Omaha daily bee., 1874-06-20
OTHER SIAMESE TWINS.
A Remarkable Freak of Nature
Two Children Joined To-
gether Hearly the Full
Length Of their Bodies.
(From the Chicago Times.)

Ao SA<
upper room of a little tenement
house in this city. The residents O
Chicago have taken q part in the
production of nearly every variety
of Out-of way andS nrious thing
known under the sun; but, as a rule
there has been nothing particularly
striking or wonderful about theiI
babies to distinguish them from the
infant accumulatiOns of other parts
Of the world. 1t was reserved for q
young Bohemian wife to give birth
to twins, mOr curiously and indis-
solubly Joined than even the Won
derful couple to whom general at
tention was again directed by their
death a few months since.
The mother resides in q squalid
little cottage at No. SO Burlington
street, on the West Side. She is q
a young woman some twenty-three
years of age, and the wife of a labor
er named Frank ValOoda. Like
most women of her class, she is
stout, healthy and robust, and has
always been accustomed to the hard
service and the many privations
that the ills of poverty necessitate.
The couple have been married only
a little owe a year, and the wife has
~labOrously assisted in the support of
the family, which included several
persons beside herself and husband.
Almost to the hour of her confine-
ment she was up and busily engag-
ed in the discharge of her household
duties. In the morning she COM
planned of feeling slightly unwell.
and her husband wished to remain
at home with her, but, like most of
the peasant women Of the old cOuEc
try, she regarded the ordeal of child
birth with very little concern, and
insisted that Frank should earn his
81 so, as usual. Until half-past
one o'clock I'm the afternoon of that
day she was hard at work, as
usual, and not until she felt the
maternal pangs upon her did she
desist from her usual round of du-
ties. About 3 o'clock i'm the after.
noon, while attended only by an ig-
norant German midwife, and one or
two Of the neighbOring women, she
gave birth to this strange malfor-
mation-two little girls Of the nat
ural size and perfectly formed, but
closely united; or, rather, grown to-
gether, from the breast bone to the
lower part Of the abdomen. The
bodies were dead. Some who visi.
ted the mother on last evening
Were inclined to the belief that the
infants might have been safely de-
livered had a skillful accOucheur
been present; but 70 clumsily did the
midwife perform her duties, that
the babes were slightly torn apart.
The sufferings of the poor mother
were agonizing, and had she been of
fraile: frame or less heroic endur-
ance, she would probably have sue
cumbed under the terrible ordeal.
The Sunday Times reporter Of
phenomenal events on last evening
visited the birthplace of the singular
tusus nature. He was among the
first to whom an exhibition of the
double baby was afforded. None
save the immediate members of the
family, and certain of the neighbors
who had kindly extended their Is
sistance to them, had been admitted
to the house, OF account of the
nervous and critical condition of the
suffering mother.
From a desire toprevent her being
disturbed in the least, the person
who answered the reporters sum-
mons was inclined to refuse him adj
mission, but 1t was reluctantly
vouchsafed upon his explaining the
reason of his visit. Being caution
ed to advance quietly, he tip-tOed
up a dark stairway, and was shown
into the small room which evident
ly served as parlOr, bedroom and
kitchen, where thepOor woman was
lying in q rude bed, evidently in
great anguish, as two or three of the
family or neighbors were busily
employed i'm their efforts to mitigate
her pain. The father Of the I'm.
natural ofsprlngs, upon the visitor
being announced, took a candle and
led him into a very small bedroom
or closet. One of the women fol-
lowed, and, while the father held
the light, she removed a quilt from
q common washtub exposing to
view a quantity of ice and an object
covered with wet, white clothes.
These she carefully removed, and
the eyes of the reporter fell upon the
curious phenomenon.
The babies lay upon their sides,
One-half of the ligature which ex-
tended from the upper portion of
the breasts to a point nearly OppO-
site, and nearly from side to side,
the hips being exposed to view.
Save this, and q wound near the
lower part of the abdomen, caused
by the mid-wife's desire to hasten
delivery, there was nothing unnatu-
raj in their appearance. Their little
arms were about each others necks,
and their heads were nestled to-
gether as If they had fallen to sleep
in 2 loving embrace.
they were perfect i'm form, the
bodies, arms, and legs being finely
developed. There was infantile
sweetness in the expression of their
faces, and, had they lived, would
undoubtedly have been children of
much comeliness. They were
plump, and no evidences of an un-
healthy condition previous to birth
was apparent. They had undOuht-
edly been a. robust as infants ever
are at the time of birth, and had
evidently expired during their de-
livery. In size they were the equals
of newborn infants generally, as
they weighed fourteen pounds. The
ligature was the only deformity
that existed; in every other particu-
lar they were well and finely de-
veloped, and unlike most monstros
ties, there was nothing in their ap.
pearance to shock or disgust deli.
cate sensibilities, or to repel any be.
holder; on the contrary, as they
lay In the loving attitude described,
with their arms encircling each
others necks, and limbs entwined
rs if i'm their dreams, the instinct
of love had promoted such an EN-.
brace, or If they had been laid to
to sleep in positions to please q
mothers fancy, there vas some.
thing about them that impelled an
Interested gaze, In all their exter'
nal appearances, their structure, .:
has been remarked, was natural,
OF course, 1t Is impossible to state te
what extent this same perfection