The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1884-02-05 00:00:00

A TALE OP TWENTY YEARS' IMPOSTURE.

The effect of sudden Shock upon a person who for
upward* of 20 years has been bedridden—apparently
paralysed sod dlenol -urea through her panful and
long.continued soffsrings—was a few days ago re.
ported as a wonderful phe omen.° ; but it I, now
mule evid.nt, from the c infossion of the supported
sufferer, that abs has been guilty of a long o mrse.if
deliberate and most disgrace! al cicc.ption. Frm.oe.
Wood, otherwise Fanny Jordan, whose supposed
sufferings hare excited the sympathy of Whitstable,
and elicited substantial aid not only trent that
town, but from every part of England, died on
Wednesday, aged 35 years, in the cottage on Clapham.
hill so well kis ern to her many visitors and friends.
When about 15 years old she tt dr to her b,d, and
gradually grow w ins in appearairos n til her face was
C impletely blackened, with the ex.:option of • whit,
mark down the centre of the nos-,. She loot the ure of
whole body except one arm, an.l could take only brandy
and water sod light dainties. Nsturaily her 04110 called
forth much commiseration, and none .4 her numerous
visitor, came empty-banded. Her piety and resigned
patience were talked of as m sit edifying and saintly,
and the "beautiful" letters which she wrote at intervals
were regarded with admiration. Besides the local
practitioners, she bellied the cuestioas and skill of three
medical men, and was c .nridered a liring miracle ; how
she could exi.t under such uric n.tancei being a
mystery, WI She Wal believe Ito b ii,hle to talce any
solid food, and vomited what i•er nourishment was
given her. The parochial antis lilies allowed her aid,
and supplied half a bottle of brandy per week, and in
1878 the trustees of the Whitstable Charities were
applied to, with the result that a grant of is. per week
wee made. Several benevolent ladiee showed her much
kindness.; indeed, it would beimpoesible to mention the
unlimited benefactious of deed and word shown to her.
A few years ago Palmy Wood warithe subject of • long
article In "Faithful Wards," wherein her unparalleled
soffesinp and perfect resignation were set on record.
She expremed a °mutant &dr, to depart and complete
readisese forth. change. On Saturday week, on hearing
that her brother bad been sentenced to three months'
imprisonment at Canterbury, she recovered her natured
tons She hessian confessed that, hearing the postman
telling her mother of tha fact, she thought her upper.
tuoity had arrived, and hastily wipe Ir.ff the black
marks with a pious of ikons'. She liad systematically
and grab u illy blackened tier features with burnt c .rk
which she scowl in altos with a candle beneath her bed.
Her mother says that on entering the room • few
minute. afterward' she exclaimed "Oh, Fanny,
you are white." "Am I, mother," elle returned, "I fed
as if something gave me three raps on the bead, and
a thrill pared through me." She afterwards aunt for a
gentl.man who had often visited her, and metered
that during all these years she had acted the byp emits,
' and had been perfectly able to use her limbs all the
time. She showed him, 114 well as others, that the arm
which had been beat under her for years less as whole
as the other, and that her feet were fully at her service.
Several times during late years the deceit had been a
burden to her, and she had longed to oeidess--hed,
Indeed, sent for some one epecially for that ptupons,
but when become, she felt tongue-tied, and could not
get the words out. Failing that her end was near—
Induced, nio,t prrobably, by hot felgned and frequent
attempt. at sickness, together with the long confine-
ment and unnatural mode of existence—she could not
die with such • load upon her ooseciance, hence the
startling denouement, which he scarcely a parallel ii
fact or fiction.