'Swiped': Local Musician Alleges 2 Harvard Students Attempted to Steal Fiddle | News – The Harvard Crimson
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Local musician Calum T. Bell pressed charges against two Harvard students for the attempted theft of his fiddle from an Irish pub in Somerville Thursday night.
Bell alleged that after his performance at The Burren, two students attempted to leave the pub with his instrument under their coats. He filed a criminal complaint against the students with the Somerville Police Department on Monday.
A video obtained by The Crimson showed a violin bow falling out of one of the studentâs coats as they attempted to leave the Irish pub in an Uber. A second video showed the other student attempting to explain why they left the bar with the fiddle.
âWe brought a fake fiddle to the club,â the student said. âWe call it our slanjo.â
Megan D. Finch, who witnessed the attempted theft, called the studentsâ excuse âlaughable.â
âClearly, they just swiped the fiddle off of the table,â Finch said. âShe stole the fiddle, and her friend had the bow under her jacket.â
Bell, who has played the fiddle all his life, said that his instrument is âpriceless.â
âNo amount of money represents what these instruments are,â he said. âItâs not about the money â I have such a connection with my violin.â
âThis is theft of someoneâs absolute livelihood,â Bell added.
The students â one of whom is an active Crimson editor â did not respond to requests for comment. Callum said that after the incident, one of the students contacted him and apologized.
âGod only knows whether it was sincere or not,â he said.
Cormac Crummey, an Irish musician who filmed the encounter, said that he had ânever seen anything like it.â
Crummey said that when he first witnessed the event, he thought that the students were possibly âprofessional pickpockets.â
âIt just turned out they were just college girls thinking they were funny and not really understanding the severity of what they were doing,â he said.
Bell said that in retrospect, he should have called the police on the students on Thursday night after the incident, but that in the moment he was âshakingâ and âwasnât really in my right mind.â
According to Finch, bar employees wanted to call the police but since Bell managed to recover his fiddle, the manager ultimately decided to not contact authorities. The Burrenâs management declined to comment on Finchâs account.
Bell wrote in his report to the Somerville Police Department that the value of his fiddle was approximately $2,500-$3,045.
âFour people have gotten their violins stolen this year that I know,â Bell said. âIt happens all the time â and this is why Iâm pressing charges.â
âIâm very so unbelievably fortunate that they didnât actually get away with it,â he added. âBut I owe it to the people who arenât as fortunate that they are held responsible to the fullest extent of the law.â
Following the incident, Bell encouraged his followers on Facebook to complain about their behavior to the Harvard University Police Department.
HUPD spokesperson Steven G. Catalano wrote that the incident is not an HUPD investigation, and declined to comment on the incident.
Bell said he believes Harvard should discipline the students for their actions.
âI donât think that this behavior obviously should be tolerated by Harvard,â Bell said. âI really think they should be expelled.â
College spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo declined to comment.
Crummey said that he and other members of the âtraditional Irish communityâ sent emails to Harvard about the incident to support Bell and to âraise awarenessâ about fiddle theft.
âAn example has to be made of this, he said. âPeople canât just go and lift someoneâs livelihood and potentially damage it.â
âIt happened in one of the most prestigious colleges in the world â so if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere,â he added. âThere should be more of a respect towards musicians and their instruments and their livelihood.â
âStaff writer Sally E. Edwards can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @sallyedwards04 or on Threads @sally_edwards06.
âStaff writer Asher J. Montgomery can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @asherjmont or on Threads @asher_montgomery.