Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-02-05
TIE SlAMESE TWINS.
DIR. HOHiAgsWOrth's Remin-
iscenceS Incidents of a
Strange Life.

DIR. HollingSwOrths Of Mount Airy,
North Carolina, concerning the Sia-
mese twins, says: The twins ployed to
our neighborhOod in 1916. Before The
war they did not agree AS brothers so
indissolublU bound ought to do, and
they came to me once, and Eng, who
had the better disposition of the two,
said in presence of their business agent
that he could not live with his brother
amicably, and wanted to have separa-
tion. l replied that the most eminent
surgeons of Europe HAD given their
opinion adverse to such an operation,
and that would not do it, adding that
1 would as soon cut their throSts. This
startling view, together with the
agents persuasions, caused the matter
to drop. They were born face to face,
and could not have been at any time
during their lives back to back. as some
accounts represent. The connection
was by an extension of the sterRam, at
the time of their death almost osse0us
in its hardness, and nearest in appear
ance and size to mans hand. with
the fingers stretched out and squeezed
together, and with the thumb under-
meath, making Il convex and Il concave
surface respectively above and below.
In the exact cenIer of this band was
the mark of IA single unIbi!ical cord.
The absence of this dOublenesS in this
regard is confirmed by the statement
of the mother TO her son Eng, who
repeated it to me. This band L exam
ined after death. 1t had but one UNI
bilical mark precisely in the center of
the connection and underneath. Eng,
the strong and healthy one, understood
his ultimate relation to his weak and
sickly brother, and remarked, on sew
eral occasions, "We can't live long"
Chang never said anything but 81 feel
bad" / told them at the time of the
interview on the subject that possibly
the separation might have been per-
formed successfully when young. If 1
had been in time, before the death of
Eng, would certainly have attempted
the operation. The com mOn error con-
cerning the supposed artery running
through the band would not have de-
tered me, but my only fear was that
peritOnitis would set in, as this band
connected itself directly with the peri
toneum. The band is the ensifOrm
cartilage apparently ossified as hard as
the thigh bone, and it had no motion
in it and had very little sensation, and
that only at particular point in the
center. The danger ofperitonitis alone
prevented the operation. Their wives
are white sisters, born Yates, raised in
North Carolina, uneducated but natn-
rally intelligent, about forty years old,
weighing 200 and 275 pounds respective
ly, and children of mother who now
weighs nearly four hundred pounds.
The twins were fond of playing
draughts but never against each other,
saying it would be no amusement.
They were not members of any
church, but went occasionally with
their wives. Their brains were dis
tinct. They were good business men,
and often in driving q bargain, they
would walk aside and consult together
as to what was best. They had only
two deaf and dumb children. The deaf
girl recently married in Raleigh. No
two men were more honest in their
dealings, nor more pertinacious in
habits.