The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-05-24
A RARE PHOTOGRAPH
THE REPRODUCTION OF THE OLE
Dc WITT CLINTON DUE TO IT.

With the Did Anti-,Iasonr Feeiin- z
New York state Over Sixty Years Age,
A Clever Artist With Scissors.
The New York Central Railroad c8,l.
pany's reproduction Of the first r%ailroal
train and locomotive ever run IN New
York state, a most interesting and vala-
able exhibit at the Chicago fair" said an
wonder how many of the officers of THAI
company know that if the disappearance
of Morgan from Batavia G5 years ago
had not beer attributed to murderoEs
Vaccinations of the Masonic fraternity,
which resulted in the great anti-Masonic
excitement that spread throughout the
country and became il sensational polit-
ical factor. they would not have been
able to make the reproduction. and the
appearance of that curious railroad train
and engine would never have been known
in accurate and pictorial representation.
1T was years before the discovery and
practical introduction of that crude pred
ecessor Of photography, the daguerreo-
type. when the pioneer railroad train in
this state was run. and as the future i'm
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 a young man
named Brown-William Fl. Brown Of
Philadelphia-was in Albany on the day
the train was run. Aug. 9. 1881. and had
been in the place several days.
HE had a marvellous talent for cutting
with a pair of scissors out of black paper
lifelike profile portraits and accurate
representations of buildings. machinery
and even landscapes.
1.-THE 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 81 set.
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 a reputation in poll.
tics and had seized upon the anti-Masonic
idea for use in Pennsylvania. as it had
been so successfully worked by Thurlow
Weed and his lieutenants in New York
tate. The feeling was growing IN Penn.
sylvania. and young Brown thought il
would be a good stroke of business fol
him to go to Albany. have a look a
Thurlow Weed and others. snip thei,
likeness out in silhouette. and beside,
getting a fee from them for the worl
duplicate the pictures for sale amone
&Lo or+i Af,e,pia anfb,,r,.cTS IN pa7,nsxl
vania and elsewhere
He went to Albany early in August
1881. and did a great deal more than ge
the portraits OF Thurlow Weed. Iii.
wonderful work took the town by storm
and he was kept busy from morning TN
til night cutting the silhouette likenesse
OF people OF all kinds, sexes and age
that focked to his rooms
His greatest artistic feat was the cut
ting III n large picture Of the famou
Burgess corps entire, with staff and BAN
in full parade. each members portrai
being Of surprising accuracy. This pic
ture is among the most precious relics il
the state library
And SO it happened that this uniqui
young artist was in Albany on the da,
the quaint locomotive De Witt Clinton
with its equally quaint coaches. was to b
run on its first trip owe the Mohawk an,
Hudson railroad.
He was one of the passengers on tn
train. and when it returned to Alban,
he cut with his scissors an exact pictur
OF the locomotive and two of the coaches
making the portrait Of David Matthew
the engineer, and John 7. 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 Yate
and other distinguished Albanians 0
that day, but neither Mr.. Weed o tn
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 a
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,
be concluded to go to Boston and Har,
ford t 0 make some portr3ts and othe
cuttings with his marvellous scissors
While IN Hartford be showed the pictur
he had made Of the railroad train an
locomotive to a member of the Connect
Gu, Historical society. who at once ga,
what a treasure it must necessarily bt
come. and the artist presented it TO tn
society. where it is today q relic beyon
price.
Some 30 years after cutting that pic
.ure Brown became interested in tn
railroad business himself, having Ion
ceased to exercise his artistic skill pr,
fessionally, and M day, having almoe
forgotten the Albany picture, he rea
In a newspaper al o u d ltht
graph tina, had just been publishe
from a photograph Of the silhouette pi'
ture he had presented I 0 tae CopIecticu
Historical society.
He sent TO TIE pubhshe, Of the li,ht
graph ana procured d copy d II and Wa
yel11teG ~ SEE nl eyzsf 4