Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-09-18
some Remarkable Dwarfs.

The most remarkable pair of these
diminutive beings ever recorded was
that narrated and described by Marco
Polo in his travels through Tartary.
He says that at the court of the Khan
there were twins of the unheard of
stature of eleven and twelve inches in
height. They were 25 years of age.
The one twelve inches tall was bey
called Meereshal, and the other girl
named Fatima. They were perfectly
developed and well proportioned and
formed, and are described as extremely
intelligent. The Khan ordered them
to be married, and, for a wonder, the
union turned out to be prolific. Four
children were born to this diminutive
couple, three of whom attained the av-
erage Tartar stature, while the fourth
and youngest grew to the gigantic stat
ure of six feet three inches Meere-
shall and Fatima lived until their 45th
year, when Fatima sickened and died,
and was followed in few months by
her husband. These dwarfs were the
smallest couple ever recorded.
All the readers of ''Peveril of the
Peak" are acquainted with Sir Geoi-
frey Hudson, the favorite dwarf of
Charles | of England. He was born in
1918, and died in 1862, 63 years of age.
He was native of Oakham, and was
about years of age when Is inches
high, and was taken into the service of
the Duke of Buckingham. From the
age of to 30 he grow 10 taller, but
afterwards shot up to three feet nine
inches. He was once served up in
pie at royal entertainment, from
which he suddenly sprang forth in full
armor. Sir William Davenport wrote
poem on battle between him and a
turkey cock, when woman rescued
him from this furious antagonist. The
courtiers teased him about his story till
he challenged young gentleman, MIR.
| Crofts, who had offended him. CrOfts
appeared at the rendezvous armed with
a squirt, which so enraged the dwarf
that a real duel ensued. The weapons
were pistols, and both parties were on
horseback to put them on level. At
the first fire Geoffrey shot his antagO-
mist dead. He was afterwards taken
prisoner by Turkish rover, and for a
time was a slave in Barbary. At the
beginning of the civil war he was made
captain in the royal army. He died
in prison, in which he had been east
for being privy to a POpish plot.
Nine. Theresa, called the !Corsican
fairy from the place of her birth, 1743,
was remarkable for physical symmet-
ry, beauty and mental vivacity. She
was exhibited in London in 1873, and
was thirty-four inches nigh, and her
weight was fifty-four pounds.
The Dutch dwarf, Wybrand Lolkis,
was born 1870, and possessed mechani-
cal taste and skill. He had success as a
matchmaker, and when sixty years of
age was twenty-seven inches high and
weighed fifty-seven pounds.
Prince Coiobi, a SlessiEg dwarf, who
was exhibited in Dresden in 1857, was
twenty-five pounds in weight and
twenty-five inches high at the age of
III.
General Tom Thumb Charles ;.
StrattOn), the celebrated American
dwarf, was born in Bridgeport, Conn,
in 1887. His parents are the average
height, well formed and healthy. At
the age of five years he was not two
feet high, and weighed less than six
teen pounds.
Lucia Zarate and General Mite, ter
med the ''Midgets, ;" are, however, the
most diminutive species of the human
race ever seen in modern days. They
exceed all their predecessors in dwarf
ishness, and are without peers as kings
AMI queens of the dwarfS. General
Mite is fourteen years of age and
weighs nine pounds, while Lucia Ia
rate, who is of the same age, is scarcely
five pounds. They are the tinieSt spe-
cimens of humanity living.