Rock Island Argus., 1898-01-05

Those who are smitten with the desire
Tor such adornment 60 to Professor
O'Reilly, who Is past master in the art Of
tattooing In this country. lie has q little
studio In Chatham square, which he
lauehingly refers to as his "hole in the
wall"
Scarcely day passes that o Reilly does
not have from three to five visitors from
the up town districts, who bare their arms
60 receive their family crest or club or
military insignia. 1t makes no difference
how intricate In detail or complicated in
color the design may be, O'Reilly will
produce Il perfectly on the skin In o re-
markably short space Of timo Ordinarily
be doesn't consider IL necessary to take q
copy Of the crest that Is handed to him.
After studying the outline for few sec.
onds and ascertaining the size of the re-
production. he will start to work upon
the arm at once, and so rapid are the
strokes that the average man Is sure that
the thing isn't going to be anywhere near
like the original O'Reilly has q reassur.
ing manner with him always. and before
the clubman realizes it the work Is fin
ishcd and the crest IL as perfectly stamped
On the arm as u Ii had been placed there
BY o steel block.
When o'Rcilly is about to operate on an
nrIn, he first shaves that portion upon
which the design Il TO be placed. Then he
sttaches the electric wires TO one of his
small. machines, which looks like q stylus
with small battery on the end. The ma.
chine begins to hum softly when the wires
ore attached The end Is dipped I'm the
well Of India Ink. and the next second
half dozen tiny needles, dancing up and
down so rapidly that you cannot see them,
are puncturing the skin and forming the
outline OF the design. The ink spatters
dreoafully and falls in big blots on the
arm as the needles proceed. and sometime.
u seems ~ u there was nothing there but
big splash. but o'Reilly wipes 1t away
with little cloth and only the lines that
the needles have pierced remain.
The detail of the design having been
completed O'Reilly st.aches the wires t.
his col,r machine, which IL of similar con
structinn. except that there are more
ocedlcs. and the blues and reds are worked
sruund the black with wonderful accu.
racy. The finishing touches are done with
the shading machine, which operates by
cIockwork instead OF electricity. II il
larger than the others and is provided
with 50 needles With this instrument the
design is filed IN with delicate lines.
which complete the picture as perfectly as
though Il had been done with fine brushes
In water colors-
The fashionable women who have taken
up the fad do not visit o Reilly In his lit.
tie studio. bus send for him to come to
their parlorS Just now the professor has
- many Of these engagements ur town as
be can GIL and he says that the craze is
going beyond the bounds of an ordinary
lad and bids fair 70 become mania In
this respect he refers especially to the
women. many Of whom have become posi-
lively infatuated with the idea Of having
their crests on their arms
O'Reilly has neglected nothing In the
study Of his art. and tt was he who invent.
Cd the new process Of tattooing By means
Of the electric machines They are patent.
Cd By him, and Emu Chyo. the famous
Japansse artist who has tattoood hun
drsds Of distinguished trsvs,srs, has sdops'