Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1908-03-05
A FREAK
COLLECTOR
He Had an Eye Gone and He
Bought Remarkable Substitutes


in my time" remarked Archer Way of
San Francisco, "but the queerest
whom l ever knew of was that which
caught Ike Smalley. Ike and his
brother AMI were earlies at Cripple
Crek, although they didn't line up
under the family name there Ike was
the elder and fought his brothers bat
ties, likewise those of his brother-in-
law, Barzilla linton of New Jersey.
One night Ike took up scrap that fell
to Barzilla and lost his left eye.
when l met him in San Francisco
he was pretty lean in frame and peck.
ct, but he managed to get to Alaska,
and sent for Amzi and his brother-in-
law after making a stake. He came
back three years ago with something
less than ton Of dust, leaving AMI
and Barzilla up there to share half
interest In paying proposition, while
he held them accountable for the other
half.
while up in the wilderness of that
cold cline Ike was satisfied to go one
eye on things. When he got down to
San Francisco he began to think about
appearances. He got to talking to me
about glass eyes, and took him to an
optist's shop and showed him tray Of
eyes in the window. We went in and
the eye sharp matched his eye pretty
we'll and charged him $40.
1T was difficult Job to find any.
thing to gee with Iks's good eye, for
it was yellowy greeny lamp with
fshy look to 1t; but the optist did his
worst and It wasn't his fault that the
clay bird had more expression in It
than the real pigeon. Ike spent an
hour looking in the glass and prac-
Using with 1t before he left the shop,
and on the street he admitted to me
that the phony lamp had more charac.
ter than the real locker.
HE wore 1t . week or two night
and day and sorter became absorbed
IN 1t. Then he branched out. He'd
got the habit and just went in for
glass eyes.
HE bought light blues, dark blues,
browns. hazels, and all kinds of COM
binations, all Of which diverted atten-
ton from his live eye. He used the
artificial eyes like an English duke
would his collection of scarf pins, and
soon had a different glass eye for
every day in the week and two or
three for Sunday.
1.-The field on the coast got too mar
row for him, and he came east and
looked up Frenchman who makes
eyes in Chatham square and got him
to make some specialties for him. He
had original ideas, and the lamp ex-
pert was willing to humor him at $50
throw
ike startled me one night with a
topaz eye, only an imitation gem, but
mighty fetching. Then he had an anne
thyst eye and turquoise eye, but
really this was only a starter.
He was looking over the shop win
dows in Maiden lane one day, when he
came across crystal brooch scarfpin
with picture of trout painted in it.
He wanted something just like that
for glass eye, and made inquiries
about how the work was done He
managed to find out that an old
Frenchman in Newark painted such
things and chased him to his dugout.
There he made a combination be-
tween the glass eye maker and the
miniature man and set up new line
| of work He gave the artist a line of
subjects to bring out on the blanks
made by the Chatham square man and
had the colors baked into the glass
"As artistic specimens they We're
great, but as facial ornaments they
were rather startling. The first time
| / saw Ike with one was in the cafe of
an uptown hotel 1t jumped me when
of his left optic.
II met him again that night to go
| to theater, and he called my atten-
ton to the fact that he had changed
the ornament for the occasion. The
picture this time was womans head
and bust
I'VE Went to Boston on the boat,
| and on the way to Fail River he wore
an eye with picture of a steamboat
in it. He said it cost him 5000. Next
morning he showed up with a locomo-
tive head-on in his eye-socket.
That afternoon he showed me what
! he had in his collection. He had vel
vet-lined leather case with "a eyes in
| it. There were fish, game flies, elks'
heads steamships, yachts in full sail,
bulldogs insects, actresses, an auto
mobile, monogram, and lot of plain
! eyes of different colors.
Ike wasn't satisfied. He said that
the work wasn't fun enough for him
and that he was going abroad to see
what he could do in Paris and Geneva.