The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1881-01-01
0lEhWay Artists...The Men Who Do
face Natural Scenery.

,s,.-s - gssss-' s--x p -ei--
NEARLY every reader sees daily on
dssd.~alls and on fences, on rocks and
hsrns, the mammHh signs of patent
medicines, hair-oil, smoking tobacco,
gas stoves, harness stores, laundry soap,
or tooth wash. But there are very few
Who have seen the men Ut work with
their paints and brushes. Who they
are, WAY they became board.fence art
ists, bow they work, are still mysteries.
Most Of them are New Workers.. The
business started in this city, and here is
its hesiqrnrters.S Who was the first
highway artist is a moOted question.
Two or three veteran knights Of the
paint pot claim that honor, but the
claim of Edward Wise" Wise, the
original" as he is called by his friends
to that distinction seems to be ss good
IS any. IN {4-..... ~.
"When the war broke out" he said,
81 had little shop at the corner OF
Walker and Elm Streets, where l paint
ed signs. Times were dull, and used
to sit for hours in my shop and wonder
wha, was to be done next. One day |
saw q man across the stree: 60 ny 70, a
dry-goods box and stencil sMacallister's
Ointment on it with an ordinary stencil
plate and brush. The thought at once
csnetS my mind. Why wouldn't it be
& good thing to paint advertisements
in an Attractive manner on fences and
barns and such like? consulted with
3 friend, who said: go and see Drake.
He's Just started Plantation Bitters, and
maybe he'llhire YOU. Isaw Drake, and
he sent me to Demas Barnes, who WAS
furnishing tln money, and had an Office
in Park Row. Barnes took TO the
idea at once { suggested that
1 paint in Nsw York and on
the roads in the upper part OF
the island. i'What pay do you want?
he asked. I replied that an ordinary
house painter got $3.50 = day. and I
thought TINT ! was worth that. All
right, he said.j 20 ahead. do youwsat
any money to begin witb?' said that
ibid not, and started out. Forawee
psinted .ST.7-l860 ~ with the half.
moon anl eroist, on every fence and
vail ccald fihM III the city. Then I
went out on the Harlem road and on the
aYenues. l hadn't done all wanted to
At the end of the week, SO | kept away
from the office, and the next week l I'm
ished up Harlem, and gave Brooklyn
and Jersey City Il big dose Of the bit
asrs. On saturday | went to the office.
Mr.. Barnes wants to see you, said A.
G. Terrey, his son-in-law. l went to
him. Look here he said. Don't
paint another ssrokeg hrD not another
stroke. Iwaht yau 10 start ont on the
road right off and 60 West When can
you stlrt?' Monday said I. 'All
right; go ahead, and don't you come
back, till / send for you.I ggE1nHH a
81 started out on that Monday" the
veteran paihter Nent on, sand didn't
get back to New York for year. II
vent West to the Mississippi, asfar South
IS could 60 in war times, and North to
the Canadian line. For, one solid year |
painted nothing but ssSr. -lSG0-X.'
You can imagine the curiosity that it !
excited. Then the mex year went right !!
over nv first route and added 'Planta-
tstion Bittersf From that day to this |
have been on the road. have travelled |
Ill over the Union, in Canada, and have
heen in England. HI had time could
tell you curious incidents without end"
Another renowned knight OF the paint !
pot is l. NJ, Plum, now travelling Tor 4 |.
soap manufacturer. He started as
house painter. Times were hard, and
he took 20 the road with his brush, thir.
teen years ago, and for eight years has
been decorating the country with the
advertisement Of that firm. 81 put a
sign seventy-tiye feet long OH Iona Isl.
aud, in the Hudson," he said, land q
literary man who took trip to the isl.
and saw the sign, thought the name of
the soap was the name Of the island.
snd wrote three-quarters Of q column to
= Philadelphia newspaper abou. the
sheaatitul Island o. Some time
ago new station was made on the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and shed was
pu, Up foe q DEPOT. ~ the time the
shed was done had the name Of the
soap in big letters on it, and the railroad
men began to call the place by that !,
name. For over year when the trains
stopped there, the conductors would
call out All of for -. Finally the
station was named, and they stopped
advertising us. Near Pittsburgh l put
up \ sign that eonid be seen and read
sArse miles. The soldiers monument
shene is on top Of the mountain. When
they were putting it up they had a big
fence around it. Iput the sign on the
Bance. I could just sreach half the
kngth oftAs letDr5. The Ierioi gwasA
- higssss&buedeE hSstet. e.AMnagast
the fence was up you could read tina.
sign for three miles. Did l ever have
any troubled. No. EhsyesA had people,
shres.en me-; .bus they Ilttst haseVloae !
anything. You see, prosecuting us for
Damaging scenery is no5ody's particu-
Isr business o. rather it's Nerybodyft
business, hich j Tho same lting." I
anlonxStAe bAst Known ma in tlteI
business to-day are Bradbury & aough-
falling, who have roiucs& highway deco.
ration. 81 = science. Bradbury wat d /
sign painter on the Bowery originally. 7
He has painted from the Atlantic TO the
Pacific, and from the northern boundary
Of inhabited Hritish A2erica 10 the Gull !,
Of Mexico. He-has even gone further
South, and done artistic work in the
cities or Cuba aud other West, India
Islands. In 1868 .sBrad "hasde his
Inst trip across the continent. ltwa, no
easy jobf HE went ,n ttsi Missouri
River, By steamer, and thence 1000
aides BY pack mules and horse, across
the plains, and Rocky Mountains to San
Fraacisco, leaving III his trail on all
prominent places his handiwNk in the
shape of the advertisement OF brakes
PLANTATION Ritfors lVioo x,l, h.I =