Sunday, April 03, 2005
F-Stopped
The next time Newsweek gets too fond of fooling around with Photoshop, they may wish to keep the fate of their predecessors in mind. Here, in full, is an article I came across yesterday in The Elyria Weekly Republican of April 8, 1884:
A remarkable case has just been decided in Brockville. A young woman of unimpeachable character and great personal attractiveness named Sarah Horner had her likeness taken at John F. Bradley's photograph gallery. Miss Horner's father died recently, and she supported herself with her needle. When the photographs were finished they were so unlike her that she refused to take them. Bradley was very angry, and revenged himself by adorning one of the photographs with a moustache and painting a cigar in the mouth. A second he decorated with a large pair of red spectacles, and in the third he gave the face a blotched and disgusting appearance. Then he framed the the three pictures, wrote some doggerel verses under them, and hung them outside his studio. The villagers gathered around and much scandal was the result. Bradley went further, and circulated disgracefully embellished photographs of the girl among the young men of the place. The direct result of all this was a lawsuit, by which Miss Horner received $200 damages.
A remarkable case has just been decided in Brockville. A young woman of unimpeachable character and great personal attractiveness named Sarah Horner had her likeness taken at John F. Bradley's photograph gallery. Miss Horner's father died recently, and she supported herself with her needle. When the photographs were finished they were so unlike her that she refused to take them. Bradley was very angry, and revenged himself by adorning one of the photographs with a moustache and painting a cigar in the mouth. A second he decorated with a large pair of red spectacles, and in the third he gave the face a blotched and disgusting appearance. Then he framed the the three pictures, wrote some doggerel verses under them, and hung them outside his studio. The villagers gathered around and much scandal was the result. Bradley went further, and circulated disgracefully embellished photographs of the girl among the young men of the place. The direct result of all this was a lawsuit, by which Miss Horner received $200 damages.
