Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-07-26
THE BIGGEST FOOT ON EARTH
A Girl Near Sandusky. o., Whose Ex-
tremities Are AbnormsIIy DeveI-
ODPd.

A Girl Near Sandusky, o., Whose Ex-
tremitIes Are AbnormsIIy DeveI-
Oped.
If there is anything on earth which
contributes to make a handsome wom-
an proud it is pretty feet. An infinite
amount of misery is caused by the la
dies endeavoring to crowd a No. 4
! foot into No 2 shoe, and a great
many of the masculine gender suffer
with corns because the wearing of the
pedal extremities fits too much. A
woman with big foot is inclined to
be unhappy, but what must be the
sorrow of Fannie Mills who resides
two miles east of this city? She has
the biggest feet in the world so far as
known, and they are still growing.
The poor girl is a marvellous curiosity.
and only those who have seen her
marvellous feet would believe they are
so immense Your correspondent
came here on purpose to see the sight
which would under any ordinary cir
cumstance be a very indelicate pro-
ceeding. 1t seems strange and rather
unusual III a young man to travel two
hundred miles to see a pair of feet.
Fannie Mills is % years old, and re-
sides on dairy farm with her parents
two miles from Sandusky. The fam
lily are English and emigrated to this
country eleven years ago. The father
is well-to-do and makes a good living
from the sale of milk Mrs. Mills is
small keen-looking woman with a
pleasing face. There are five child
rem besides the unfortunate Fanny,
all of whom are healthy and good
looking The deformed girl, for her
feet are very imperfect, is inflicted
with elephantiasis from the hips to
the ankle Her head, shoulders and
bust are normal, although she is slight
ly built. Fannie has a plain but in
tetesting face. Her large eyes possess
considerable expression, and there lisa
sad look upon her countenance which
shows that she fully appreciates her
deplorable condition.
Your correspondent called at the
Mills home, which is an attractive
two-story frame cottage, last evening,
and the head of the household was
standing in the yard. His greeting
was kindly, and he entered into con-
versation on the subject of his daugh-
ter's big feet. He laughingly remark
ed that people generally didn't be-
lieve the seemingly incredible stories
concerning Fannie's immense pedal
extremities, but to prove that they
were really SO large he invited the re-
porter into the house to see for him
self. The young woman was called
by her father, and wabbled
rather than walked into the
front room. She wore long gown,
which was scarcely sufficient to hide
the deformity. She sat down in a
chair and exposed her feet to view. It
is almost impossible to exaggerate the
marvellous sight. She removed her
shoes, and then great white pillow
cases, which were worn as stockings.
The feet look like two immense raw
hams. The toes are irregular, and the
little toes are represented by two little
nObs. There are no tOe-nailS, although
the place where they should be is clear
ly defined. Your correspondent under
took the delicate task of measuring the
huge masses Of flesh called feet
The right foot is 1 foot inches in
length, and the left 1 inch shorter.
Over the instep of the right foot is 81
inches, and over the other 1 inch less
The big toe of the left foot is II inches
in circumference. The right foot IS
longer than the left by an inch, but
the latter is heavier and thicker. The
feet are respective and S inches
wide. From this actual measurement
of Fannie Mills feet one can readily
imagine what marvelously large shoes
she must wear Heretofore they have
been manufactured in Albany, n. Y,
but Sandusky shoe firm has the last
and a pair of shoes on exhibition,
which have attracted great attention
Her feet have increased in size since
the last display in the shoe-store win
dow was made.
The left shoe is 163 inches long, the
right Is inches in length. The left y
inches wide, and the other s inches.
The right instep of the shoe measures
1911 inches, the left III inches Fan
ME Mills weighs 10S pounds, and al
though delicate-looking she says she
enjoys good health. It takes two calf
hides to make her pair of Shoes and
all her vitality goes to sustain her
massive limbs and feet. The girl had
unusually large feet when she was
born, and they have continued to grow
alarmingly fast ever since. Several
efforts have been made to induce Mr..
Mills to exhibit his daughter through
out the country, but he has steadf asst
ly refused, although she was in Cleve-
land and viewed by thousands of per-
sons on the Fourth of July two years