The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1884-04-26
WHY THEY DIE?
The Early Deaths of ''Fat Women.
Owing to Lack of Exercise.
New York Journal

Observed the man who started the
first dime museum in the Bowery
to a reporter. Scarcely has a
woman reacned a siZa that draws
crowds to zee her, when the old
man with d syihe steps in and
moWs down Jour fat freak, not to
speak of your profile.
"Fatty degeneration Of the heart
the doctors call the cause of their
death, and they tell me that adipose
noatter-is that rieht?' inquired
the exhibitor of nature's whims, sis
deposited not only under the ekin.
but on the delicate membranes that
form the valves Of the heart, IS
we'll SIS around the orifces OF the
valves themselves.
Everything looks prosperous.
he brass band in the second story
window is blowing away for dear
life. The tick5t-seller can scarcely
handle the dimes that are flowing
in. The proud owner or the 600
pounds of female loveliuess is the
picture OF health and rosiness, when
flap! one of the valves shuts TO and
stays shut"
Pausing moment to breathe a
sigh that nearly knocks over the liv
ing skeleton, who, standing by, was
listening to the dangers he had no
share in, the speaker continued:
s'The trouble with all the fat women
that exhibit themselves is hat they
didn't take exercise. They 90 to the
museum in the morning and there
they sit all day and half the night.
They never move unless it is to
walk to the nearest restaurant
that has contracted for their
meals. II they would only move
the rest of their bodies half as
vigorously as they move their JAWS
they'd keep in good health without
reducing their weight. There's
Hannah Battersby, for example,
Who was the heaviest OF them all.
Not q day passed but that che
walked certain distauce; the c0nse
quen is she IS living now, hale and
hearty, at so years Of age.
rBut [ can't drum il into the
Others" continued the Snowman,
regretfully, "that they should fJliOw
her example and the cOnseQ gence Is
that every now and the l have TO
hire four or i've carpenters at So
day tor week to build the coffiIs
for them.
"The last one of the show fat
women to die" went on the speaker,
"was Jessie Waldron. She was only
20 years old, over six feet IN height
and really weighed 400 pounds,
though, of course, her show weight
was greater. Two years ago she was
in Bunnell's museum at Coney Is
land. Jesse Reed, " no had charge
of the curiosities in the museum,
fell In love with her, and she recipA
rocated with the full weight of her
young affections. They were mar
ried, and one child has blessed the
union. A month ago the family
went to Buffalo, N. Y, where Jes-
sic was to exhibit herself. She died
there suddenly, and was buried In
Evergreen cemetery, Long Island.
"Poor GIRL" said the museum
man sadly, "she was of the kindest
disposition, and go good-natured
that every one loved her. On her
monument should be inscribed,
"Shs laughed and grew fat"
"The death Of Blanche Gray"
went on the necrologist, I" was even
more sudden. Blanche weighed
$50 pounds, and was only II years
of age when she met David Moses.
Moses evidently saw her in the
promised land, for he proposed to
her and was accepted. The couple
started on their wedding trip with
the most brilliant prospects, which
were enhanced to Moses by the sal
airy of $25 a week drawn by his
better half. In Baltimore on the
26th Of last October the cruel fate
that seems to overhang all women
beyond certain avoirdupois over
took Blanche and left Moses a lonely
widower.
"Annie Woods, surnamed the
Beautiful Fat WomaD," concluded
the museum proprietor, sadly,
reached only the age of II,
although she boosted Of 400
pounds of charms before she was
cut off. A colored fat woman named
Fannie White, travelling swith the
Nathan chow, in Pullman car, fell
asleep and never woke up again. 1t
was annoying to the car company,
for they had to take off the roof of
the csr-but 1 think I've told you
enough to prove to you that life is
doubly uncertain to fat women, and
must now leave you to change the
spots Oh that chap upstairs from
Mexico"