20070104 1870s Dead Horse inspires intrigue and curiosity

1870s Dead Horse inspires intrigue and curiosity

January 5, 2007

(AP Photo/Sheboygan County Historical Research Center) This photo provided by the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center shows a man sitting on a dead horse. The picture taken in Sheboygan sometime between 1876 and 1884 has sparked curiosity, speculation and jokes from people throughout the country, thanks to some newspaper publicity, the Internet and blogging. No one knows who the gentleman is, his occupation, or the exact circumstances surrounding it, said Beth Dipple, director of the Center. "It is a great picture and every time I see it I just laugh," she said. "But this time the novelty is everybody else is seeing it for the first time. The whole world is seeing it now."

The Examiner is carrying an Associated Press story about an historic photo, the subject of which is “a stovepipe-hatted man sitting on a dead horse in the middle of a dusty, deserted street.”

The photo was originally published as part of “a 2007 (newspaper) calendar with the scene. A response from readers prompted the newspaper to report about it. From there, it took off on the Internet and blogging.”

“After writing two stories about the picture, The Sheboygan Press has received more than 50 calls and e-mails about it…”

“No one knows who the gentleman is, exactly what year the picture was taken or the circumstances surrounding it, said Beth Dipple, director of the Sheboygan County Historical Research Center, which has had the picture in its collection for at least 20 years.”

“Dipple said about all that's known about the picture is it was taken (in Sheboygan, Wisconsin,) at South Eighth Street and Indiana Avenue between 1876 and 1884 - based on the bridge over the Sheboygan River in the background and the lack of railroad tracks that were installed in 1884.

“The city had laws on the books that required people to stay with their dead horses until they were picked up and disposed of, Dipple said.”

Of course, anyone who has read newspapers from the 1800s knows that folks had perhaps an even better sense of humor back then than folks do today.

Then again, in our contemporary age when everything is over-thought, over-analysed and overwrought, the explanation for the picture may be mundane or even documentary in purpose; who knows.

I love to tell the story about an art show I had in Baltimore in the mid-1980s, in which quite a number of my mixed media constructions incorporated a great deal of orange paint.

As I hung back relatively incognito during a portion of the show’s opening, a young lady had gathered a group of folks around her as she explained the deep psychological meaning of my use of orange paint.

It was complex – and it was intense. It was foreboding…

It was a load of crap. I used the orange paint because a friend of mine, who owned a hardware store, had several gallons of orange paint returned and he sold it to me a greatly reduced cost…

Whatever.

Sometimes “a stovepipe-hatted man sitting on a dead horse’ is just a man sitting on a dead horse.

But the picture is kinda neat - - after of course, an animal lover like me gets past the fate of the horse…

Oh, anyway, for more reading on this story go to:

1870s photo of man on dead horse sparks national humor or

1870s Dead Horse Photo Sparks Mystery

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