Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 April 1914 — His Skill a Natural Gift. [ARTICLE]

His Skill a Natural Gift.

James Cran, who astonished the world by his reproduction of flowers in his Belgian blacksmith shop, works at a forge in Cranfleld, N. J. Not long ago he was doing common blacksmithing work. Art critics say that he has gone much closer to nature in his work than Van Boeckel. He uses no mddels, and works with only the simplest tools. He began his apprenticeship as a blacksmith in Scotland at the age' of eighteen, but since 1896 has lived in this country, where he was one of the first men to make an iron golf club.