The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-29
TETTooING THE SOLDIERS.
novs IN BLUE HAVING PICTURES
PRICKED IN THEIR SKINS.

Means OF III the
,xent of sudden Death-NeedIes
unn nv Electricity Deposit the Ink
Reneath the Two Outer Layers OF
s,.iu-sccne in the studio of
Professional TnttoOer.
ra+tooing is the latest fad among the
,,aiars. To have pictures pricked indeii-
Nh. into the skin, either as ornamentations
or for purposes of identification, to carry
=, their persons portraits of their
,reat hearts or emb.ems of the
rrofession of arms, many of them have
cat patiently for an hour or two felt the
Keen needles, making hundreds. perhaps
,bo1sands. of revolutions in a minute
r.sreing the sensitive skin, and then smil-
irgIv surrendered nearly a weeks pay
each as compensation for the works of
srt they are to carry to the grave.
Following in the wake of the army has
come the professional tattooer, Londella
Tondella is one of a dozen or more tar
tooers whose work is to be found on the
arms legs, backs and chests of humanity
throughout the world. EIori Chyo, IN
Japan Macdonald in India, and ORielly
IN New York are the past masters of the
profession, but Londella has been an apt
pupil and apparently bids fair to sur
PASS the leaders of the art. Himself a
mass Of tattooing, he is a firm believer in
the art OF converting the human skin into
living canvass and decorating it with
designs in ink that nothing but the de-
.,,...tf,,, tbot co1oee aftar daatk, oap oro-o
Up in his stuoio on Broughton street he
has piled quite a lucrative trade among
the soldiers and is but awaiting pay day
10 reap The harvest. A little bottle of India
ink, The blacklist of fluids, and a small bot
tie of Chinese vermi2lion comprise his col
orng stock. A combination of the two
gives brown. Tattooing is confined to these
three. "Hori Chyo" said Londella, yester
day, processes to use a green coloring
that is indeible but 1 have never seen
any green that would wear or would not
cause Inflammation. The India ink and the
yermilion are vegetable colorings, especial
" prepared for fattooing, are not poisonous
to the skin and leave no immediate or sub
sequent evil effects. Give me time and
will tattoo you all over the body without
subjecung you TO any inconvenience or suf-
moderate sun burn got while fishing.
"Tauooing," continued the professor. 'is
thought by many to be dangerous. 1 have
never known or heard of a case of blood
poisoning resulting from it, and have tat
tooed thousands. All that is needed is to
clean the needles properly. just as the sur
geon does his instruments after an opera
ton. The little pricking sensation cannot
be described as pain. We do not pierce the
entire skin, and seldom indeed is it that
the artistic tattooer draws blood by going
too deep The idea is to cut through the
two outer skins and deposit the ink on
the outside of the inner skin as well as on
the lines pricked into the two outer skins.
One soon gets so expert that he can run
the needles as fast as the eye can follow
them without once cutting too deep"
A solder coming in afforded an illustra-
ton Of the process of tattoong. Barring
the mans arm the artist quickly sketched
che outlines of crossed rifles and beneath
them the soldiers initials, the letter of
his company and the number and state of
his regiment. It was but a moment
work The sketching on the skin of the de-
sign. Sitting himself in chair
before the willing victim, the tat
tooer stretched the skin over
part of the design as far as he could be-
tween two of his fingers, until it stood
as taut as a drums head, and the lines of
me design seem elongated out of all re-
semb,ance to the original. Grasping a sill
yer instrument looking somewhat like
tAat used by a dentist in cleaning out hol-
low teeth with a needle as fine as the
Inest of those used for sewing projecting
from the end, he gave a screw a turn,
and IN second the electric current from
battery beneath the table had set the
needle revolving so rapidly that it was
Almost impossible to tell that ii was in
me socket that held it. Dipping 1t into
ne India ink, the tattooer applied it to
tAe SKIN Before the soldier had given the
Involuntary start that came with the first
iIlck the needle had Travelled line two
Hches long, leaving an edge of ink on the
,h.h S surface TO tell where it had passed.
,"lpng this off with a cloth, the clear
PACK line could be seen cut through the
'NHl' AGAIN the needle pierced the skin,
tsaln the soldier started nervously. and
VAeh smiled as he looked al the little in
fument ploughing its way along leaving
as deposit of coiorng matter wherever il
"ueneo' In minute or two the tattooer
hdd hnished the line on the skin between
,-e grasp of his fingers and releasing it
t3'Aed at the ink with compacent salts
l'c'lon before. taking another firm hold
az resuming operations
]. LOOKS easy" said he. "But il takes
lrHgn practice to make perfect. In adj
D-''oN 70 gaugiRg the DEPTH the needle
s'eS one has to estimate the stretching
t'3lIy of the skin, so that when the work
uohe and the design displayed on the
ose skin, it will be an artistic bit of
%oFh and not distortion This is the
u'roeSt thing for a beginner to learn. and
GU eApertness in It much of the success
~ lattooing depends"
lne outlines Of the design finished the
Use needle was dropped and a holder
pA'o up in which were a score or more
Ieed.es, each as delicate as the one
u'ed for lining.
a. rms is The shader" said LondeIa. as
.e many needle, covered with ink, were
'S'ng INTO the soldiers arm, filing
op eelWsen the outlines Of the cannon and
ua!ly giving the,apicture true re-
sollO''nc" to the dread implements of war
sTIe. This quckens the work materi-
covering more space ard doing it
lore rapidly than the single needle. We
:, ,'2 these shadcrs with single and dou-
rows Of needles, using the
l''er on big designs, such as are put