New-York tribune. [volume], October 26, 1902, Page 2, Image 32

About New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924

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ATTCOING S A METHOD OF DECORATION WHICH HAS RECENTLY BEEN PISHED TOO INDUSTRIOUSLY HERE
FRED T WILSON.
said to he the b»o«i elaborately tattooed sailor m
ait- United States Navy.
"a tattooino -artist."
M.v AMATEURS PRACTICE ON SCHOOL
CHILDREN -"PROFESSOR" WHO IN
VENTED ELECTRIC MACHINE
FOR WORK.
When the schools on the East Side opened a
t .v weeks ago the teachers were astonished at
\ ■ number of tattooed youngsters who ap
lared for beginning their schooling. Some of
/ tn were as variously decorated as the saltiest
i. i .11.. mi. and the boys who had escaped the
„ . die were so envious that they only waited an
; ; inity to join the ranks of the "skin pict-
I ■ > " :is the tattooed l oya were called.
The designs were not unlike those on. sees
j. the „,..> of grown men; youthful taste had
|.i i.. . -ii allowed to assert Itself, for the rea
. ■. that the tattooers were simply practising
, the boys that they might do better work on
1 c men who came to them. Bo there was the
lual round of anchors, eagles, stars, butter
\>.-. rrogs, snakes, hearts entwined and bleed
a s h« arts.
Then, in a careless moment, one of the tat
<«., •!> made a mistake. He wanted to try some
■cligious emblems, and was not particular as
«. ihe faith of the victim, in everlasting Ink
V i .ut a picture of the crucifixion, popular with
<:..man Catholics, upon the chest of a Jewish
t...y. The father natural!] objected and com
plained to the boy's teacher.
Another amateur tattooer pricked out an •'•■»*•
o:.ii-- cemetery scene with the Inscription "To
tin Memory of. Beloved Mother Gone to K« st."
Quite by accident, probably, he put it on the
»kin of a boy whose mother hi very much alive,
and has no Idea or "going to rest 1 * Just yet.
The ... itrutti •! all the way home, and was
t!..- envy of every other child in Attorney-st.
He hunted up his mother and showed her the
pathetic tribute to her memory. She failed to
lee the joke. Bo did the boy after she had
Snished tattooing another part i t bis anatomy
with a slipper. She, 100. complained to the
boy's teacher.
... for tattooing grew worse, and sack
i m new additions to the ra^ks <.f the
, » i n .- morning the • .un-n wai
, < when a dosen lit) od aeveral
j | with bt rimps, tob
t - and butterflies rrawling over their I
;-.,.h-is reported this wholesal
• -. for the Prevention of Cruett) to
Then Uw ■ ited and found
, • . itlona w- -r>- onl) Unit
, .!._". Tt.
• i on from transf< r i>.>i" r and wo«
- after a few washii - Th -.
howevei
i
In the n \. • :it X ■ the < "hil
. . and :.!■
a young tattooer, >>! No -"•'_■
•;.. Magistrate Deuel let him go <>n hia
, keep his needlei awaj fr«>rn jroung
:
It serves them rlgM for j i tMng oa "kids ' "
raid ■Ki.i iri. "" Elmer, the "Wonder Tattooer."
. tare. II i ; r. a, name is Cl
! • l Gitchell ThJse who call al hi* lat
: him as "Professor '* He
irtlst,*' and thai his art should
: ; • ' • and painting.
• r would ■ou • it< h me tattooing :'
onttnued They are nol < . itt enough
1 ■ ■ •- ..r nol they really want to be
• ■■ !•!•■ i- it. '.lit picking
■ •!• slsms for the decoratioa <'f th> Ir
■■■ 'ti.l right in stopping the
rs."
"It.; a go«xl t all v. for you that there is no
f>> i» ty for the prevention of cruelty to grown
men and women," raid hi* visitor.
"You're on the wrong tack, my son," naid the
•'.-irofi-f-sor." "There Is no cruelty about tat
tooing by my electric process. It feela just like
NEW-YORK TRIBUNE ILLUSTRATED SUPPLEMENT,
KSPRODUCTIONa OF FAMOUS PAIKTHMM i^
TATTOOING ABS POBBIBUE.
scratching your hand, and does not even draw
blood.''
"Hut you will admit that you disfigure your
patients." suggested the visitor.
"Disficure!" he exclaimed. "Wrong again,
and mighty wrong. If the tattooing is done
artistic like it is a positive decoration. Why.
some of the men I turn out are as proud as a
turkey with two tails. They'd like to go around
with their coats off in the winter time just to
show my clever work.
•Tin afraid you don't know much about the
way the human mind works on the tattooing
strain of thought. To get it straight. I'll out
line you the history" of the art.
"Tattooing is an ancient and honorable prac
tice. It goes back to the wooden age before the
folks that lived then Knew what metal -was.
They went to war with axes made from wood.
In or.l r to harden the wood they charred it
slightly with fire. They whacked each oUier
with, a good deal of skill and Bom* of the char
coal came .'ft in the wound. When it healed a
blue streak was left Warriors were known
from the number of such streaks that their
faces ■bowed Presently they found out bow
to make ?treak.«= in times ef peace. From that
it was but a ate to crude designs, and in the
centuries that followed tattooing ha.-, devel
oped."
"Professor" Gltrhell described in detail the
crude methods used by half civilised and bar
barous tribea In various parts of the world
fhtn ' emamplea of elaborate Japan
,.j:, t .:•:■ ■I - i:.'l the BCal tOOla whi h the Uttlc
brown B»ea vi •■•
TATTOOING AUIISi Pt'TTTfO THK FINISHING Tot'OlllJS TO ITT*? MASTKUI'IKCE.
Finally, with a proud smile, he turned to the
electric tattooing machine which be invented a
number of years ago.
He was about to illustrate its manner of
working by adding to the designs upon his own
arm. when a younjy Kast Side merchant came
in. He wanted a sitting and the professor was
willing The first thing to do was to decide
uj>on a design. The young man thought he
want.-il something sentimental
"Give me anwartlrtng that will pftsns a couple
of hearts and my sweetheart's name," be said.
"Her name is 'Freda.' "
"Now young man," said the "professor**
sagely, "just let me give you some advice.
This tattooing hi more serious than getting
married. It is for life, and marriage— well you
ran •■:> the law to break up a marriage. There
is no law that will divorce tattooing. You love
Freda now; are you sure thai you will always
love her? Your next girl might not rare for
another's name on your hide."
The young merchant was not sure, and went
further for a design. He finally selected a
sword bearing this inscription: "Death Before
Dishonor."
"It is surprising." said the "professor," "how
many •peath-before-dishonors" I put in. It
shows the fine feelings and uprightness of the
>. in:;; men who come to me."
The young merchant bared his arm and the
operation began. Th.- "professor" washed the
skin with antiseptic and shaved away the hairs.
He rubbed a little cocaine into the skin and then
stencilled the alga He turned the current into
his electric outline machine, arid at the rate of
A MOURNING BCSBANO Aim p-.\TliKr:.
With portraits ol wife and children on his breast.
a thousand punctures a minute traced the out
line.
The patient winced once or twice at first, but
soon got used to the pricking sensation, and
made no complaint. T?iere was little or no sign
of blood. The "professor" held out his arm that
the patient might select the colors he desired.
and the arm made a perfect color sheet. l:iue,
red and preen were the colors that appealed to
the merchant and the »«uline was soon com
pleted with a brush.
The design was finished with a shading ma
chine also operated by electricity. Although
eight dies went into the man's skin at tad
throb cf the current he st.l that it did cot
hurt as much as the outline machine with its
single point of steel. More color was worked
into the holes a ft by the shading machine, and
the job was done, all but binding up the aim.
According to the "Professor* 1 a great toanj
women in New-York have fallen victims r> the
tattooing- craze at one time or anotht-r. "i'.eal
silk-stocking society women at that, " says he.
"The Saviour wearing a crown of thurns :a the
most popular piece with women, and after that
they go in for butterflies. I know one woman
»hi' has her husband's 'ra:t tattoed ur>.n her
breast. Another man who lost his wife ar.d two
little girls had me do their pictures on hi.- these
Then there la a sort of tattooing that .srnne
we>rr.en demand which at ■ nothing to do with a
design. li is for the purpose of giving i'.u-va a,
new anil permanent complexion, a case of
checks always rosy. There are possibilities 'n
this direction for the tattooer who is wUthis to
sacrifice his art. Bui as for me— l am an.
artiat."
EDUCATING FILIPINOS.
EXPERIENCES OF YALE MEN WHO WKNT
OL'T TO NEW POSSESSIONS.
New-Haven. Conn.. Oct. 25, — When a call was
sent out by the American Superintendent of
Education in the Philippine Islands early last
year for volunteers from among young college
graduates in IMS < <.•':;■ to go to the islands
as the first American teachers for the Filipinos.
President lladley of Yale was asked to find sev
enteen or eighteen recent YaJe graduates who
would engage ■■> the experiment. Through
the Yale Self-help Bureau the students were
informed of the opportunity to go to the
Philippines at fair salaries as teachers, -.rvj
there was an immediate response. Presi
dent lladley appointed seventeen Yale men,
of whom eleven were members of the class
of "01 Academic, two from the same class
In Sheffield Scientific School, two from the
class of •■" and one from -> All of t'K-se
Yale men sailed for Manila between May and
September. ltWl. and were then distributed
throughout th<- provinces. Among them were
some of the best known graduates of the > !:isse3
mentioned. From wl— Arthur L. r.rirtiths. of
Maiden. Mass.: Brewster F. Ames, of Albany,
N. V.; Edward K. Treadway. of Gloverswlle,,
N. V.; Frederick R. Ryan, of New- Haven;
Harry S. Cray, of Washington; James L. Flake,
of South Kiilingly. Conn.; Paul T. Gilbert, of
Cincinnati; Allen Gard. of SXertden, Conn.;
Frederick D. Bonne* (colored), of New-Havtß,
and C. T. Terry, of Tank—, N. V.. and Milan,
Italy. From '01. Sheffield— Herbert Lucker. of
Cincinnati, and Chorbajian M. Luther, of New-
Haven. From t»>- J W. Miller. •« Austin.
Tex.. and Norman G. Connor, of Slarshantown,
Perm. With them went m older graduate. 11.
W. Macauley. of Brooklyn. N. Y.
The letters sent home by the Yale tf-aehers in
the new possessions of the United States are full
of interest. They tell more clearly than do the
usual official reports the condition? in the isl
ands which Americans have to face, and in a**
eral they have been sanguine of the ultimate
success of American educational occupation. A
few excerpts from letters receeived by the Yale
Bureau of Self-help and by the families of Use