The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-05-26

From the New York SUM-
I WAS the river for John Mulvaney,
down and out, who painted one pic
ture that made him talked about all
over the country, Clusters Last Rally"
Broken in health, with practically no
place to go, he disappeared from his
haunts in Greenpoint shortly after May l.
His body was found in the East river
al the foot of East Sixth street on Mon
day afternoon. Yesterday morning when
a search of the clothing was made at the
morgue, its identity was revealed. A sis
ter, living in Brooklyn, confirmed the
identification.
Mulvaney had been living in Greenpont
for many years. He was about 81 years
old. Whatever artistic merit he had was
chiefly in portrait painting. He lived, as
rule, from hand to mouth.
Mulvaney wrote verses for his own
amusement occasionally, and two of these
poems were found in his effects. One
was entitled "Bddy Martin" 1t read:
I'm lonesome tonight, Biddy Martin,
And myself l don't know what 10 do.
Sure, l. go to the christenin a-whistlin'
Were it not for my thinkin' of you.
But I'll go to New York Biddy Martin,
To me cousins beyond the deep sea;
And when | am there. Biddy Martin,
l think you'll be thinkin of me.
There was another set of verses, en-
titled From the Firing Line" 1t read:
Comrades don't be worried;
It's only a scratch or two.
I'll bind the wound and then
You'll think that all the world Is new.
How goes the fight?' you asked me;
And Is Bill wounded, too?'
You were both at the stump
Taking deadly aim, but the enemys
was true.
looked at the stump this morning.
Filled with bullets true;
Bill was there and the stump was there,
Riddles with bullets blue.
Mulvaney came to this country when
he was ~ years old. As a boy he worked
around the old Academy of Design and
finally studied little under Professor
Waudesford. The civil war came on and
he went to the front. where he made
sketches and hung around as a boy. After
the war he saved money and went to
Munich. where he studied under Wagner
and Piloty and Kaulbach. While there
he won a bronze medal. Then he went to
Antwerp and made a study of Rembrandt
under De keyser and Van Lorbes. He
studied also in Paris. After his return to
this country he went west and made a
study of Indian and army life. He painted
many Indian portraits. and after the
battle of the Little Big Horn he went
there and began his Custer picture. He
was three years at work on it, 1t was Pix
IL feet in dimensions and the figures
were life size. 1t represented Custer
standing in the center of group OF
the dead, with a half dozen companions
and one horse. The men were firing their
last shots
The picture attracted a good deal of at
tention, and was exhibited all over the
country. How much Mulvaney got for it
is not known 1t finally landed with the
owner of a pickle establishment, and has
done duty ever since as an advertisement
A replica of the picture, for which he is
said to have got $3.50. is doing similar
service in London.
THE Striker, another picture by Null
vaney, is a representation of miner
looking out of the window(of his home.
where his wife is sitting OH q soap box,
the only article Of furniture, while his
aged father. wearing an empty sleeve
from war time. stands behind him The