Show Real Vanishing ti 1 Am I A j t i V Vi i t tt CHIEF Colorado Springs Colo t Ij BLACK HAWK Galena Ill t 4 CHIEF H EF America that before one knows It an Institution By ELMO n MO SCOTT WATSON A peAK of the Vanishing American J and at nt once you think of Lo Io 10 they the I p Poor Indian While It Is true that the number of Indians In the Unit Unit- United United ed cd States hns has greatly decreased since the caravels of Columbus first touched the shores of the New f B World yet the presence of nearly L a quarter of n a million red men men within our borders Is testimony to the fact that poor Lo has bas far from le reached the vanishing point V But nut there Is another type of In Indian In- In Indian Indian dian that Is truly a Vanishing American lie Ile Is the cigar store Indian the sign symbol and guardian angel of the cIgar store There was a time when no tobacco shop was complete without the figure of a stalwart brave or a plump Indian princess standing In front of It It But nut today with but few exceptions you will have to go to a museum or an antique shop bop to find such an nn aboriginal symbol of trade In one of the earliest American commodIties And It If by chance you wish to own one you'd better be prepared to pay from up for It It For the tile cigar store Indian Is now Americana and his Ills value Is In Inverse erse ratio to his scarcity It Is one of the paradoxes of history that this VanishIng American was not of American or or- origin orIgIn at all Tobacco was Introduced to the Old World by a Spanish physician In 1553 and InEs In 50 1550 Sir Francis Drake brought the equipment nt Es D for smoking to Sir Walter Raleigh who made made x 5 the habit fashionable In England When England was Merrle MerrIe England under James I there were wooden Indian trade signs In that country When Pocahontas died In 1017 1617 the wooden Indian was no strange sight But nut the early carly Indians seen een In Europe were fanciful figures made by carvers who had not seen American Indians As one writer has lias oh- oh observed ob observed served Early Indians showed that Europe had bad set set- settled settled tied down to the belief bellet that American IndIans wore no clothes except a kilt of tobacco leaves lea a a wonderful triad of utility when one thinks of It It-at It at once nether apparel currency and the to be drawn upon up to the limit of decency London types resembled negroes and for years were known as black boys While the Indian figure as a trade sign started In England It reached grandeur and true char char- character character character acter In the United States American sculptors knew the Indian his features and characteristics characteristics characteristics tics and the resulting figures were astounding Four groups of designs for wooden tobacco trade sign figures developed In the United States States- States chiefs chiefs squaws Roman noman figures and whIte men The last named Included such figures as Uncle Sam Walter Raleigh policemen forty forty and smoking girls A plump the Pocahontas the squaw type was type seen In Boston nos ton as early as 1730 In 1770 InO when ChrIstopher Demuth opened a little tobacco shop at Lancaster Pa a dainty wooden gentleman offered a snuff box Instead of the traditional cIgars Baltimore claims to have had bad cIgar store fixtures before 1770 But nut It was waa not until shortly before the CIvIl war that hordes s or race of red men appeared on the American scene According to one chronicler chron chron- chronicler chronIcler the wooden Indian was first Introduced to Ills his job as guardian angel of cigar stores stares by aman a aman aman man named Chichester about 1850 The sculptor of these earliest specimens was Tom Millard In the first days of ot the fad some of the more aristocratic chiefs were made of metal cast In molds This Tills type however was soon abandoned oven even from the first most of the figures fig were of wood These were nil all made by hand generally of white pine and considerable skill was re- re re- re required re In their shaping Logs were first blocked out with an ax for tor the body after atter which the arms were attached and the features marked out with a chiseL Finer carving canIng tool tools gave the finIshing touches They were then painted and mounted on wheels for delivery The original sculptors were carvers of ot ships ship's fi figure ure heads With the decay of American ship ship- shipping shipping ping carvers here finding their occupation slip slip- slipping slipping slipping ping away from them made the wooden IndIan more than a time part Job They turned to him himas himas himas as their mainstay One of ot these carvers ers per per- perhaps por lisps haps the most famous of them all was LouIs Jobin of ot Ste Anne de Beaupre In Quebec When Jobin died there a few years ago at the age alte of six eighty-six he was given wide publicity as the originator of the store cigar-store IndIan although It Is la doubtful If It that characterization can enn justly be applied to anyone any one man But nut hIs eminence pre eminence In this field Is la Indicated by the following Ing excerpts from his bis obituary notices In Inthe Inthe Inthe the newspapers newspapers at the time of his death Louis JobIn's family name does not rest ex exclusively on hI his bizarre production lie He wase was wag described as the greatest wood carver In the e world He nc carved caned wood rood for tor s enty years r though c of late his sight Bight bad had failed and and and he had bad laid away rny his chisel While cigar store Indians Indiana are becoming extinct ex extinct ex- ex extinct those created by Jobin In his bit hi early days AI LJ r I San Francisco JI sti ii E 4 r The Last Store Indian In the Industry are In deep demand by collectors One of the masterpieces of ot St St Nicotine stands today at the front door of a tobacconists tobacconist's shop on the Rue flue St St Jean Jem In Quebec city where It was placed fifty years yeara ago The owner has re refused re- re refused refused fused for It Jobin was a humble artist who ne never cr talked ot of art for arts art's sake cake but did whatever his hand found to do What was In demand sixty and seventy se years ago was figureheads for shIps Canada was a center of ot the wooden shipbuildIng shipbuilding shipbuilding ing Industry So the young Jobin although he went for a brief period to New York found more ample amx le scope for his talents at home Forty years I carved for ships Jobin said Then Ihen the steamers came In and Iron had bad no use for wood I J h ha i iong long carved Indians I also carved the figure gure of ot a notary for tor a notary's door In Montreal But nut for years I have done mostly angels and apostles and saints art will not altogether die with him himlie lIe leaves behind him a nephew Edouard Mar Mar- Marcotte Mar Mar-cotte cotte trained In his bis craft and Ste Anne Annc though the great master of ot wood carving Is no more wIll not be deprived of sacred Iconography While some dealers commissioned home borne talent carvers to execute their Indians the wIde demand gave birth to a new trade Re- Re Research Re Research search has failed to disclose any evidence ofa ot of ota ofa a factory for tor making wooden Indians but the bra braves yes were carried as a line Une by the drum mers for tor wholesale tobacco houses houles and pic pic- pictures pictures pictures tures of Indians graced their catalogues Edward Hen lien one of the leaders In the to- to tobacco tobacco to tobacco bacco business In the East found profit In the propagatIon of the new v Indian race and ad advertised ad- ad advertised advertised the braves for sale file as early as 1536 18 In 1871 lIen Hen assembled as In an old five story five building In New York city a congress of wooden IndIans certainly a fearful sight Bight Hundreds ot of otred red men squaws and white figures all freshly and daringly painted lined the walls Twenty five dollars was average price for tor forthe forthe the commonest variety of wooden often Indian Indian bra braves yes which had been Leen traded for other figures and repainted But nut what a 1 difference time has made In the cigar store Indian market 1 It ml might ht be possible to buy one for 25 25 In these depressed times but Its It's very doubtful Several years ago the Cleveland Plain Dealer conducted a wooden Indian contest which brought to light a number of ot these Interesting relics and 81 a a result one of ot them Seneca John alIas alla The Tiffin Tecumseh achieved a lasting place In the annals of ot American an- an antiquities antiquities an antiquities when he be was sold by Ly a farmer living near New v Riegel HIegel Ohio for to Henry enry Ford who has given gI the redskin a permanent hOrn home born In his museum of American antiques at Dearborn Mien Mich Mr Ford had hada bada had bad a squaw squaw for some time but desiring a mate for her he Instituted a search for tor one which resulted In his acquiring r Seneca S neca John A year Jear or so BO ago Mark Sullivan writing Inthe In InI I the New York Herald HeraM Tribune on the many I signs of a rapidly changing America said aid An An other news Item that makes vivid the quick pass pass- passing passing ing of recently familiar features of ot AmerIcan life Is this In the New York Herald Tribune Penn nn Yan Tan N One Y-One Y One of the tl e last members ot of a vanishing tribe of wooden Indians Indiana has hag b been en purchased for by an antique dealer here A year ago the hand band hand l Indian was sold bya by byn bya n a Montour Fall Falls tobacconist for 10 A 1000 per cent Increase In to value within n a year suggests extreme rapidity In the process ot of antIQuatIon So quickly docs does change come In or a familiar detail of the surface of life lIte be- be becomes becomes be becomes comes antique As a matter of ot fact It would seem that both Mr Ford and the tile antique dealer In Penn YanN Yan N Y V got real bargains when they paid only for their wooden Indians For M L Blum mum Blum Blumenthal writing In the Saturday Evening Post only a short time ago reported finding a much much- much battered battered wooden Indian of the sort without which no cigar store was considered an U fait talt fait or even de do rigueur twenty-five twenty years ago In a junk shop and the dealer asked for It It declarIng I that the price was not out of the way at all Its It's a male Indian squaws Indian are cheaper cheaper and and Its It's a good example of early American carvIng earring But nut hl his statement that squaws are cheaper Is not borne out by the following Item whIch appeared soon afterwards In the Paris Mo Mercury It Is not generally known but cigar Indians formerly the outdoor sign of cigar stores have become valuable antiques and good specImens bring as high as Goo A firm of deal deal- dealers dealers dealers ers has bas been negotiating with the Paris CIgar company for the tha very plump and handsome squaw that has bas graced Main street Paris now for more than forty years but Frank Jones owner and manager Is a n man of sentiment and has It Is said turned down an offer of for her You see he said been here so long and never knocked about either the conversa conversa- conversation conversation tion or the weather never so much as taken a aI I trIp or changed the cut of her clothes that It would be cruel to uproot her and sell her either down the river or up I have known her ber sInce a sma small 11 boy and am downright attached to her herSome Some things mean more than money My Jy squaw V Is not for tor sale She knows too much about Paris past and present to risk out of ot sight and In addition I know of no other man who can boast ot of that rarest of all earthly blessings a wooden squaw who cannot talk You have bave no Idea how satisfactory she Is at times Consider also the case of Chief who stands in front of ot a cigar store In Colorado Springs Colo Frank and Clinton Osborn proprietors of the store say that they have had frequent offers ranging all theay the way ay from up to 1000 for this pound metal warrior whom they ob obtained ob- ob obtained obtained at an auction sale of ot unclaimed goodsIn goods goodsIn In a storage warehouse In that city some 20 years ears ago But nut they have baie steadfastly refused all offers for Chief Like the Osborns there are other owners ot of cIgar store Indians who wont won't part with their prizes for any price Theres There's Bob nob Parsons pio pIo- pIoneer pio- pio pioneer pioneer neer tob tobacco cco dealer at Ashland WIs whose store tore still Is guarded after 40 10 years by fierce fierce- fierce eyed eyed Chief Sitting Bull Parsons Is Intensely proud of his Indian Thousands of tourists have visited his bis store to view the brave Indians too come sometimes but reverently Sitting Bull Is an exact model of the great chief who ruled the Dakota plains when white men first pushed beyond the Mississippi rIver says Parsons lIe He was carved for me by hand from white pine by Herman IIerman Kruske a wood wood- woodworker woodworker woodworker worker at Ashland half halt a century ago Sitting Bull Dull a tall bright yellow figure dom dom- domInates dominates dominates the drab street that Is his bis tribal domain The black braided hair that holds a single uprIght feather falls over the shoulders of his fringed ed buckskin coat Ills His left hand band grips hIs tomahawk his right supports the end of a n huge cIgar He lie Is the glorified realization of mem mem- memories memories ories ogles of ot cigar clear store Indians Indiana Each morning Sitting Bull null Is rolled to his position before Parsons Parson's shop which clings to traditions of the past and sells tobacco only Each nl night ht hes he's rolled back Into his tepee to keep a vigil over the darkened shop Parsons has ha refused several offers for Sit Sit- Sitting Sitting ting Bull and declares hell he'll never sell him lie He hopes that when hes he's gone the old chief will be cared for by the Bay nay Old Settlers assocIation Chief California's oldest Indian anda and a veteran of the gold rush stands before tho shop of S E Holmes In San Francisco This wooden brave bravo was shipped around Cape Horn on a sailing vessel In IBO 1850 from New York con con- consigned consigned signed to a pioneer tobacconist In Marysville CaUl Calif Marysville miles from San Francisco I then was thronged with prospectors prospector ChIef did duty for CO GO years ears In this town Ten years ago now owners Irreverently com com- committed committed com com- Chief to the basement Resurrected Resurrected Resurrected by y his Ws present owner O the old chief under under- underwent underwent underwent went surgery a 11 year ago and now Is perhaps the Ule I most modern Indian In the United States At acost a acost acost cost of several se eral hundred dollars Chief was equipped with a n speaking voice and the faculty of smoking cl cigars ars Now he purrs pulls away and gives gl advice to smokers as aa he keeps s guard before b Holmes shop An year two vigil before the door of the Maltzberger cigar store In Reading Pa ended ende-d In 19 1929 1 9 for tor Old Eagle Eye Fye a eyed blue wooden Indian cut from a n solid d block of ot wood by a aNew aNew New York carver caner He lIe was purchased by cIgar store proprietors of ot the city and placed In the Reading museum 0 by W western at rn Nw pr Union |