| Show are ata iveal M alp P I 1 1 V 7 4 1 g 1 h I m j A m c van N nal 4 A ak af xv if CHIEI CHIEF fill colorado springs by ELMO SCOTT WATSON PEAK of the vanishing american and at once you ou think of 10 ilo lo the poor indian 11 while it la Is true that the number of indians in the united states has greatly decreased since the caravels caravell car avels of columbus first touched the shores of the new world yet the presence of nearly a quarter of a million red men within our borders la Is testimony to t the e fact act that poor lo 10 has far from W T reached the vanishing point vina but there Is another type of in dlan that Is truly a vanishing american ile be Is the cigar store indian the sign symbol and guardian angel of the cigar store etore 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 but today with but few exceptions you will have to go to a museum or an antique shop to find such an aboriginal symbol of trade in one of the earliest american commodities and if by chance you wish to own one better bo be prepared to pay from up for it for the cigar store indian Is now americana and his value 19 in inverse ratio to his scarcity it Is one of the paradoxes of history that this IVanis vanishing bing american was not of american origin at all tobacco was introduced to the old world by a spanish physician in 1558 and in 1586 sir francis drake brought the equipment for smoking to sir walter raleigh who made the habit fashionable in england when england was merrle england under dameg Ja mesI 1 1603 1625 1025 there were wooden indian trade signs in that country when Pocahont pocahontas ns died in 1017 tho the wooden indian was no strange sight rut but the early indians seen in europe were fanciful figures made by carvers who tied had not seen american indians As one writer has 0 observed early indians showed that europe had settled down to the belief that Ar american perlean indians wore no clothes except a kilt of tobacco leaves a wonderful triad of utility when one thinks of it at once nether apparel currency and the makins mahl ns to he drawn upon up to the ibe 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 chari char acter in the united states american sculptors knew the indian his features and characteristics and the resulting figures were astounding four groups of designs for wooden tobacco trade sign figures developed in the united states chiefs squaws squads roman figures and white men the last named included such figures as uncle sam walter raleigh policemen forty in and smoking girls giris A plump pocahontas the squaw type was vas seen in boston as early as 1730 in 1770 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 cigar store fixtures before 1770 but it was not until shortly before the civil war that hordes horde of this race of red men appeared on the american scene according to one chronicler the wooden indian was first introduced to his job as guardian angel of cigar sto stores res by a man named name d colchester about 1850 the sculptor of these earliest specimens was tom millard jn the first days of the fad some of the more aristocratic chiefs were made of metal cast in molds this type however ws soon abandoned even from the first most of the figures were of wood these were all made by hand generally of white pine and considerable skill was required in their shaping logs were first blocked out with an ax for the body after which the a arms were attached and the alie features marked out with a chisel finer caning tools gave the finishing touches they were then painted and mounted on wheels for delivery the original sculptors were carvers of ships figure heads with the decay of american shipping carvers here finding their occupation slipping away from them made the wooden indian more than a part time job they turned to him as their mainstay one of these careers ca ryers perhaps the most famous of them all was louis joban of ste anne de beaupre in quebec when jobin died there a few years ngo at the age of eighty six he was given wide publicity as the originator of the alie elgar cigar store indian hl though it Is doubtful if that can justly be applied to any one man inan dut but his preeminence pre eminence in tills this field Is indicated by the following excerpts from his obituary notices in n the newspapers at the time of his death louis bobins family name does not rest exclusively clu on his bizarre production he was described US aa the greatest wood carver caer in the world lie he carved wood for seventy years though of late inte his sIght had bad failed and he had bad laid away his chisel while cigar store indians are becoming extinct those created by jobin in his early days CHIEF san Fran ciarco ar y th e ladt chiq a indian in the industry are in n deep demand by collectors oue one of the masterpieces of st nicotine stands today at the front door of a tobacconists shop on the rue st jean in quebec city where it was placed fifty years ago the owner has refused for it il jobin was a humble artist who never talked of art for arts sake but did whatever his hand found to do whitt what was in demand sixty and seventy years ago was figureheads figure heads for ships canada was a center of the wooden shipbuilding industry so the young jobin although be went for a brief period to new york found more ample scope for his talents at home forty years I 1 carved for ships jobin said then the steamers came in ID and iron harf had no use for wood I 1 hau haa tong iong carved indians indiana I 1 also carved the figure of a notary for a door in montreal but for years I 1 hare done mostly angels and apostles and saints bobins Jo bins art will not altogether die with him ile he leaves behind him a nephew edouard marcotte trained in his craft and ste anne though the great master of wood carving Is no more will not be deprived of sacred iconography while some dealers commissioned home talent carvers to execute their indians the wide demand gave birth to a new trade research has failed to disclose any evidence of a factory for making wooden indians but the braves were carried as a line by the drummers for wholesale tobacco houses and pictures of indians graced their catalogues cataloguer catal edward hen one of the lenders leaders in the tobacco business in the east found profit in the propagation of the indian race and advertised verti sed the braves for sale as early as 1856 in 1871 lien hen assembled in an old alre story building in new york city a congress of wooden indians certainly a fearful sight hundreds of nt red men squaws squads and white figures nil all freshly and daringly painted paint pd lined the wells walls twenty five fire dollars was the average price for the commonest variety of wooden indian often braves which had bad been traded for other figures and repainted but what a difference time has made in the cigar store indian market 1 it might he be possible to buy one for 25 in these depressed times but its very doubtful several years ago the cleveland plain dealer coo conducted ducted a wooden indian contest which brought to light a number of these interesting relies relics anti and as a result one of them seneca john alias the tecumseh achieved eved a testing lasting place in the annals of Arner american icari antiquities ties when he was sold by albinus El ehert a former farmer living near new riegel niegel ohio for to henry ford who has given the red redskin slIn a permanent home in his museum of american antiques at dearborn midi mr ford had bad had find a 41 squaw for some time but desiring a mate for her he instituted a search for one which resulted in his acquiring seneca john A year or so ago mark sullivan writing in ID we the new york herold herald tribune on the many signs of it a rapidly changing america said another news item that makes vivid the quick passing of recently familiar features of american life Is this jn in the new york herold herald tribune penn yen yan N Y one of the last members meniver me niber of a vanishing tribe of wooden indians has been purchased for by an antique denler here hele A year ago the liand hand carved indian wits was sold by a montour tur rails falls for 10 A ism 1000 per rent cent increase in value within it a year suggests extreme rapidity in the process of 0 antiquation so change come in BLACK HAWK galeria Gale naHi ill america that before one knows it an institution or a familiar detail of the surface of ufa life becomes antique As a matter of fact it would seem that both mr ford and the antique dealer in penn yen yan N X Y got real bargains when they paid only for their wooden indians for M 4 blumenthal writing in the saturday evening post only a short time ago reported finding a much battered wooden indian of the sort without which no cigar store was considered nu au fait or even de rigueur twenty five years ago in a junk shop and the dealer asked for it declaring that the price was not out of the way at all its ICs a male indian squaws squads are cheaper and its a good example of early american carving buthis but his statement that squaws squads are cheaper Is not borne out by the following item which appeared soon afterwards in the parts paris mo mercury it Is not generally known but cigar indians formerly the outdoor sign of elgah stores have become valuable antiques and good specimens bring as high as A firm of deal ers has been negotiating with the paris cigar company for the very plump and handsome squaw equaw that thai has graced main alain street paris now for more than forty years but fr frank ank jones owner and manager Is a man of sentiment and has it Is said turned down an offer of for her you see he said sites been here so long and never knocked about either the conversation or the weather never so much as tak taken en a trip or changed the cut of her clothes that it would be cruel to uproot tier her and sell tier her either down the river or up I 1 have known her hei since a small acy boy and am downright attached to her some things mean more than money my squaw Is not for sale she knows too much about parts paris past and present to risk out of sig sight ht and in addition I 1 know of norther man who can boast of that rarest of all earthly blessings a wooden squaw who cannot talk you have no idea how bow satisfactory she Is at times consider also the case of chief who stands in front of a cigar store in colorado springs colo frank and clinton osborn proprietors of the store say that they have had frequent offers ranging all ail the way from up to 1000 for this pound metal warrior whom they obtained at an auction sale of unclaimed goods in a storage warehouse in that city some 20 years ago but they have steadfastly refused all offers for chief like the osborns osborne there are other owners of cigar store indians who wont part with their prizes for any price theres bob parsons pioneer tobacco dealer at ashland wis whose store still Is guarded after 40 years by fierce eyed chief sitting bull parsons Is intensely proud of his indian thousands of tourists have visited his 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 ile he was carved for me by hand from white pine by hermon herman kruske a woodworker ut ashland half a century ago sitting bull a tell tall bright yellow figure dominates the ohp drab street that Is his tribal domain the black braided hair that holds a single upright feather falls over the shoulders of his fringed buckskin coat ills left hand grips his tomahawk his right supports the end of a huge cigar he Is the glorified realization of memories of cigar store indians each rooming morning sitting bull la Is rolled to hla his position before parsons shop which clings to traditions of the past and sells tobacco only each night hes rolled back into his tepee to keep a vigil over the darkened shop parsons has refused several offers for sitting bull and declares hell never sell him he hopes that when hes gone the old chief will be cared for by the bay old settlers association chief lemloh Cali fornias oldest indian and a veteran of the gold rush stands before the shop of S E holmes in san francisco this wooden brave was shipped around cape horn on a selling sailing vessel in 1850 from new york consigned to a pioneer tobacconist in Marys vill e calif Marys marksville marysville ville miles from san francisco then was thronged thron ged with prospector chief lemloh did duty tor for 60 years in this town ten years ago new owners irreverently committed chief semlow to the basement resurrected by his present owner the old chief underwent surgery a year ago and now Is perhaps the roost most modern indian in the united states at a cost of several hundred dollars chief lemloh was equipped with a speaking voice and the faculty of smoking cigars now lie he puffs away and gives advice to smokers as he keeps guard before shop an eighty two year vigil before the door of the maltzberger Malty berger cigar store in reading pa ended in 1 1929 29 for old engle eagle eye a blue eyed wooden indian cut from a solid block of wood by a new york carver ile he was purchased by cigar store proprietors of the city and placed in tho the reading museum 0 by western newspaper union |
