The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1883-01-20
Tatooing a Woman.

The active competition between the
tatooed women awakens interest. Two
in New York have voluntarily submitted
themselves TO the processes of punctur-
ing and poisoning necessary TO produce
the emblazonment which makes Captain
Costentenus as picturesque as his name;
and now third is undergoing a few
months Of torture in order that she may
be Sc disfgured that curiosity. seekers
may cape at her. This last young fe-
male says of another woman. ssAny-
body could be tatooed like her, but it
takes the nerve to have solid puncture
pricked in"
sand are you really illustrated with
cuts all over?" asked a reporter.
"Not yet," was the reply; "but I'm
getting to be.
An engagement was made for the re-
porter to be present when the next oper-
alton was performed. The reporter was
startled, not to say shocked, by the
promptness With which she displayed
various portions of her anatomical struc-
ture when he called at her room. 1t
seemed tr1fe immodest for her to show
in private what she proposes to exhibit
in public for q living; but after brief
struggle with his sense of propriety, he
looked with great interest at certainly
the most remarkable collection of pic
lures ever exhibited. The gentleman
who devotes his days to the puncturing
OF his wife's epidermis is sailor, or has
been one, and has imbibed forecastle no.
tions of art, together with his knowledge
of tattooing. Accordingly, his wife's
arms, legs and body look as if she had
had violent eruption of flags, tomb
stones, allegorical figures and moral and
patriotic notices.
"God bless our homes" "Procrastina-
tion is the thief Of time,'' and suThe
Union forever, fill up the interstices
between Melpomene, Calypso and the
grave of Thomas Jefferson, while large
tri-color adorns the right thigh, and a
free hand sketch of O man. .of-war is
pricked into the left. Scores of designs,
no two of which are alike, have been en-
graved $50 to speak in the flesh, and
the vacant spaces are being filled in day
by day by others.
"Can see you put on new picture?''
asked the reporter.
The tattooer carefully wetted a small
camel Ps-hair brush In some India ink,
commonly so called, but which he ex-
pAo1AO0 WAS IGdIly OuIu0S0 lUk, AuQ DC
gan to examine his subject to see where
he should begin. After turning her
around two or three times he selected a
small white spot on her left shoulder
blade, and rapidly sketched a heart
punctured by cupid's arrow. Then
he chose one of the several bunches OF
needlse and began to prick the ink in.
II go just deep enough to draw blood, y
said he; "when that comes stop. Then
it Immediately swells up like this and
he put his finger on raw sore on her
arm. "After three or four days the scah
comes off, and it looks like this" and he
put his finger on her left knee, where
there was an angry-looking bloteh of the
shape of bird. Then the skin peels of
twice, and in about week or more it il
all DONE"
The woman undergoing the tatooing is
the daughter of well-to-do farmer in
Pennsylvania, and is supported by re-
mittances from home, while her husband
is devoting himself to garnishing her fol
her debut. As soon as she shall have
been sufficiently bedizened, which he
thinks will be in few weeks, she is tc
fulfill an engagement of year at $40 o
week. Something like the first years
receipts have been used up while she hai
been undergoing the torture of prepara
tion. but she calculates, unless the fash
ion in tattoo changes, to be an attraction
to any show" for the rest of her life.