Rensselaer Republican, Volume 20, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 March 1888 — A TATTOOING CRAZE. [ARTICLE]

A TATTOOING CRAZE.

A Fad That, is Growing Among Peofple'Wbo Ought to Know Better. Professor 8. O’Reilly just now is illustrating the art of tattooing in a Bowery museum. His subject is a young woman who ia ambitions of posing as a museum “freak,” and to that end lays aside modesty and endures the pain incident to the pricking of a sheaf of fifty needles with which the Professor in* dellibly delineates birds, beasts, reptiles, heraldic devices and human figures in her sensitive skin. . The “Professor” is a historian ks far as his calling is concerned and likes to talk about it. “Of course it is popular,” he said. “The art was never so generally practiced since it was used to mark slaves. You’d be surprised at the number of peoole of tone and position in society who come to me to, be marked with designs and colors tnat will never be obliterated while they live. It need to be that sailors were the only people who coveted such branding. There was some reason and utility in it for them, as it often served to identify them when they perished in their perilous calling. Recently, however, they form but a small propertion of those who wish to come under the needle.

“ When the work ia artistically done men and women can thus qualify themselves 10 earn a very substantial and easy livlihood in the museums. I have tattooed twelve persons from head to foot, five of whom were females who are now exhibiting themselves at good salaries. The most successful of these is Mrs. Deßurgh, who is now exhibiting in London. She has a large picture on her back, done in colops, representing the ‘Lord’s Supper.’ body is completely covered" with 1,800 different designs. Her husband,) also, is covered from head to foot, and isjas picturesque as Captain Constantine, the tattooed Greek, who died a few years ago. The work, in his case, began when he was a Biitish soldier in Burmah, and was in progress for years. He met his wife while the last touches were being added to his picture gallery, and she was sairm ing under the first thrusts of the needles.

“Another distinguished example is a noted Canadian athlete. Nearly all his work was done at one session, lasting thirteen hours. I used fifty needles ia the bunch that marked him for life. It was simply a vagary on his part, as he had no purpose of exhibiting himself for a living. “There is no danger in the operation if properly done, and the pain may be greatly diminished. I use a mixture of hamamelis ana cocaine to moisten the ink and take sensation out of the parts lam operating upon. There ia no soreness,' and very little pain. It is not always safe, though. One operator in West Virginia was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for injuries resulting to his subject from using saliva with which to moisten the ink. Persons tattooed by sailors have contracted diseases communicated by the use of saliva as an ink moistener.

“The majority of the tatooing of the present day is probably done in Africa, where different tribes have distinguishing marks pricked into their black skins. These badges are generally put on the face, neck or breast. A fish bone is used for a needle. The South Sea Islanders are almost universally tattooed. “Tattooing merely for the purpose of identification is much more extensively practiced now than there is any popular conception of. * “The majority of the people who come to me are of the middle class though very often I receive orders to go to private residences up town to do marking, especially on children. On one occasion I received an order to come to one of the big houses in Fifth avenue, and when I got there I bad to put distinguishing marks on a Bet of. triplets,all of whom were about % month old.* There was also a young miss of eighteen years, who, after work, came to me privately and requested me to prick fancy garters on her legs. I did so, and she was very proud of them. After that I received several orders of the same kind from yonDg ladies. The upper class are as a rule very good patrons of tattooing artists. It has grown to be the latest fad in dndedom. The favorite designs for them are their fair one’s pictures, and you can rely upon it they have to" pay handsomely for it. As far as tattooing is concerned, itrir growrhg mdre popular m this country every day."