Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1874-01-22

HUMAN DwARFs How THEY ARE MANU-
FAcruRED TO OEDhH.-The business of
manufacturing dwarfs by mutilating children,
unhappily, was at one time followed as pro-
lesion by ahody ofvillains who had reduced
II to system. In the preliminary chapters of
NJ Homme Qui Rit," Victor Hugo gives an
account Of the operations OF these persons,
which is full o, painful interest
They called themselves "Comprachcos, - and
they labored to supply the demand which exis-
ted couple OF centuries ago, in almost every
European country, for dWarts and distorted
human beings for the royal palaces and for the
homes OF the wealthy nobility. The King must
have bis misshappen jester; the tine lady her
fantastic page or footmau; the nobeInan his
hunchback lackey; and even the Sultan his
grotesque buffoon for the seraglio. The de-
mand was f,r greater than the supply afforded
by the freaks Of nature, and the Comprachi COS
undertook TO make good the deficiency. They
fabricated monsters upon large scale. Tie
headquarters Of the infamous fraternity were
in England, but its ranks were recruited from
all coustries, and its opera tons were extended
10 other c}n1tres. The organization had Its
origin, we believe ilSptn.
The CJmprachcos procured children for
their purpose in various ways. Sometimes
there was All heir TO an estate who was Ia the
way Of somebody, aud he would be sold into
the hands OF the order TO be mu'lated beyond
| recognition. Sometimes pauper and orphan
| children would he disposed of by relatives who
did not wish TO take care of them; and often,
again, when the raw material was not offered
| IN SUFFICIENT quantities, the Comprachicos
| would kldnap children for their purposes. Once
! IN their hands, there was no possibility that u
child could be rescued without mutilation.
Taken when very young, they were, rs Vic.
tor Hugo expresses 1t, "touched up so that their
! parents would not recognize them" Some
| times the Compra .hIcos 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 counteDance.
! They would cut the muscles so that the little
"ne would wear perpetual and diaboicsl grin,
| or would have its face sci permanently In some
fantastic shape. By peculiar process, the
growth of another would be stunted so that the
Guild would be dwarf; while in other cases
the joints and muscles of the limbs would be so
| treated that they would acquire unnatural sup
pleness. These patients would be sold to show
men, who trained them as gymnasts. Some
times, also, the throat wodld be manipulated
for The pupose of giving the child peculiar vo-
cal powers.
| Charles l. had being thus mutilated, whose
once It was to move around the palace at night
| signaling the hours by Growing like a cock A
| certain DR.. Conquest, of London, wrote a vol
ume on this KIDD of surgery, in which he de-
serloes the processes as ifthey had rghtfnl
place among the practices OF science.
| The Comprachicos were suppressed by sta
tute under William and Mary. Their coun-
terparts are said, however, to exist at this day
| i'll China.
The Chinese operators take a child of two
! or three wears old, and put il in porcelain
vase III som" odd shape but without lid or bot
tom, 81 That the head and feet are exposed. In
th. day time the vase is kept upright: at night
It Is laid upon It's side, so that the child NAV
l ha