The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1893-10-24

@NOS " AASdL W. NYS.l
MOUNT AIRY, N. O., Sept. 26.-This
is a post village of Surry county, this
State, and has cotton factories, flour
mills, shoe factories for man and beast,
tobacco ia ;tories for the same purpose,
wool carding machines, mineral
springs, newspapers, etc., but it's prin-
cipal hit was made at the home of the
Siamese twins.
Settling here before the late war,
these strange men, so different in char
acter, yet SO constantly thrown into
each others society by a circumstance
which they could not prevent, and
which was about y inches in length,
lived until the winter of 1855 under
the American name of Bunker. Here
they were married, here their children
were born, and here they died.
Recently l have had the pleasure of
reading an instructive article on these
gentlemen prepared by M. A. Dufour
for a French journal, and with the
items of interest offered me by the
old neighbors of Chang and Eng, be-
sides l venture to write a letter on
these much talked of people from Siam.
NJ. Dufour goes on to state that 'las
d'exhiber leur trait d'union' devant les
curieUx des deux mondes, lis avient
acquis une jolie ferme, a Mount Airy
dams lie comte de Surrey Caroline du
Nord) petit d'armees avant la guerre de
secession, ct passedaient ~quelvues
esclaves."
Caroline de Nord is good. I shall
have that put on my cards hereafter.
Translated, M. Dufour's happy express
sion implies that, tired of displaying
their natal hyphen to the gaping crowds
of both worlds, they had purchased a
pretty farm at Mount Airy, Surry
county, N. O., a few years before the
war of secession. They owned a few
slaves"
On this last question there is a differ
ence between authorities. NJ. Dufour,
who was thoroughly familiar with his
subject, states positively that they
were not antagonistic regarding the
great question Of the right to maintain
and extend slavery-in other words,
that the war did not separate Chang
and Eng.
Yet 1 was told by a man who claimed
to know them we'll that Chang owned
one slave, while Eng did not, and did
not favor the unholy traffic. Chang
believed that, slavery being a good
thing, one could not have too much of
it; also that States had the right to
regulate as they would the liquor
traffic, while Eng believed that it was
a national question, and finally refused
to help catch and return Chang's Mig
ger for him.
My informant said that this led to in
ternecine strife between the two, and
that when they were on they way
home from the lodge, Eng, not being a
member, had reluctantly gone to see
Chang take the thirty second degree,
they had an open rupture almost, after
which Chang enlisted in the Confeder-
ate army and Eng in the Northern
army. Later, however, both deserted,
noticing how awkward it would be in
case one should suddenly decide to die
for mother home and country, while
the other favored longevity.
This same man told me that when
Nancy Bunker was born her father in
sisted that her Uncle Chang should run
for the doctor.
Eng and Chang mean, in the Siamese
tongue, with which I am perfectly
familiar, fright" and left" They
were born at Bangesen, Siam, April IS,
1911, almost simultaneously.
They had a Chinese father, and their
mother was one half Chinese, the other
half being Siamese.
In putting on their dress suit they
left out the lower stud of the shirt in
order to give room for the strange
coffee-coupler which joined the two at
the base of the sternum.
The sternum is the breast bone.
These two twins were brought to the
United States at the age of Is and we're
on exhibition up to the time they set
tied down at Mount Airy.
Those who saw them say that Chang
and Eng did much by their public ap-
~pearances to elevate and refine those
who saw them.
Still Chang was Incorporate, accord
ing to DR.. jacob, and many a time
Eng, who was quiet and sober, had to