Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-12-25
THE CAROLINA TWINS.
Mile Christine, After Eight Years. Alb
sence, Comes Back to Philadelphia,
and With Two Tongues, Gives Her
Impressions Of Foreign Travel. 9V3G
PhiladelDhia Times. Dec.l

& The Two-headed Nightingale and
party was what the register of an up
town hotel showed last night. It wasn't
Il bird or any other species Of biped., So
far from having two legs it had four
The hotel clerk was in constant grin.
1t was evident that he had stored UP
some fine antici pations as to the sur
prise this singular announcement would
cause people when they ran their eyes
over the register, 1t was not every day
q colOred woman with two heads, four
arms. four legs, four eyes, four ears,
two noses. two mouths and two tongues
registered ut that hotel and the clerk
W as bound to make the most of it. The
Nightingale /" and party u consisted Of
two Italian dwarfs, both in tOp-boots
and moustaches and COATES and neither
larger than a good-sized doll. The wo-
man with the liberal supply OF limbs
was Mile Christine, whose exhibition
in this city, at the assembly building,
eight years ago, created a stir among
the physicians who had her before them
for several days at Jefferson Medical
College. and afterWard delivered lee
lures on her. For the past eight years
she has been on tour OF exhibition in
Europe, under the manageme nt Of Mr..
Smith, who returned to this country
with her four weeks ago, and has since
exhibited her and the dwarfs IN Boston
and other New England cities They
came to Philadelphia from Bridgeport,
Connecticut, yesterday. under an ar
rangement with Coup's Equescurriculm,
where they make their first appearance
| to-day. -' 'i' ...
| The Nightingale is twenty-seven years
old. She was born in Columbus coun-
| ty, North Carolina. of slave parents.
There were fifteen children in the fam
lily, the others all being perfectly form
ed, as were their parents. The woman
has been on exhibition since she was
i two years old. She has had an event
full experience. Twice she has been
stolen, once from New Orleans, where
she was on exhibition. In few months
she turned up in New York orphan
asylum. Her owner this was in slave
times) got her back again. A few
months later she was stolen for the sec
ond time, and turned up in England,
where the enterprising thief was exhib-
| iting her. Again her owner got her
back. She was exhibited all over the
| United States afterward, and then aiken
to the old country. In London the
newspaper men gave her the name of
Nightingale, on account of her vocal
powers. She sings we'll, dances well,
and speaks three or four different lam
guages, among them French. 4a g
The two heads sit on her shoulders at
angles to each other, SO that the net
which keeps up the hair of one touches
the net which keeps up the hair Of the
other, and if, the owner wills it the two
heads may bump against each other,
like playing bones in the hands of an
expert. The singular part is her con-
versation. One tongue begins to talk,
the eyes brighten, theface becomes ami
mated. At this point the observer
catches sight of the other face looking
over the other should er with a sort Of
grin on it and the other eyes with a
| leer in them. A man may sc excused
if his attention strays at this point and
the utterances Of the first tongue be-
come lost on him in contem plating the
other physlognomical apparitlon. Pre-
sently the second tongue begins to talk,
! too, and there Is sort of race between
| them. One face is rather masculine
and the other feminine, and the voices
very similar. In talking the tongues
"chip Ill" and cross each other. To get