Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-05-09
QUEEN OF CORPULENCY
CAREER OF THE FATTEsT Wo-
MAN IN THE COUNTRY.
The Late Hannah Battersby, Wife
of the Prize Skeleton, and Her
Experiences in the Dime Museums.

Inc Quaker Clty mas Just placed III
the tomb the body of another Of its eel
ebrities, Mrs. Hannah Battersby, the
biggest woman in America. She was
laid away in handsome walnut coffin
7 feet long, feet wide, and feet deep.
No ordinary hearse was big enough to
bear her and one of extra proportions
had to be rugged in.
In life Mrs. Battersby was for years
the cynosure of millions of eyes IN cir
cuses, side-shows, and museums. Her
funeral was the first occasion on which
she failed TO have crowded house.
I Even as it was she had not lost her
drawing powers only her husband,
John Battersby would not permit the
thrOngs Of curiosity to intrude
upon the privacy of their pretty home
in the rural district of Frankford.
They were devoted couple, John and
she, and carried their love story beauti-
fully to the end. John was living
skeleton travelling with a show when he
won her love. He was twenty-three
/ years old and weighed forty five pounds
I She was Hannah Perkins, a maiden
\ from Vermont. She was only twenty,
but brought down the scales at the five
hundrcd-pound mark She was already
a star.
The bond of affection which sprang
up between the hearts hidden in these
/ strangely contrasted bodies was soon
sealed in holy matrimony. Nothing
/ ever after disturbed the serenity of their
affection. She was rs devoted to him as
I he to her. She had amazing strength
I in her big arms, and could with one
hand wrestle n trunk that big men could
scarcely move with two. When he fell
I i'll, as sometimes happened, she would
lift him up bodily and nurse him as if
he were an infant As time went on
the skeleton, much TO his own amaze
ment, grew fleshy, and so destroyed his
circus usefulness. He retired from the
world of freaks and set up blacksmith's
shop. But Hannah remained a star.
She would not exhibit herself, however,
now more than six months in the year.
She could not bear to be away from home
and husband any longer.
A daughter was born of this strange
marriage She is remarkably hand
some, too. The girl is a blonde, with
Grecian features and a fine figure,
neither fat nor thin. but holds to the
beautiful middle degree. She is mar
Tied and her husband is police officer.
Her mother was proud of her, and she
is now her fathers consolation.
Hannah seemed to gain weight right
along, and the flesh growing up about
her eyes almost prevented her from see
ing To this fact, indeed, was due her
death. She was showing in Fall River
five or six weeks ago. Coming down
from the platform after an exhibition,
she could not make her way clearly
and fell, injuring her leg severely. She
never recovered from the shock, and
the injury growing worse affected her
whole system. A fatal result was feared,
and it was resolved to bring her home.
Hannah came back in a baggage ear.
Nine mep,eaIgied. hssjat4s lsauon1s me en-
oOlforcement of prohibition. There seen
do be numerous violations Of the law il
ftqhe larger towns, and some iumr, o. fhi
the DelIer, out a lapse SET IN ana sle
sank rapidly until she died. Toprevent
any possible desecration, guards have
been placed over her grave and will be
kept there for an indefinite time.
Hannah's death has recalled many
characteristic stories among the colony
of circus people here of her life and
career. Her parents were people of
ordinary size, and until she was twelve
she manifested no sign of extraordinary
development After that, however,
she grew stout with amazing rapidity (
until she became the biggest woman in !
the country. Connoisseurs in freaks /
admitted her pre-eminence and paid I
her more money than any others In the /
business. She was over six feet tall, I
nearly three feet broad across the Shout (
ders, and one foot eight inches thick 4
through the body. The drawbacks and /
sufierings incidental to her condition 1
were clear enough to her mind, and /
now and then, when in a depressed /
mood, she would gaze from her seat on !
the show-tent platform upon some I
sprightly country lass and murmur: 81
wish were like that one. How should
like to be able to go about so easily !"
But from an artistic" point of view not
freak in the world was prouder Of her
gifts. She looked on other fat posers
with lofty contempt, and she was never
having been engaged simply as ''fat
WOlnan LOT iluSeull, SIG ulSCONSItu
on her arrival that she was to be part of
"fat women's convention" 1t was as
much as the management could do to
appease her indignation and prevail ON
her to stay. She remained, but she
poured forth the Walls of her scorn upon
her rivals during all her solouIn. Not
a friend in the profession" stopped to
say good morning but that, pressing
back the flesh around her eyes SO rs to
give the sparkle in the twinkling orbs
chance, she would give rein to her con
tempt for ''these shrimps, her sisters.
Her sisters" remained in silent awe Of
her to the end. She was so sure of her
queenship in the realm of corpulency
that it was her delight to be weighed,
while the average fat freak avoids
pair of scales as she miglta yellow fever
district.
hannah used to tell with irrepressible
delight of the fact that she was the first
woman in America to be taken into and