Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-03-18
1HE rWo-HEApEp GIRL
queer Case Which Once Came Before
n New York Lawyer.

a Queer Case Which Once Came Before
a New York Lawyer.
In the way Of twins, says a New Yorh
letter to the Buffalo Express, you have
probably seen the so-called two-headed girl,
Mile Christine, consisting Of two negresses
joined together by nature much more COM
Pactly than were the famous Siamese twins.
Millle and Christine have been shown by
barnum and other exhibitors for many
years, and are now aged about forty. The
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 i'm
mediately followed by that of the other
from fright A post mortem examination
proved that physicians h d been right in
saying that surgical separation would
nave been fatal In the case of Millie and
Christine even the suggestion of parting
tnem can not be considered, because they
are joined from their hips nearly up to their
shoulders. BUTT was nota question of freak
lsh anatomy which led me TO write Of these
women Ex-Judge Ditteuhoefer is New
YORK lawyer to whom show people go with
many OF their knotty legal questions.
But no case was ever presented to me
that was easier to decide, and vet more
curiously novel," the lawyer recently said
to me, "than that Of Millie-C Christine. The
death o. Dick Fitzgerald, through whose
show agency much of the business of the
museums was done, recalls this matter,
Wnlch came to me about a year ago, but has
never been published. Fitzgerald called at
my otfice with letter from Millie- Christine
requesting me to find out whether, if they
were 10 marry one and the same man, it
would constitute bigamy in the eye
of the law. 1t was evident enough, al
though they did not say so explicitly, that
an offer of joint marriage had been made to
them and that they contemplated an ac-
ceptance in case the tripartite union would
be lawful. They urged that they had al
ways been advertised as "a two-headed
glrl,' the claim being made on their behalf
that they were one individual with two
heads, four arms and four legs. If that
view OF them could be accepted in law then
a single husband would be quite proper
But they were pious Methodists and had no
notion of doing any thing wrong, legally or
religiously, Fitzgerald wished my profess
sional opinion for the guidance of the
twins. OF course, the theory that they
were one person was entirely untenable,
and l had no difficulty in forming an
OPINION that their joint marriage to one
man would be bigamy for him. 1t would
entail no criminal punishment on the wiz es,
nor was it likely that proceedings would
ever be had against him under the peculiar
circumstances. But had to tell them that
If the question ever came before court,
they would surely be decided twins, and
only the one marriage ceremony which pre-
ceded the other would be valid, while the
second one, although 1t might have occurred
minute later, would be invalid, and would
possibly subject the husband to prosecu-
ton. At the same time l reminded Fitz-
gerald Of the late Charles O'Connor's re-
mark when he was asked whether it was
legal to shoot burglar to death on sight
"The law would say hang you for it," he
exc aimed, "but no public prosecutor or
Judge or jury would punish you for it; so
shoot the burglar" After the same fash
ion 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-