After corresponding with Ann Tumser regarding Adolph Tumser who was in last week’s photo, I decided to do this series of negatives which I will refer to as Capewell and the Lads. I’m hoping that Adolph shows up again in one of these images or possibly his brother Alick of which Capewell wrote.
The pictures are not sharp enough for me to definitively identify Tumser, but I’m hoping Ann or possibly Adolph’s granddaughter may be able to pick out one of their relatives.
Apparently, John B. Capewell of Westville, NJ hung out with these gentlemen. I have four or five similar negatives that I will post in the coming weeks featuring the lads either loafing or clowning around. I’m hoping some eagle-eyed reader recognizes somebody in these photos or possibly a locale.
The reason I went with this picture is that half of the men are smoking cigars and one has a corncob pipe. Tumser worked in a cigar store and eventually owned one according to the information that Ann Tumser supplied. I thought Adolph may have been handing out the store’s inventory to the lads.
I’ve separated the men out to provide a better look. Pictured below is John Capewell on the right. Notice the slight blur of his hand. He’s triggering the shutter of the camera by pulling an attached string.
Below is the three gentlemen on the left
…and then there is this odd fellow brandishing a small pistol.
I was wondering if this was Adolph clowning around, but on closer examination, I don’t think it is. Adolph was better looking than this fellow. In the cigar store photo Ann sent me, he vaguely reminds me of actor Anton Diffring.
Adolph in 1900. Anton in "Circus of Horrors."
Here is the entire 5″x7″ glass negative.
