The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-30

seemed to have no care for their fami- |
ly. When Eng was sick Chang
nursed him but perhaps did so from
selfish motives, as the serious illness Of
one made 1t necessary for the well one
aI?o 20 % 10 bed. Chang had some
thlng OF an appTeciative vein of finn
ana IKE 10 give senseless answers IN
MS broken English, to the numherlesa
4ues'SohS OF visitors. They remained
WIN Bafhum until 1855, and it is be-
IleVea that they had themselves saved
aoou' StO,OOu each. Growing tired of
snow life, they decided to settle down
III warmer part of the United States.
A DOUBLE WEDDING.
IN their travels they had been in
North Carolina and it, climate had
P;eased them. So they bought two
plantations. and secured wives to
complete their domestic establish
ment. Here they took the surname
of Bunker They were then bachelors
OF fOrty-four. They married English
sisters, aged twenty-six and twenty
eight. The girls had been servants,
and il is said that a Lancashire dialect
still clings to them. The making of
the double match involved much
trouble, for, although the twins were
not unduly eXacting, it was hard to
find women who were both willing
and at all desirable. There was no
lOve-making before the engaoement,
the counting was done by proxy and
correspondence, and the ladies had
seen their future husbands only at a
show in London when they accepted
the offer of marriage. The twins based
their choice upon likenesses forward
ed by their agent, who gave assurances
of the responsibility of the girls. All
having been arranged they were
were brought to America, the twins
paying their expenses, and the mar
riage was solemnized quietly in Sails
bury. The wives were not beautiful,
but were strong, healthy English
working girls. The domestic lives of
the couples were peculiar. Each family
had its own house, servants, and do
nestle establishment. The plantations
were owned and managed separately,
although in matters of consequence
Chang was usually master, The
wives lived entirely at their respec-
tive homes, and the husbands alterna-
ted-staying one week at Changes
house and the next week at Engs
Each looked after his plantation and
other business during the weeks of
| living at his own place, and the visit
| ing brother was not supposed to in
| terfere. The wives did not agree very
| well, and the strangely tied families
| quarrelled so seriously that the sisters
| frequently had periods of complete
| enlargement, lasting for weeks at a
| time.
| DOMESTIC INFELICITY.
So, although Chang and Eng were
rich, they did not live happily. Mrs.
| Chang had the first child, and it was
a deaf mute. The families increased
rapidly, until Chang had six children
| and Eng five. OF these children four
| never heard nor spoke, although III all
| other respects all were srtOng and not
| defOrmed. Eight are living, the old
| est, a daughter of seventeen, having
! lately been married to the lessee of a
| neighboring plantatatiOn. About
| eight years ago Chang became con-
| verted ia religious revival, and Eng
| also embraced the belief, they Joined
| the Baptist Church. They We're regu-
| lar III their attendance thereafter, and
| retained their standing as good Chris
! tians. Their tempers, however, were
not improved blythe spiritual change,
| and before the emancipation their
| slaves were the most whipped of any
/ in the region The rebellion freed
/ their slaves and otherwise seriously
| impaired their wealth. To repair
! their losses they again exhibited
! themselves through the country, and
| at Woods Museum in this city; but
| they were only moderately successful,
| owing partially to rapacity which
| prevented managers from having any
| thing to do with them. A greater curl
/ osity in their line had sprung up, too,
| in the two-headed girl-two negro
! children from South CarOlina-who
are Joined at the hips, aud who are on
| exhibition in Paris. Chang and Eng
! had grown uglinr as they had grown
| older, the latter especially being
| wTinkled, thin and bent. Their tenn
uer We're soured, and they quarrelled
with each other constantly. They
! had gained greatly intelligence, how
/ ever, and were sensitive to the gaze
| of the crowd. At the Revere House,
| where they boarded, they received
| few visitors TO whom they complain
/ ed of the necessity which had driven
them back into show life. They also
retained strong secession proclivities
During their absence their wives man
aged the plantations. Those of the
children who were not deaf mutes
! were sent to school, and are now well
| educated. Before their last exhibition
here the twins had been again in
Europe.
4 CERTAINTY OF UNION IN DEATH.
The cause of their mOroseness as
| they grew older is believed to have
been the probability of the fatal. effect
| of ones death upon the other The
idea of separating them by surgical
operation had been often preached,
but ply siciaus had generally agreed
that it would kill them. Therefore
each was haunted with a dread of
being left bound to his dead brother,
with almost certainty of dying I'M
der any attempt to sever him from
the corpse. While in Paris and
London they consulted the most emil
ueHt surgeons. One experiment,
however, dashed all hope of separate
existence. The ligature was COM
pressed until all the circulation of
blood between them was stopped.
Eng soon tainted, and a removal of
the compress was deemed necessary
to prevent death. This proved that
neither could sustain a separate circu-
lation of the blood, and to have cut
the ligarature would have killed both |