Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1876-09-21
Helena, Montana, Thursday, September II, 1876.
The TattOOed Man and his History.

There j., not greater curiosity in the
whole of Barnum's show than the tattooed
man, Capt. Costentenus This man has been
tattooed from head to foot in the most elab-
crate patterns, the result being miracle Of
art that the work should be done SO well, and
the existence of the man himself a miracle in
nature that a man should live through it.
Capt Costontenus is tall, dark cOmpleXioned,
of superb physique and about forty-fye years
of age He does not read English, but con-
verses tluently in lis own toguc and in the
Italian, Arab, Turkish and Persian languages,
and speaks little French and German, and
few words Of English The climate here
affects him SO that he keeps muti1ed in 4
coarse suit lined with fur, with a soft round
cap pulled down over his forehead, and 4
thick pair Of gloves on his hands. His heavy
beard only partly conceals the tattooing on
his weather-beaten face Costentenus early
history is that Of many Albanians. He had
always been a soldier of fortune. In 1867 he
and eleven others penetrated Chinese Tartary
and sided with the rebels. The party were
captured and two or three were killed, and
the rest were submitted to an ordeal OF tat
tooing which only two survived-Captaln
Ccntentenus and Spaniard, who has since
died. The operation lasted three months and
was performed daily. Six men held hlm
down while a seventh welded the tattooing
apparatus At the conclusion of the opera
ton he regained his health, and was freed by
the Tarters, instead Of making his escape as
was reported. This tattooing was done
to warn outside barbarians Of the dam
ger Of penetrating th3 Tartar domains.
Nothing like the Captains person has ever
been seen in civilized countries. BY the side
Of his gOrgeously embellished cuticle the tat
tooing of South Sea Islanders fades into in
Significance The material used was indigo
and cinnibar, the former producing black
and the latter red At Il first glance the
Captains body seems to be covered with
Turkish shawl, but a closer examination
shows that the pictures in two colors are
produced by unnumbered points. On his
forehead are animals and inscriptions, and on
the face slar-like figures. On the hands are
numerous red points, and figures resembling
sculptures, as well as long-tailed, panther
like shapes. The ears are absolutely the only
part of the body free from tattooing, even
the scalp being embellished On the neck,
chest, abdomen, back and extremities the
skin is mass of symmetrically arranged and
executed figures Of monkeys,
tigers, lions, elephants, peacocks, storks, |
swans, snakes, crocodiles, lizards, mingled
with bows, arrows, leaves, flowers and fruits, |
Between the figures are words in Berminian
in blue and red letters, and simple points or
stars and circles. The original skin is invisi-
bic. On the palm Of the hands are inllescrib-
able figures, and little figures are on the in
side of the fingers. On the back sides of |
both feet to the toes are blue points. AL
together there are 3SS tattooed pictures on
he entire body-on the forehead two, neck |
eight, chest fifty, back thrty-seven, abdomen
ifty-two, upper extremities 1O1, lower ex-
renities 1877; yet the Captain is in perfect
health.