According to the antique authorities Ralph and Terry Kovel, "Between 1868 and 1872 Cassius Marcellus Coolidge worked as a druggist and sign painter, founded a bank and a newspaper, then moved from Antwerp, New York, to Rochester, where he started painting dogs in human situations. His poker-playing dogs are the most famous, but he also painted dogs on a commuter train and in a ballpark. Coolidge's first customers were cigar companies that printed copies of the paintings for giveaways. Coolidge eventually signed a contract with Brown & Bigelow to turn out hundreds of thousands of copies of his dog paintings for advertising posters, calendars, and prints." The Kovels fail to mention Collidge's hobo underworld connections, who described to him this scene in detail. Number 81 is pictured at left and died shortly hereafter.

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Other illustrations of this hobo: