1922 seems to have been a bad year for the ukulele. Check out these two articles from the New York Times archives.

Please note that I'm leaving all the bad spelling, excessive commas and other grammatical errors intact. I find it pretty amusing that the second article spells ukulele correctly in the body of the piece after mis-spelling it in the headline.

UKELELE CAUSES A RIOT.
Owner on Promenade Arrested in Chicago Railway Yards.

CHICAGO, July 15.--Jeremiah Goldringer went out for a walk today with his ukelele under his arm. A riot followed.

Railroad detectives saw Goldringer in the Pennsylvania Railroad yards shortly after dawn, carrying a strange instrument.

They gave chase and a crowd collected. Goldringer was finally captured and sent to the Psycopathic Laboratory for examination.

The New York Times Published:
July 16, 1922

HAWAIIAN TRIES SHARK FIN.
Uproar In Chinese Restaurant Follows Offer to Pay With Ukelele

Kile Nui, a Hawaiian of 379 Forty-eighth Street, Brooklyn, yesterday, according to the police, demanded Poi, a Hawaiian dish, in the chop suey restaurant of Lee Gun, 3,291 Third Avenue, Brooklyn. Failing to obtain the poi, he compromised on shark's fin soup and offered to pay after consuming the meal, it is alleged, by playing a few tunes on the ukulele.

Lee Gun called Kile Nui a few, names in Chinese, and Nui, it is alleged, answered in Hawaiian. The argument grew heated and, it is charged, Nui, feeling the futility of words, hurled plates, cups and saucers, while patrons of the restaurant and Lee Gun dodged. Nui is alleged also to have kicked through the front door.

Kile Nui was arrested by Detective Honan and will be arraigned today in the Fifth Avenure Court charged with disorderly conduct.

The New York Times Published:
October 13, 1922