....A Tattooed Hero.—Strange are some of the relics that come into London from the seat of war. A knot of Scotch Reservists, invalided from Bloemfontein, drifted into Euston Station on Saturday, and, as usual, an admiring crowd gathered round to give them a hearty send-off. One broad-brogued Irishman, bound for Glasgow, in whose battered appearance shone the glory of battle, had sipped too freely of the loving cup, and allowed his native humour to run riot. "Look here, boys," he said, as soon as he got into the train, "I'll show you the finest picture in London," and upon the word he stripped to the waist and thrust his bare back through the carriage window, to the astonishment of the admiring throng. A delicately tinted picture, representing a Scriptural allegory with Christ on the Cross as the central figure, was tattooed right across the Irishman's back. "That was done in hospital at Bloemfontein," he said. "A comrade did it when I was laid up with a shot leg. It's the only relic I've got to take home to mother." And as the train steamed out of the station, a lusty British cheer rang out for the tattooed hero.
The Keighley News, Saturday 13th October 1900
