Page 14 Advertisements Column 6

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21979, 14 June 1933, Page 14

The proudest of all organ grinders has lately died. He was proud because he had twice been commanded to appear before a queen, and it is pretty certain that no other organ grinder was ever so honoured. The fact was inscribed on the old man's coffin. Francesco Carnachia came from Naples. He could play the Italian bagpipes, and in his youth could dance the national dances of his country with grace and dash, but as time went on he. found it better to turn the handle of a barrel organ or to be a one-man band. One unforgettable summer day in ISB9 Carnachia was playing his one-man band on the road between Cowes and Newport when he read the staggering news that Queen Victoria wished him to perform at the royal house. Carnachia was 75 when he died at Southsea.'