
struments arranged on a frame, all of which are
operated from a keyboard connected by wires
through which is gained electrical communica-
tion and control.
One of these consists of a chime of bells ring-
ing, from 2 inches in diameter up to 8, and all
nicely tuned and adjusted. There are over 20
of them and each is furnished with a hammer
which is operated by a wire the strike of which
gives the sound.
Another device upon the same board is what
Mr. O'Brien calls a steelograph, consisting of a
series of steel bars played by metallic hammers.
Still another instrument is a harpyphone which
is made of a row of steel strings of the neces-
sary tension and all arranged in musical scale.
There is also a xylophone attached.
The operator is seated at the keyboard at any
distance away, from a few feet to ten miles, and
is able through the electric current over the con-
necting wires to play any air he chooses upon
the several instruments, the music obtained be-
ing of a high order and of a different character
than that of any other, the electrical touch of the
hammers being something wonderful and giving
the musician complete control.
The keyboard is arranged something after the
manner of that of a piano or organ, and is
equipped with switches, so that one instrnment
or the whole set can be operated at once as a per-
son prefers.
In the course of his investigations Mr. O'Brien
has discovered that the rapid magnetizing and
demagnetizing of a piece of soft iron produces a
clear musical tone which can be varied at will
and thereby any musical combination desired
can be secured. He is following up this discov-
ery and expects to arrive at some interesting
revelations.
One more innovation in the realm of music
and electricity which is the subject of the young
inventor's research is an imitation of a bagpipe
which is secured by the application of electricity
to a steel bar. The resemblance is very strik-
ing.—Bangor, Me., Commercial.
AN ENGINEER CRITIC,
f
HE following novel critique of Paderewski's
playing, by an engineer on the Great
Western Railway, appears in the Minstrel for
January: " A gentleman gave me a ticket for
the Paderewski concert, and I went to hear the
great man play a piano in a way that made me
feel all over in spots. As soon as he sat down
on the stool I knew by the way he handled him-
self that he understood the machine he was run-
ning. He tapped the keys up one end, just as
if they were gauges, and he wanted to see if he
had water enough. Then he looked up, as if he
wanted to know how much steam he was carry-
ing, and the next moment he pulled open the
throttle, and sailed on to the main line as if he
was half an hour late,
'' You could hear her thunder over culverts
and bridges, and getting faster and faster, until
the fellow rocked about in his seat like a cradle.
Somehow I thought it was my engine pulling a
passenger train and getting out of the way of a
'special.' The fellow worked the keys on the
middle division like lightning, and then he flew
along the north end of the line until the drivers
went around like a buzz saw, and I got excited.
About the time I was thinking to tell him to cut
her off a little, he kicked the dampers under the
machine wide open, pulled the throttle back in
the tender, and, Jerusalem ! how he did run.
" I tried to yell out, but my tongue wouldn't
move. He went around curves like a bullet,
slipped an eccentric, blew out his soft plug, went
down grades fifty feet to the mile, and not a con-
founded brake set. She went by the meeting
point at a mile a minute, and calling for more
steam. My hair stood up like a cat's tail, be-
cause I knew the game was up.
" Sure enough, in front of us was the head-
light of a ' special.' In a daze I heard the crash
as they struck, and I saw cars shivered into
atoms, people mangled and bleeding, and gasp-
ing for water. I heard another crash as the Pole
struck the deep keys down on the lower end of
the Southern Division, and then I came to my
senses. There he was at a dead standstill, with
the door of the firebox of the machine open,
wiping the perspiration off his face, and bowing
to the people before him. If I live to be a thous-
and years old I'll never forget the ride that
Paderewski gave me on a piano. "
MUSIC IN THE
EGYPTIAN ERA.
f
HOUGH impossible for us to form any no-
tion of the style of Egyptian music, we
may be allowed to conjecture that it was studied
on scientific principles, and music was looked
upon as an important science, and diligently
studied by the priests themselves. Plato, who
was well acquainted with the usages of the
Egyptians, says that '' they considered music of
the greatest consequence, from its beneficial
effects upon the mind of youth." That the
Egyptians were particularly fond of music is
abundantly proved by the paintings and sculp-
tures in their tombs of the earlier times ; we al-
so find figures performing on the favorite instru-
ments of the country, among the devices with
which they adorned fancy boxes or trinkets.
The skill of the Egyptians in the use of musical
instruments is also noticed by Athenseus, who
says that "both the Greeks and the barbarians
were taught by refugees from Egypt, and the
Alexandrians were the most scientific and skill-
ful players on pipes and other instruments."
The same author also states that " in the Bacchic ,
festival of Ptolemy Philadelphus more than 600
musicians were employed in the chorus, among
whom were 300 performers on the cithara. The
Egyptians had a great variety of musical in-
struments, the number of which shows how
much attention was paid to the art. Various
kinds of harps are represented ; also the lyre
and guitar, with many other stringed instru-
ments, for which it is difficult to find a modern
name. Flutes, single and double pipes, the
tambourine of various forms, cymbals, drums
of different kinds, the trumpet and the sacred
sistrum. Almost all the instruments were used
in their temple services, which were very elab-
borate.
WOLF PIANO AND ORGAN STOOL CO., MUS-
kegon. Mich., in their annual report give their
capital stock as $20,000. Stockholders H. A.
Wolff, G. E. March, R. A. Fleming, D. D. Er-
win and others.
GEORGE RAYMOND, music dealer, Waverly,
N. Y., is confined to his room by illness.