Evening journal., 1893-07-13
"A RARE PHOTOGRAPH
TAE REPRODUCTION OF THE OLD
DE WITT CLINTON DUE TO 1T.

with the old Ant-sTasonry Feeling In
New York STATE Over sixty Years Ago.
A Clever Artist with Scissors.
"The New York Central Railroad COM
pany's reproduction Of the first railroad
frain and locomotive ever run in New
York state, a most interesting and valu-
able exhibit at the Chicago fair, I" said an
old resident Of Albany, causes me TO
wonder how many Of the officers Of that
company know that if the disappearance
of Morgan from Batavia 65 years ago |
had not been attributed to murderous /
Vaccinations Of the Masonic fraternity, /
which resulted in the great anti Masonic
excitement that spread throughout the |
country and became a sensational polit- |
ical factor, they would not have been |
able to make the reproduction, and the |
appearance Of that curious railread train |
and engine would never have been known |
in accurate and pictorial representation. |
1T was years before the discovery and |
practical Introduction Of that cyude pred- |
ecessor Of photography, the dagnefreo-
type, when the pioneer railroad train in
this state was run, and as the future inn
portance to history Of the appearance Of
that train never occurred TO those inter
ested in bringing it into existence the
skill Of no artist with his pencil was
brought into use to perpetuate it on
paper. It happened that young man
named Brown-Wiuiam H. Brown Of
Philadelphia--was in Albany on the day
the train was run, Aug. 8, 1881, and had
been in the place several days.
''He had a marvellous talent for cutting
with pair Of scissors out Of black paper
ifelike profile portraits and accurate
representations OF buildings, machinery
and even landscapes.
ssThe remarkable part of this talent Of
his was his power to make a perfectly
exact portrait of persons days and even
weeks after having seen them but once,
and that only casually on the street.
He had for some time made good liv-
ing by the exercise of his peculiar art
Thaddeus Stevens was at that time just
beginning to make q reputation in poll
tics and had seized upon the anti-Masonic
idea for use in Pennsylvania as 1t had
been so successfully worked by Thurlow
Weed and his heutenants in New York
state. The feeling was growing in Penn
sylvania, and young Brown thought 1t
would be good stroke Of business for
him to 20 to Albany. have a look at
Thurlow Weed and others, snip their
likeness ont in silhouette, and besides
getting fee from them for the work
duplicate the pictures for sale among
the anti Masonic enthusiasts in Pennsyl
vania and elsewhere.
He went to Albany early In August,
1881, and did a great deal more than get
the portraits Of Thurlow Weed. His
wonderful work took the town by storm,
and he was kept busy from morning un-
Ill night cutting the silhouette hkenesses
of people Of all kinds, sexes and agei
that fl6cked to his rooms.
"His greatest artistic feat was the cut.
ting in one large picture Of the famous
Burgess corps entire, with staff and band
in full parade, each members portrait
being Of surprising accuracy. This pic
ture is among the most precious relics II
the state library.
''And so it happened that this uniqu,
young artist was in Albany on the das
the quaint locomotive De Witt Clinton
withits equally quaint coaches, was to b'
run on its first trip over the Mohawk anC
Hudson railroad
He was one Of the passengers on thl
train. and when it returned to Alban,
he cut with his scissors an exact rictur
OF the locomotive and two of the coaches
making the portrait of David Matthew
the engineer. and John 4. Clark, the con
ductor, on his seat on the outside of tn
front coach.
''In that picture appear The likenesse
Of Thurlow Weed. Ex-Governor Yato
and other distinguished Albanians O
that day, but neither Mr.. Weed nor th
ex-governor was on the train. Withou
a thought of the future of that pictur
as a valuable contribution TO history
the artist cut those portraits merely d
an exercise Of his skill in depicting a sui
ject from memory. He told me SO him
self 40 years afterward.
While Artist Brown was in Alban
he concluded TO so to Boston and Har
ford to make some portraits and 9th,
cuttings with his marvellous scissor
While in Hartford he showed the pictui
he had made Of the railroad train an
locomotive to a member Of the Connect
cut Historical society. who at once sa
what a treasure it must necessarily b
come. and the artist presented it to Il
society. where it is today a relic beyor
price
''some 30 years after cutting that pi
ture Brown became interested in Il
railroad business himself, having loI
ceased to exercise his artistic skill pr
fessionally, and one day, having almo
forgotten the Albany picture, he re-
in newspaper an account Of a hth
graph that had just been pubhsh
from photograph Of the silhouette pi
ture he had presented TO the Connectic
Historical society.
'.He sent to the publisher Of the 18th
graph and procureda a copy Of it and W
reioiced to see an exact reproduction
his scissors cutting Of more than 30yes
before. But the JOY he felt over a sig
Of the picture was scarcely as great
the inscription beneath it gave him.
''The dats of the running Of the trs
was given as some time in 1882, I