Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-10-21
THE rWO-HEADED GIRL.
A Queer Caso Which Onco Camo Before
 8 New York Lawyer.

Queer Caso Which Onco Camo Before
 Now York Lawyer.
 In the way of twins, says a New York letter to the Buffalo Express, you have probably seen the so-called two-headed girl, Millie- Christine, consisting of two negresses joined together by nature much moro com pactly than were the famous Siamese twins. Millie and Christine have been shown by Barnum and other exhibitors for many years, and are now aged about forty. Tho Slamese brothers married two wives, as you will remember, and lived in South Carolina after retiring from the museums until the death of one from disease was im- mediately followed by that of the other from fright. A post mortem examination proved that physicians had been right in saying that surgical separation would have been fatal. In the case of Millie and Christine even the suggestion of parting them can not be considered, because they are jolned from their hips nearly up to their shoulders. But it was nota question of freak ish anatomy which led me to write of these women. Ex-Judge Dittenhoefer is a New York lawyer to whom show people go with many of their knotty legal questions.
 'But no case was ever presented to mo that was easier to decide, and yet moro curiousy novel," the lawyer recently said to me, ethan that of Millie- Christine. The death of Dick Fitzgerald, through whose show agency much of the business of tho museums was done, recalls this matter, which came to me about year ago, but has never been published. Fitzgerald called at my office with letter from Millie- Christine requesting me tS find out whether, if they were to marry one and the same man, it would constitute bigamy in the eyo of the law. It was evident enough, al- though they did not say so explicitly, that an offer of joint marriage had been made to %1o,,, <I1& ceptance in case the tripartite union would be lawful. They urged that they had al- ways been advertised as a two-headed girl,' the claim being made on their behalf that they were one individual with two heads, four arms a9d four legs. If that view of them could be accepted in law then single husband would be quite proper. But they were pious Mcthodists and had no notion of doing any thing wrong, legally or religiously. Fitzgerald wished my profes- sional opinion for the guidance of the twins. Of course, tho theory that they were one person was entirely untenable, | and I had no difficulty in forming | opinion that their joint marriage to one man would be bigamy for him. It would 1 entail no criminal punishment on the wives, nor was it likely that proceedings would | ever be had against him under the peculiar 1 circumstances. But had to tell them that i if the question ever came before a court, they would surely be decided twins, and | only the one marriage ceremony which pre-
 ceded the other would be valid, while the i second one, although It might have occurred
 a minute later, would be invalid, and would 1 possibly subject the husband to prosecu-
 tion. At the same time 1 reminded Fitz
 gerald of the late Charles O'Connor's re-
 mark when he was asked whether it was
 legal to shoot a burglar to death on sight.
 ''The law would say hang you for it,'' he
 exclaimed, 'but no public prosecutor or
 judge or jury would punish you for it; so
 shoot the burglar.'' After the same fash ion I advised Fitzgerald that Millie- Chris
 tines prospective husband might be sent to
 States prison for bigamy, but that nobody
 would ever undertake to do it. However,
 the two-headed girl concluded to live un- l married" :"