Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-05-28
Manufactured DuarFs,

The business Of manufacturing Iwarfs
by muGlatfng children, vnhappflv. was
at one ti1ae followed IS . profession I2v ?
body Of Villains who had reduced :; - 2
system. ln the preliminary chanteTs If
" L'Aomne Gas iGt" Nic,or }Eueo gives
al account 81 The operations ~ these pe'-
sons, which 7s IEll % painful interest
They call themselves " Comnracnicos, r
AND taey labor TO supply the demand
which existed 3 couple II centuries ago
IN almost every European country fi'l
"wa3ts aaa distorted humsn hsings 40g ihe
royal palaces and for fia homes 81 The
wealthy nobility The king nust have
his misshapea lester, the #ne lady her
fantastic page 81 f,ootnau, the nohlcman
his GurcAhack ,aclev and even the sui.
fan his erotesQue but'oon for the gcraglio
The demand was far greater than the sup.
ply afforded hy the freaks of nature and
the C0mpraChiCus undertook 10 make
good the deficiency They fabricated
monsters upon a large scale. The head
quarters of this infamous fraternity were
I'm England, but its ranks were recruited
from all countries and their operations
were extended to other countries. The
organization had its origin, we believe, in
Spain.
The Comprachicos procured children
sOr THEN purpose in various ways Some
times there was an heir to an estate who
was in the way of somebody, and he
would be sold into the hands Of the order
to be mutilated beyond recognition
Sometimes pauper and orphan children
would be disposed of by relatives who did
not wish to take care Of them; and often
again, when the raw material was not of
tercd in sufficient quantities, the Com
pTachicOs would kidnap children for their
purposes. Once in their hands there was
no possibility that a child could be res
cUed without mutilatiOn. Taken when
young, they were, as Victor Hugo ex-
pressed it, " touched up 50 that their par
ents would not recognize them" Some
times the COmpTachiCOs would operate on
the spine in such way that the child
would have bumped back; or they
would leave the dorsal column straight
and alter the cOuntenaHce. They would
cut the muscles so that the little one
would wear a perpetual and diabolical
grin, or would have its face set perma-
nently in some fantastic shape. By a
peculiar process the growth Of another
would be Stunted so that the child would
be a dwarf, while in other cases the
Joints and muscles Of the limbs would
be so treated that they would acquire IN
natural suppleness. These patients would
be sold to shOWmen, who trained them as
gvmnasts. Sometimes also the throat
would be manipulated for the purpose of
giving the child peculiar vocal powers.
Charles II. had being thus mutilated,
whose office it was to move around the
palace at night, signaling the hours by
growing like cock. \ certain Dr. Con
quest, Of London, wrote a volume on this
kind Of surgery, in which he describes
the processes as if they had a rightful
place among the practices of science.
The COmprachicOs were suppressed by
Statute under William and Mary. Their
counterparts, however, are said to exist at
this day in China. The Chinese opera
tors take child Of two or three years old
and put it into a porcelain vase of some
odd shape, but without lid or bottom, so
that the head and feet are exposed. In
the daytime the vase is kept upright; at
night it is laid upon its side so that the
child may sleep. Thus the child grows,
filling up the spaces in the vase with its
compressed flesh and twisted bones. This
growth in the bottle lasts for several
years. At q given period 1t is without
remedy. When the mold has taken and
the monster is made they break the vase,
and the child comes out Of it.-T0-D0y.