Leonard L. St. Clair (
1912-
1980), nicknamed "Stoney", was a
circus performer and
tattoo artist born in
West Virginia. His father had been a
coal miner since he quit school at age 14. As a child, Stoney was crippled by
rheumatic fever and confined to a
wheelchair. His father used up the family savings, eventually losing their home, to keep Stoney in
Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore.
In the hospital, Stoney drew incessantly. Most of what he drew were scenes of the circus, animals, performers, circus wagons. He was inspired by an uncle in the circus and he was determined to follow in his footsteps, despite the few prospects a crippled boy had in that business. A
German woman named Gretchen took Stoney under her wing and taught him the secrets of her act…
sword swallowing.
Three square meals a day and $75 a week – Stoney was in
heaven. Then one day when the circus was in
Norfolk, VA, some of his circus colleagues took him to a
tattoo parlor. Stoney refused to get a tattoo, but when he saw the tattoo artist at work, he was convinced he could do the same thing, and better. Over the next several days, Stoney befriended the artist and watched him work. When the circus left town, the artist gave him some tattoo equipment and Stoney set up shop behind the
elephant barn.
The circus wintered in
Tampa, FL for years. Around
1944, Stoney called it quits and settled in the city, opening a tattoo parlor on Fortune St. He was a fixture in Tampa for decades, and many older Tampans still bear his work. When, in
1970, our state legislature essentially outlawed tattooing by making it illegal for anyone except a doctor, Stoney set off for
New Orleans, LA, and then
Columbus, OH, where he died. A documentary film and book, called
Stoney Knows How, records his life and his work.