The Opelousas courier., 1884-07-05
MARRYING FREAKS.
People of Normal Looks Who Sought
Mates Among M~Onstrosities.

museum, toying With ms gola eye-giass,
and humming the notes of a song he did
not know. Then he picked up a copy
of a daily paper and read an account of
the marriage of Jennie Saunders, the
t~wenty-toed woman, to Louis St. Clair,
late advance agent of the Buffalo Bill
Wild West combination "These mar
riages of freaks always disgust me-" he
said to a reporter, throwing the paper
down. GIVE seen a number of them in
my time.
"Years ago." he continued, "when
John O'Brien, the well known circus
man, "was in the high, tide of pros
perity, among the attractions of side
shows following his tent there was a
freak known as Walter Stewart. This
human monstrosity was without legs or
hands, but he had short, stubby arms,
and it was considered an interesting
sight to see him shave himself by the use
of these half-formed limbs. Although
repulsive in other respects, it is said that
Stewart possessed average intelligence.
One season O'Brien was accompanied on
his tour by a charming and beautiful
young daughter. Kitty was her name,
and she was the idol of her amusement
loving parent. He was worth at
least $3.50. 900 at that time, and ne
lavished every attention upon his beloved
child. Kitty had her own will in almost
everything. She got acquainted with
the side-show monstrosity, Walter Stew
art, and day after day went surrep-
titiously to converse with him. At
length, before the father had the slight
- lls,, 1E 4bo oourSo affairc had
taken, his daughter had become strangely
infatuated with and secretly married the
deformed creature. OBrien, In his
anger, cast her completely off, and
never spoke to either of the two after
ward. But Kitty chung stoutly to her
choice, ministering to his wants, accom-
panying him in shows and musuems, and
to all appearances loving him.
"Perhaps you remember John Bat
tersby, the skeleton man. No2 Well,
John was long a great card for side
shows and museums, and, by the way,
I think he is still living. 1t is wonder
full how long these skeletons do live.
Battersby was married about twenty
years ago to Hannah, the fat woman OF
Maine, after which they always made
engagements and travelled together. Han.
! nah was the biggest fat woman / evel
| saw. too. She weighed upward of 500,
/ and there was over 400 pounds difference
between the weight of husband and wife
| The union, I believe, was blessed witt
several children. Speaking of skeletons
3 there's Isaac w. Sprague, the forty-pounc
specimen who has been seen here lately
t Sprague has been married twice.
: civilian Thompson, a steamship en-
9 gineer, became infatuated with Ann e
: Leak, a woman without arms, and mar
ried her some ten years ago. They sub
~sequcntly went to Australia together, ant
I am told, made a good deal of money
She has been seen with all the big show
in this country time and again. The,
. have a very fine boy, and, although tn
! mother has no arms for hugging, she ca
! crochet, knit, and write with her toes a
we'll as most ladies caa with their hands
And then there was Nine. Myers, tn
: bearded lady-you have seen herr sh
i. became the wife of Amos MYERS, OF vi
sego, N. Y, seven or, eight years age
and they have travelled together with a
the shows since at different times. Ii
seems as careful and proud of her as
babe.
stFour years ago l brought eleven Ms
: tiyes of Zululand over for my show. On
of them, Zulu Charley, black as the &C
of spades, but of rather fine appearance
, married a handsome and accomplish
: Young lady of Brooklyn, but she 500
~ deserted him.
ssGranville, the skeleton man, marie
the iron-jawed woman twelve or fourtee
II wears ago, and travelled with her all roun
= the country, but she finally left hin
=, Dora. the well-known tattooed woman
- was married to Jim Irwin, the gymnas
: in California last summer The AlblI
girl, Bennington, white of hair and pin
of eyes, was welded to q man name
Rose, a boss canvasman for HaEt
ne Chambers. The affair occurred In Tex
q in 1868. Another tattooed woman, lrel
A Woodward, now on exhibition in MI
u waukee, also has a husband.
tsThe women seem more willing
marry monstrasities than the men do, al
nearly all these unions arise from merce
ary motives. Chang, the Chinese glau
eight feet high, was welded to q We
dfminutiyc woman of his own countr
She accompanied him on his exhibitit
ct tours. and at length died in Euror
Then Chang, when the season of gr'
had passed, sought and won the hand
a n English woman, off40 pounds weig
at Manchester. She still resides the
2" and has three children. When the faith
goes home and reaches out his hand
greeting, they always think he has broug
home a smoked ham.
Coleman, the Chinese dwarf, becal
the legally welded husband OF a you
girl named Blackmore, who followed h
ler from BROOKLYN to this city about a "
ago. She weighs $50 pounds and
commands a salary of $t25 a week. J
Bowen. the man who has feet growi
lng out of his body and no legs, has be
en- married twelve years and has q wife a
three children living at Reading, Nil
.lG stAnna Jones, the celebrated sEs
child with Barnum several years az
united her destiny with that OF ID
Elliott. a side show talker, and she
.on since grown an elegant crop of bea
n They have made much money. Colo
Goshen, the w~ell-knoWn giant, now
oer ployed commercially in this city, ha'
wife who deserted him and carried aN
her part of his fortune.
ssBut the strangest infatuation I KIN
of is that of Mile Christine, the douh
headed Girl of North Carolina. She &C
mands a salary of 5000 a week. WI
travelling with the Doris circus she fell
!, love with the boss hostler and began
diting him letters filed with the Q
mourning Of herheart. Both heads seen
unanimous in the affair. She said If
non would marry her. he need ne