The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-10-09
CAPE COD ALBINOS.
.AcoLCMY OF FINK EYED AND WHITE
HAIRED PEOPLE.

is Is About 100 Years Old and ut One
Time 1t Numbered About Fifty Persons.
The Story OF the Pittslcys and vicir
Physical Pccuiiarities
oiiico the appearance of albino girls
III Sido shows and dino museums the
general public las INDUCED i'll consid-
cradle speculation as to where tho man
ayers OF these freak aggregatiolns pro-
cure their friZzy haired specimens. AL
though seldom met with ut other places,
therc Is ut Cape Cod Il settlement of
these pink eyed and white haired peo-
PIE For generations the Pittslcy fam
lily, known i'll the section as the "white
haired Pittsleys," have been albino
Trey havo intermarried, and, although
clinnlsh Ill the extreme, years ago took
into the family fold Il man named Rev
nolds, i'll whose children the popularity
cropped out, and added the "whito
haired Reynolds to the little army of
Capo Gods human curiosities Until
quito recently II dozen or 10 Pittslev
aIblnos might have been found within
half as Inaiiy miles of each other and
sometimes under the same roof. But the
families i'll which there AFRO albinos have
scattered lately and. spread over the
most lonely parts Of the country from
Freotown to Wareham, ut the entrance
to Cape Cod.
The museum albino and the albino in
real life have little in common. Tho
albino at homo is disappointing. His
or her hair isn't crimpcd to the muse
um limit. 1t doesn't stand out Il In Cir
cassian. lii tho natural Pittslcy state
the albino hair is dingy, because they
don't know any better, and if they did
they probably wouldn't adopt tho mod
crn methods of washing hair.
Tho eyes of the albino i'll this region
prove their albinism beyond question
They arc usually described as pink, like
rabbits eyes. They are extremely weak
and almost closed, SO that it is difficult
to get square look into tho eye itself.
When the ego is opened, the lid is lifted
only for second, and it takes quick
look to discover that the pupil is dark
red and surrounded with lighter red
ring, while tho ball of the eye is pale
pink and surrounded with tho pinkish
rim of the cyclid. The effect would be
thoroughly pink if tho eye remained at
rest. 1t is almost impossible to obtain
direct look into the eye, because from
the eye of the healthy albino red lights
seem to dart, while tho pupil quivcrs
and dilatcs and seems to move unceas-
ingly.
1t is over Il century and half since
tho appearance Of tho first albino was
recorded in the Pittsloy tribe Since
that time probably more than 100 have
been born bearing this namc or having
mothers from this family. At ono time
1T is estimated that only Il few less than
90 albnos were living within radius
OF 20 miles. Barnum might hero have
held an albino congress if he had been
able to engage all Of these people with
tho wonderful wine red pupils 1t has
always been among the legends Of the
county that the great Snowman did re-
cruit his collection from this locality,
but today the proud Pittslcys deny in
dlSnantly that Barnum ever had money
enough to engage even ono of them to
pose III public.
Tho origin of tho family is connect
ed with one Of tho Wickedost episodes
of tho carly history OF tho new world.
There is even q chance that perhaps
some Pittslcy was Il relative or friend
OF tho sweet and piuus Evangelinc
When the English deported from the
wales of Acadia the families of French
ncutrals and scattered them III almost
every settlement from the mouth of tho
Pcnobscot around to Louisiana, Free
town, which was near the colony of
PIvrtnntD, hn1 al "a,
full quota of men to the army. So in
the distribution of the French from
Acadia ! s men, with some women and
children, were left i'll Frectown. The
bltterest OF all was the separation and
splitting up Of families. The people
were filled with detection, and tho poor
est of them apparently built some rude
lodges i'll the forests and took 10 caro-
how they lived. Mono spoke their Ian
guago. They were strangers in habits
and manners. Men had been separated
from wives and daughters, and wives
left without their husbands.
just what the namc of the French
neutral ancestor of tho albino Pittsleys
may have been no research has ever re-
vcaled. On the town records, until with
i'll 80 years, the name has been Piggsley
In many cases tho name Piggsley has
beer corrupted into "Hoggsley
The first appearance of pink eyes and
white hair was i'll II Robert Pittsley
somewhere i'll the first half OF the eight
conth century. Some place it as early
rs 1871. From that timo down the al
bino characteristics have been contin-
ually reproduced. 1t is believed that
continual intermarriago has been large
ly instrumental i'll handing down the