Lloyd “Sailor Jack” Quaintance Tattoo Artist : Mysetery! Intrigue! Murder?
by Jay Brown – Northwest Tattoo Museum
Sometimes great mysteries come up as a tattoo historian you just have to dig through, even though the information you start with is very vague. This one was a challenge that I couldn’t resist as the subject was from the town that I currently call home and is where the Museum is located. When I was asked if I knew anything about this person, I started to dig. With some research I was able to get the skinny.
Lloyd “Sailor Jack” Quaintance was a Spokane Washington Tattoo Artist who also traveled the world. Son of James and Blanche Quaintance, born in Coeur d’Alene Idaho in 1906 on March 22nd in his family home at 1302 2nd Ave in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The same home still stands as far as research shows, and I have driven by it myself. When James met his mother, they lived in New York and they married in 1900 and were listed as living in Chautauqua, NY in that year’s census. His father was 29 and his mother 19. It lists his father’s occupation at the time as a Teamster.
Between 1903 and 1906 they made the trek West and settled in Coeur ‘d Alene, Idaho. Not much information was found between those years except his sister Florence was born. In the 1910 census it says she was born in the city of United States, in United States County, in the Country of the United States. I found that kind of funny and wondered how many other birth certificates read the same way back then.
On further investigation I found that Florence was born in New York in 1903. When they got to Coeur d’Alene, Lloyd’s father worked at a lumbermill, most likely at Blackwell Island on lake Coeur d’Alene near the mouth of the Spokane River. Lloyd’s father’s father was a Lumberman in Pennsylvania in the 1880’s so the apple didn’t fall far. Lloyd’s grandfather was also in the Civil War for the North in Heavy Artillery, a fun fact.
In 1909 tragically Lloyd’s mother passed away in May. In the 1910 census Lloyd and Florence along with their father were listed at 1302 2nd Ave in Coeur d’Alene. Lloyd was listed as being 4 and his sister 7. By 1920, James was back in New York, and Florence, 17, was in Lewiston, Idaho. By 1922 Lloyd was serving as a private in the Army at 17, and was on his way to Manilla from San Francisco on the USS Thomas. He served until 1924 and then returned to San Francisco. The interim years are lost, but In 1930, Jack as we’ll call him now as I believe at this time he may have taken on his “Sailor Jack” moniker from his time in the service. In that year’s census he was in Los Angeles working for the Al G. Barns Circus. I imagine in those unknown interim years he may have traveled the sawdust trail like so many tattooists did.
The Al G. Barnes Circus ran from 1895, when Al started with a pony act, by 1929 it was billed as the “Al G. Barnes Wild Animal Show” and featured 5 Rings. In that year the circus was acquired by the American Circus Corporation, which was later bought by Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus. The Al G. Barns circus continued to run under its name, but was combined with another show and ran in the years of 1937-1938. It is my belief that Jack learned how to tattoo somewhere between his military service and the circus. There is no real record as to when except a 1950 Spokane-Review newspaper article where he states that he had been tattooing for 30 years, which would put him somewhere in the period of his service in the military learning the trade. In a 1938 City Directory he is found back home in Coeur d’Alene at 1302 2nd, which all this time remained the family home. Being that 1938 was the year that Al G. Barns circus ran till, it stands to reason that after it shut down he would return home . In 1940 he was still in Coeur d’Alene, but he made his way to Shasta, California according to his WWII draft card by 1942. But his mailing address was still listed back home in Coeur d’Alene. In 1943 Jack’s father passed away, he says in the 1950 article that he had returned to the CDA/Spokane area 6 years ago, which would have been 1944-5, making me think he served until the end or near the end of the war.
It’s not known if Jack was allowed to return for his fathers funeral, I could find no mention in his obituary. His father, mother and himself all share a headstone in Forest Cemetary in Coeur d’Alene. I will often go and clean off the headstone.
In the article he mentions being in the Navy as well as the Merchant Marines, which I didn’t dig that deep into, I believe he served in the Army in the 20’s, then returned to service for the 2nd World War in the Navy. During WWII Farragut Naval Training Base was in Sandpoint Idaho, on Lake Pend O’Reille, not but an hour North of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. At this time it was the 2nd largest Naval training base in the country only to the Great Lakes. Also, there was an Army Air Corps base close by Spokane as well. This was like a boomtown situation, so in 1943, E.D. Horton opened Spokane’s 1st Tattoo Shop according to a Spokesman-Review article, at 513 W Trent Ave. This location would pass hands several times. In that same period, renowned artist Red Gibbons worked with Joe Queen on Stevens Ave in Spokane not far away. Red Gibbons’ wife, Artoria was a World-Renowned Tattooed Lady back then. The next hands the 513 Trent location would be in was “Tiger Bob” Hartwig and Red Valley. Hartwig said he was taught by Red Gibbons, and tattooing was a great occupation for him as he was disabled. There was another Tattooist named Kokomo Joe, that had a shop right next door to the 513 location, what that was named, I didn’t investigate, but it goes to show how competitive Tattooist were during wartime. In the 1943 article, it talks about how Hartwig and Valley were going to open a location in Coeur d’Alene but I have found no record of anything coming to fruition. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to access the city directories for those years in Coeur d’Alene because they are missing from the library’s shelves. Now back to Sailor Jack.
In 1946 Jack was found at 513 Trent Ave. There was a Spokesman-Review article about Jack, not particularly how he was a tattoo artist, but the focus of the article was that he also repaired and restored calliopes next door, and that 5 whistles (pipes) were stolen. Jack even states he has no idea why anyone would want to steal them. Because of the article stating the address, and mentioning Sailor Jack’s Tattoo Shop, we know for a fact that he took over the 513 location by 1946. From 1946 until 1957 he was located at the W 513 Trent Ave Location.
That spot seemed to be the Mecca of Tattooing in Spokane Washington for some time before that. The structure may still be there, we checked satellite imagery, and it looks plausible. I intend to go to the location and see if I can get any more information if it is the actual structure. For this article I am using the address for timeline purposes. In 1957 he moved the shop to 304 ½ Main St. This is where Sailor Jack’s shop remained and operated until 1974.
Then the story takes a twist. In 1974 Lloyd “Sailor Jack” Quaintance was murdered. He 1st became missing, which I have found a record of in 1974, but nothing came of it. Then it was murder!! In 1976 a slew of newspaper articles came out nationwide about the murder, the trial, and some of the horrific details. In 1976 Robert Scott, 39, and his wife Lois Scott, 38, from Rathdrum, Idaho, just north of Coeur d’Alene were his roommates. At the time of his murder, he was a tattoo artist, but it’s said he was no longer operating the business. Whether it passed hands is not known at this time. There was an informant that tipped the police off to where the body was, and what had allegedly happened. That informant was Carl Thomas, 20. He testified to what had happened and where the body was dumped.
The story goes that Scott shot Quaintance 4 times in the back of the head with a .22 caliber pistol, that after the murder was supposedly thrown into lake Coeur d’Alene. He said in his testimony that after Quaintance was dead they wrapped him up in a pool table cover and dumped the body in the St. Regis Montana area. Later it was confirmed the body was Sailor Jacks by the keys in his pocket as the body had been decomposed and eaten by wild animals. Scott’s wife was acquitted, and eventually Robert Scott was cleared of the charges. Thomas, however, for his testimony, had a reduction of charges from 1st Degree murder to Accessory to 1st Degree murder. There is a mystery there. Did the Scott’s kill Sailor Jack? Not enough evidence except they were roommates with him at the time. Motive, the family said that he had around $2000 in his bank account and that he was planning to buy a bit of land to retire on.
Sadly, after that Lloyd Quaintance, also known as Sailor Jack, faded away into the unknown of the tattoo world, lost to time. Until now next to nothing has been written about him. I am glad that I had this opportunity to share the story of Sailor Jack Quaintance, our local, original old timer tattoo artist. A sign that I have seen says, “Sailor Jack, Just a Good Tattooer”, which shows humility in the man. I have seen a few sheets of his flash, and he did good clean work.
Unfortunately, so many tattooists like Sailor Jack Quaintance, and their stories have been lost to time. Luckily sometimes pieces of theirs, and in this case his work survives, in signs and flash and other bits. And now there is a story to go with it although it is a tragic one. All this would have remained unknown till I was given a copy of an old newspaper article, then later approached by a lady whose mother bought all of Sailor Jack’s stuff in an antiquing trip, to see if I knew anything about him. This is where the investigation arose, and now we know the story, as bad as it ended, of one of the Inland Northwest unknown tattoo legends.
