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