The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-09-24
NOTED DWARFS.
A MIDGET WHO KILLED Els
MAN IN A DUEL.
The Famous Dininutive Statesman
of South Africa-American Dwarfs
Some of the Smallest Babies Ever
Born.

Born.
Sir Geofrey Hudson is used for the
! genesis of this articlen not because he was
the smallest of the long list of midgets
who have appeared upon the stage Of
action during the past three hundred
years, but for the reason that he is
the earliest of which authentic record
has been preserved. He was born in the
year 1913, at Oakham, Rutlandshire,
England. He first attracted the atten-
ton of the Duke of Buckingham in 1928,
he being nine years old and but eight
cen inches high. =.
Little Goeffrey, or Jeffrey, as it is
sometimes written, remained in the ser,
vice of the Duke until the time Of the
tour of Charles I, King of England,
through the different shires, after his
marriage with Maria Henrietta
When the King and his new bride Wis
tied Buckingham, in order to serve thea
maiesties with unique surprise, Geof-
frey, the Dwarf, was incased in q large
pie and served at dinner, much to the
delight of the Royal visitors.
Her Majesty was so pleased with the
pranks of the little elf that she was al-
lowed to take him with her to London.
Soon after this event he began growing
rapidly, and soon shot up to three feet,
a calamity which he Enthusiastically
claimed was due to royal feeding. Still
he retained his position as court dwarf
under the suggestive name of Lord Min
linus; was present upon all state occa-
sions, and knew more, perhaps, of the
affairs of the Government than the
Kings Ministers themselves.
He was sent to France to bring an at
tendant for the Queen, she being q ma
tive of that country. While on this
errand, thinking himself dwarf of con-
siderable importance, he formed the
acquaintance of Mr.. Crofts, a young
man of high social standing and position
in France, who teased the poor little
dwarf beyond the bonds of reason.
Being O courtier when at home he
naturally resented the treatment of
young Crofts, which finally became I'M
bearable, resulting in a challenge from
the dwarf.
When Crofts and his friends appeared
at the scene of rendezvous Crofts was
armed with shotgun filled with muddy
water. This enraged the little English
man to the extent that a real duel fol-
lowed, the participants being mounted
on horseback, which put them more on
q level. Cro:ts fell dead at the first fire.
The remainder of the adventurous life
of Hudson reads like romance. He
was for some time q slave in Barbary ;
afterward, upon his return to England,
Captain in the Royal army. In 1864
he accompanied the Queen on o visit to
France, but after the bestowal of all
this Royal honor upon him he was sent
as prisoner to Gutehouse, Westminster,
having been suspected Of being privy to
the Popish plot. He died at the Gate
house prison in his sixty-third year.
COUNT JOSEPH BoRowLAsKI.
Count Joseph Borowlaski was Pole.
He was born in the year 1879; he came
of q family of six children, of which
every other one were dwarfs. The first
of the family was a son three feet four
inches high; then came another who
was six feet in his stockings after he had
attained man S estate; next came Joseph,
the object Of this sketch, who was but
twenty-seven inches high on his twenty
first birthday; of the three that followed
Joseph, the first and last were of ordinary
proportions the middle one being a
dwarfess, who died at the age of twenty
two, being then but twenty-three inches
tall. Joseph became celebrated for his
remarkable longevity as we'll as for the
brevity of his stature, he living to the
advanced age of ninety-eight. After O
tour through England, he visited his
native land, but returned two years later
to the British Isles, married a lady OF
ordinary size, raised a large family, and
died at Banks Cottage, near Durham,
in 1887.
ToSI THUMB.
About five years after the death Of
BorUwlaslzi, in 1912, Tom Thumb, the
most celebrated dwarf of modern times,
although not the smallest by any means,
began his triumphant march under the
auspices of his patron saint, P. T. Bar
mum. TOMS real name was Charles
Stratton. He was born in 1888, and
was, therefore, but four years of age
when put on exhibition at Barnum's
Museum, New York city. He weighed
twelve pounds when first exhibited;
soon became famous, and made his trip
to England in 1874, I believe, but it
may have been year OF two later. He
grew but very little until after the end
of his fifteenth year; then grew until
he was twenty-three. At the age Of
thirty he began to "fill out," and dur
ing his last trip West, in 1883, he stated
his weight to be seventy pounds! Not
much Of "midget," sure. He died at
his summer residence, near Middle
boro, Mass, July Is, 1883, aged forty
five.
TILE WARREN SISTERS.
Mrs. Tom Thumb, the wife of the
subject of the foregoing, was, before she
attracted the attention of her husbands
patron saint, little Betsy Bump. When
put on exhibition beside her future hus-
band, at the New York Museum, she
adopted Lavina Warren rs stage name.
She was married to the little General at
Grace Church, New York City, in 1868,