The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-11-24

He rzdoubled his efforts both to com
pleJe the statue and % md work that
should in the meantime provide clothes
and food for the needy family de7en-
dent on him. they had perfect conf
dence in him, and bore with heroic
patience an ever-incTeasing series OF
annoyances and deprivations-the lot
of those who are falling from state
Of competence to the sharp, thorny
paths of want
Then one day the figure sank forward
and the head had to b removed. Great
assures appeared in the limbs and the
| folds Of the robe.
For hours and for days at time
Kraus would sit in the bare studio and
see his life's dream fading.
He grew moody at times and his
thoughts from thenceforth dwelt less
and less on the chances of ultimate
success and fingered more on the dread
possibility Of failure.
Still there was TO the very last no
yielding in his spirit He was firmly
fixed in the resolution to make of the
"BelshaZzar" a master work. He saw
in his minds eye the restoration Of his
fallen fortunes, the happiness of his
family and in the distance the we'll
earned acclamatiOns of his fellow
artists
To his wife the sorrowing artist
made no complaint. When she cOndoled
with him and tried to distract his
thoughts from the bitter subject he
only sighe1 and turned away hopeless
and beyond sympathy. Thus he brood
ed for months. and by the time his Bel
shazzsr had become an utter ruin the
mind Of its creator, too, was gone.
One afternoon in July Kraus re-
turned home after a last vain effort
to secure the money his family so sad
ly needed. His devoted wife saw him
leave the car, and it seemed to her that
he walked strangely. Once in the house,
she was horTOT-stric een TO perceive
that what she had dimly feared was
now reality, The man was mad.
Doctors were called. They shook their
heads, and, no change for the better
coming, Mrs. Kraus was obliged to
ask that her husband be sent to Dan
vers.
KraUs was born in Zoulenroda, Ger
many, in 1850. At the age Of IA he be-
gan work as a stone and wood carver.
He improved rapidly, opened a studio,
and at the age Of % had enough money
t. g. to Rome where ne studied with
Emilio Wolf. After one year in Rome
he took the first prize in the Royal In
stitute of Fine Arts. established a short
time before by the italian government.
Because of the merit Of his work The
Puritan" shown at that time. he was
awarded a small pension by the Prus-
sian government by order of Emperor
William
In 1876 he went to Germany and
opened a school of architecture. but
this did not succeed. and he removed
to London. There in 1880 he married
Miss Annie Cullinmore, and in the fol-
lowing year came to America, settling
in Philadelphia Later he lived in New
York and some years ago came to BOs-
ton.
Among the notable sculptures he has
made since coming to this country is
the Crispus Attacks monument on Bos-
ton Common. erected to the memory Of
the first man that died in the struggle
for American liberty. Attacks was
negro and was shot in front Of the state
house in this city in what is known as
the Boston Massacre.
In the state house on Beacon Hill is
a marble bust of Governor Oliver
Ames, which Mr. Kraus made by direc-
tion of the state. In the Mechanics
building is a bust Of Paul Revere, pro-
nounced one of the finest sculptures
in the country. Another bust that has
not been seen by the public is that of
eX-Mayor Lincoln, also a notable work.
In Forest Hills cemetery are several
Of his best conceptions, among them
being the Jacob Wirth monument He
has made a head Of Christ that is a
marvel Of beauty and strength