Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-03-28
Dol BILE HEADED.

lie L u0n see as any one HAS any call
TO complain. Suppose l do exhibit a
freak that isn't quite genuine. If it
draws. it Is because the public likes it,
in which case the public ought to be
satisfied If it doesn't dlaw. the public
| doesn't pay out any money to see it and
/ naturally doesn't feel that it is swim
died. Now. was swindled once, and
pretty bad. too, by an artificial freak,
and it was l and not the public that
suffered. If you want to hear about it,
! Ill tell You the whole story, though l
shouldn't like it to be known in the
! profession, for it doesn't do any credit
to me as Il professional man.
Il WAS exhibiting in Boston a good
many years ago, and l am free to say
| that was losing money. Boston doesn't
seem to care for natural freaks. 1t goes
in for philosophical and philanthropic
| freaks.
| Il don t like to lose money any more
than You do, and things We're looking
! pretty blue for me when one day car
riage drives up to my door and a chap
sends in word that he wanted to see me
on professional business. told my man
! to show him in. and when l saw him l
! put him down for Il rascal without wait
! ing t. hear him speak. He told me that
/ he had just arrived from Europe with
/ two headed girl, and that she was the
! biggest thing that any museum had ever
| offered To the public. He had her with
| him i'll the carriage, and l was the first
manager that he had called TO see since
he landed
Now, l knew we'll enough that a
two headed girl is about the sCarcest
thing that a museum can get hold of. /
never knew of hut one specimen of this
kind. and She was worth pretty near
her weight in gold.
= went ont to the carriage and had
Il look at the girl. There she sat, wrap
ped up in a big shawl. AS far as l could
see she WAS all right. Anyway there
were two heads above the edge of the
| shawl. and they Were as pretty heads as
| You could find in any English young la
| dies seminary. If the two headed girl
only correspondcd to the sample saw
in the carriage, she would be the big
gcst attraction that Boston or any
other city had ever seen.
We'll, l went back to my office, and
the fellow and talked the thing over.
He said the girl was Laplandcr and
Couldn speak word of any language
except Laplandish. She was 16 years
old and had never been out of her native
village until he had accidentally seen
her and hired her for five years tour
of the world. SO far he had not eXhib-
tied he1 anywhere. and he wanted her
to make her debut i'll my show So as to
h.,Y 70, Ctanlinfr in bn
profession from the start Her terms
were 500 week and a benefit every
six months, and he said that he should
ask any other manager $125.
Il told him to bring in his girl where
could have fair look at her, and then
it would be time enough to talk about
terms. He brought her in. and noticed
that she climbed down out of the car
riage with considerable difficulty. The
agent helped her into my office, where
She sat down ON the sofa and smiled at
me with both heads in way that would
have been dangerous if she had tried it
on some managers that l know.
" Thtrc she is said the agent. The
only genuine white two headed girl the
world has ever seen. Above the waist,
where she is Joined together. she is per
feet: i've distinct girls. and good look
ing ones tu,l, She's only got one pair of
legs. which prevents her from walking
easy. but she Is us strong and healthy
a. they make EN-, and there amt the
least danger that she'll die on your
hands.
" Then be spoke some gibberish, which
l supposed WAS Laplandisb, to the girl.
and she drew up the hem of her dress
50 as to show TWO nice little feet. and
no more. Those feet ought to have
awakened my suspicion. for they were
the regulation Boston size. But | was
:" anNIous To- find that she was genuine
that | didn notice that there was any
thing wrong about her feet
What do Won say said the agent.
Ism It she first class attractiun:'
She'll draw safe enough. said |,
provided she's genuine. Il don't mean
TO say she amt. but I've got to be sure
about it before we can do any business.
"'Oh. It's easy enough to prove that
she Is genuine, says the fellow. I've
got certificates from three of the leading
physicians in Lapland, besides the aft
davit of her father and mother and the
lttkl 1911 IN lt-l IL NlIt-N tlOll satisfy you,
nothing will, and | shall have to take
her To another manager
Show me the certificates!' said |.
Well. n produced them on the spot,
and they seemed all right. OF course l
cOuldn I read word of them, but they
had lot of scaling wax on them, which
is always convincing and had a genuine
official look. | wanted the girl so bad
that perhaps it led me to be little
careless for once in my life. So l said
to the agent that would give him $25
week and sign a contract with him for a
year. We argued the matter for about
an hour, and finally we came to an
agreement on the basis of $75 a week
and three benefits a year. 1t was the
steepest price l ever paid, but 1 was los
ing money at the rate of $50 Il week,
and l was ready to take almost any
chance of bringing up the business
again. Besides, l knew that if the two
headed girl didn't draw l should be
ruined anyhow, and it didn't matter
what / might agree to pay, as there
would be no money to pay it with,
whereas. if she did draw, as / expected
she would, 1 could easily afford to pay
$75 week for her. / always did go on
the principle of dealing literally with
people, especially when it is clear that
there is nothing to be lost by it.
while the agent and were trying
to get the best of one another the two
headed girl sat with some of her arms
around both her necks and was that pa
tient and sweet tempered in appearance
that began to hope that for once had
found freak that wouldn't be perpetu-
ally quarreling. l have told You, l pre-
sumo, freaks do nothing but quarrel
and fall in love. don't wonder at their
"usrreling, seeing that they are shut