The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-02-25
WEARS W0MAN'S TOGS.
STRANGE FADs OF CONTRACTOR
PIATKIEWICZ


Swears and Wears Trousers Like
Other Men, But Bis Leisure Time He
Spends In Arraying Himself In High
Heeled Shoes Bangs, Corsets and
Other Articles of Feminine Drapery.
a Peep at HIS Wardrobe-A Strange
Mans Strange History.
From the Chicago Tribune.
This is not an article on spring fashions in
women's dresses. Neither is il a description
Of the costumes and theatrical poses Of an
actress. These are commonplace. There is
nothing commonplace about the hero Of this
sketch. He is sui generls IN the broadest
sense for he is a man who clothes himself
in woman's attire by preference.
A dude, you say-a weakly, etreminate.
mincing male who lisps, and smirks, and
wishes he were a woman. By no means.
He is q strong mana carpenter-A man
who has done manual labor almost all his
life, a man who can outclimb, out-wrestle,
out drink, and out-run ninety-nine out of a
hundred Of his neighbors. He is a Polish
carpenter and contractor in Chicago, and
his name is Joseph Piatkiewicz.
He is also smart man and a good con-
tractor, who has built hundreds OF stone,
brick and frame structures in Chicago since
1850. During working hours none of his
hundred workmen are as strong, as resolute,
as determined as he. None can strike as
hard blow. None can climb as high or
lift as heavy weight. He has won prizes
galore in Europe, in the rough numbering
camps OF Northern Michigan, and in Chi
cago as well for his strength and skill. And
yet for twelve years he has spent all his
Of a woman. Then he has put on
corsets and form improvers, shaved and
powdered his face, pierced his big, red ears
and inserted in them great golden earrings
He has spent his earnings for gaudy ball
| dresses and evening wardrobes; spent his
| time and wealth in dressing himself up in
the hight OF the femme fashion, in compress
| ing his waist, in shortening his steps, in
| whitening his hands and face, in learning
| womanly grace, aud, in short, in making
himself a woman with all her little grace,
poses and foihles
LIKE ANY OTHER GOOD FELLOW.
While at work he swears and drinks like
| a good fellow but as soon as he has reached
his home and doDned his feminine attire he
is changed man. He is not a man; he is q
woman-so far as dress and manners can
make him one.
PiatkIewiez lives at No. 81 Emma street
northwest side. His home is beautifully
fitted up in Brussels carpet, expensive rugs,
tasty pictures and ornaments, rich furni-
ture and an expensive blrd's-eye maple
piano. He has been married since 1878, and
he has two good looking and intelligent
children, the elder of whom is Lena, young
woman of To- and the Younger, Max, a
bright healthy. vigorous boy of IL years.
Notwithstanding the elegant furnishings
of his parlors, Piatkiewicz spends most of
his time in his kitchen, which is kept scrupu-
lousy clean. Here he was found by re-
porter for the Tribune, who was astonished
at being greeted by woman in an elegant
silk and satin evening dress. This woman
said that she was Mr.. Piatkiewicz-aud so
it was. He was dressed in the height of
femenine fashion, with pulled sleeves, bro
caded waist with satin front and flowing
embroidered skirt. His ears were pierced
and set with huge, gold bow earrings;
bangle bracelets encircled his massive
wrists and a gold breastpin set with
rubies rested coyly among the lace ruffies I'M
der bis carefully-shaved chin. His feet were
incased in embroidered hose and squeezed
into pair OF high-heeled ladies' dancing
pumps. His lips were rouged, eyebrows
penciled, and his face carefully powdered
His head of raven black hair, slightly
tinged with gray, was completely hidden
by a blonde wig of the Langtry bang pat
|
which was thrust a snowy metal hairpin
set with garnets.
With pride he showed his wardrobe. No
less than twelve complete dresses-all ex-
peusive-with all the appurtenances thereto
were laughingly shown. A gaudy white
hat, surmounted by snowy flowers and
featherS-a triumph, no doubt, of the mil>
liners sk1ll-was exhibited with unfeigued
pride by its masculine wearer.
STRANGE HISTORY OF STRANGE MAN
| This strange man has q history strange as
himself. 1t reads like fairy tale. He was
born IN Kozmin, in Prussia Poland, in 1850
In Poland he learned the carpenters trade,
and when Is years Of age he ran away from
home and came to Chicago. Here in 1868
and 1869 he worked by the day as a carpen-
| ter. In 1870 he went to the Lake Superior
region, where for ten years he worked as a
| carpenter, woodsman, dock lahorer or any
thing else he could find to do. He had great
| strength and an iron constitution and would
frequently work at unloading vessels or
equally severe labor sixteen hours at
stretch. He was also great hunter, and
many are the stories he tells of desperate
| encounters with bears and other wild ami
mails. During the same days and nights
when Chicago was being consumed in Octo-
boz, 1871, terrible forest fire laid waste
whole counties of Michigan. In this fire
Piatkiewicz played heroic part. He tells
how, day after day he and his comrades
fought tho flames and sought to rescue the
victims. One day. be said, he and several
companions. with q team, licked up the
charred remains of twenty six men, women
and chi dren in the wake of the terrible
fire The story of his marriage is so devoid
of conventional romancs that it is actu-
ally romantic Let him tell it himself:
after | had worked hard in Michigan
for two years." he said, II began to wish
for home. So l concluded to get married.
l wrote letter TO my mother in the old
country and asked her to send over a girl
that / used to know at home. After a while
letter came in which my mother told me
that the girl l wanted had moved away,
but that she had sent another just as good.
When the girl got here | was in Chicago to
meet her. She was perfect stranger to
me, as had never seen or heard OF her.
asked her what her name was, and then we
went down to the Harrison street police
station and got married. That was Ia the
fall of 1878. took her back to Michigan
with me. We lived together happily
long time In Menominee and other towns up
there.
FIRST APPEARANCE IN FEMALE GARB.
Zone day we discovered that we were
exactly the same in size and that our clothes
would it each other. So we changed and
went out on the streets, she with my clothes
on and l with hers. After that we often
wore each others clothes. liked 1t SO well
~ 4. e.