Poor Dog, identified by a period inscription on the reverse as a Cheyenne medicine man traveling with Buffalo Bill's Wild West, is photographed here in a bust-length studio portrait by Elliott and Fry of London, almost certainly dating to the troupe's celebrated 1887 London engagement. The mount's recto caption reads "Good Eagle, Chief of the Cheyenner, Buffalo Bill's Wild West," but the handwritten correction on the reverse directly challenges that identification, making this a notably layered document of the tour's photographic record.

Poor Dog faces the camera with a direct, composed expression, wearing a fringed hide garment with geometric beadwork across the shoulders and a wide fur-trimmed collar or vest in dark brown. A large peace medal bearing clasped hands hangs from multiple strands of cord at his chest, with a smaller coin or medal suspended below it, and a single upright feather rises from his long dark hair.

Elliott and Fry were among Victorian London's most prominent portrait photographers, holding a royal warrant, and they documented numerous performers from the 1887 Wild West show. The recto caption identifies the studio at 55 Baker Street, London W., with the Elliott and Fry imprint and royal crest appearing on the reverse. The handwritten reverse notation reads: "This is not Good Eagle but is Poor Dog a medicine man."

From the collection of James Lee Soffer