The Washington times., 1902-07-13

petuate the fad in decorating the arms
ciety The feur-de-lis is probably the
most popular. One OF the prominent
| leaders of the social set at the Capital
! proudly exhibits a fleur-de-li about an
| inch long on her delicate white arm.
Another, who is among the maids OF
| Washington, and who will shortly an
nounce her engagement to a lieutenant
of the navy, has astounded her friends
by having a tiny ship tattooed on her
| left shoulder This was probably done
with view to delighting her fnnce
when he comes home at the expiration
of his present cruise.
Still another popular girl whose dark
beauty has caused many heart TO beat
faster than It is wont, has her mono
gram on her left arm just above the ell
bow As It is done IN dark blue, red
and a sort of olive green the effect is
rather fetching.
Before the fad was generally estab
lished among the social set here unin-
it1ated people were constantly receiving
shocks at the sight of 4 tattoo mark. At
dinner party last winter one of the
men attracted considerable notice by
staring long and earnestly at a woman's
shoulder. She was conscious Of the at
tention she was attracting but was ap-
parently quite 5atisfed to be the object
and later tie cause was made manifest.
On her neck Just below the left collar
bone was tiny shield. the coat of arms
of her ancestors who took a prominent
part in the War of the Revolution.
Cloaked in Tattoo.
The practice of tattooing is very pre-
valent among sailors in the worlds
navy. 1t is not an uncommon thing for
man to have all sorts Of designs cut
into his arm and across his back. Not
long ago a Japanese enlisted at the
Washington navy yard as a cook. He
Rad been tattooed until very little of
his original coloring was left. The de-
sign was that of long cloak and it ex-
tended ell around his body and down to
bis knees with a sort OF kimono effect
around the shoulders. It was done in
solid blue ink and the artist who worked
It was three months completing the pat
tern.
Tattcoing has been made the subject
of much research by different students
and professors and many interesting ar
ticles have been written. 1t has been
proved that while the practice is popu-
lar among sailors and soldiers it is more
in vogue among criminals than with an,
other class OF people. This seems odd, |
in degree, inasmuch as It furnishes |
means of Identification. but the fact has |
been proved that thieves, murderers, and |
outlaws generally have their anatomy |
decorated to marvellous degree.
Recorded His History.
In many plays. criminals are tracked to |
Justice through a tattoo mark. An emil
nent writer who is authority on the sub
iect of tattooing tells of criminal whom
he once encountered and who proved an
interesting subject. The man had been
convicted no less than fifty times for in
surrection and assault on men and ami
mails. He had his whole history tattooed
on his body. There was horses head
a horse which he had killed
with knife when he was twelve years
old. A helmet indicated a policeman
whom he attempted to kin. a ship re-
minded him Of the time when he was a
sailor and was wrecked and rescued. A
lutte brought back to his memory a friend
and fellow-crimInal whose forte was the
guitar, while a woman's figure with a