The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-19
CAPE GODS ALBINo COLONY.
IL is About 100 Years Old and mt One
Time II Numbered About Fifty Per-
Broom the PhIladeInhIa Tlmes.

sons.
From the Philadelphia Times.
Since the appearance of aIbino girls in
side shows and dime museums the gem
eral public has INDUCED i'm considerable
speculation as to where the managers OF
these freak aggregations procure their
frizzy-haired specimens. Although sell
dom met with at other places, there is
at Cape Cod settlement of these pink
eyed and white-haired people For genera
tions the Pittsley family. known in the
section as the "whlte-haired Pittsleyss
have been albino. They have intermar-
ried and. although clannlsh in the ex-
IRENE, years ago took into the family
fold man named Reynolds. in whose
children the popularity cropped out, and
added the "white-haired Reynolds to the
little army of Cape Gods human curiosi-
ties. Until quite recently dozen or ff-
teen Pittsley albinos might have been
found within half as many miles OF each
other and sometimes under the same roof
But the families in which there are abb
nos have scattered lately and spread over
the most lonely parts OF the country from
Freetown to Wareham, at the entrance to
Cape Cod.
Tho museum albino and the. aIbino In
real life have little In common The albino
at home is Disappointing His or her hair
isn't crimped to the museum limit Il
doesn't stand out a la Circassian. In the
natural Pittsley state the albino hair Is
dingy because they don't know any better
and II they did they probably wouldn't
adopt the modern methods OF washing
hair.
90
prove their albinism beyond question
They are usually described as pink, like
rabbits eyes. They are extremely weak
and almost closed, so that Il is difficult to
get a square look into the eye itself When
the eye Is opened the lid Is lifted only for
second, and It takes quick look to dis
cover that the pupil is dark red and sur
rounded with a lighter red ring, while
the ball of the eye is pale pink and sur
rounded with the pinkish rim of the eye
lid. The effect would be thoroughly pink
II the eye remained at rest. II Is almost
impossible TO obtain direct look into the
eye, because from the eye of the healthy
albino red lights seem to dart, while the
pupil quiyers and dilates and seems TO
move increasingly.
II Is over a century and half since the
appearance Of the first albino was record
ed in the Pittsley tribe. Since that time
probably more than 100 have been born
bearing this name or having mothers from
this family. At one time Il is estimated
that only few less than 50 albinos were
living within a radius of twenty-five miles.
congress II he had been able to engage
all of these people with the wonderful
wine-red pupils. It has always been
among the legends of the county that the
great Snowman did recruit his collection
from this locality, but to-day the proud
Pittsleys deny Indignantly that Barnum
ever had money enough to engage even
one of them to pose in public.
The origin Of the family Is connected
with one of the wickedest episodes of the
early history of the new world. There
is even a chance that perhaps some Pitts
ley was a relative or friend of the sweet
and pious Evangeline. When the English
deported from the wales of Acadia the fam
lies of French neutrals and scattered
them in almost every settlement from the
mouth of the Penobscot around to LOUIS
lana, Freetown, which was near the Colo
ny of Plymouth had not been able to send
it's full quota Of men to the army. So in
the distribution of the French from Aca-
dia fifteen men. with some women and
children, were left in Freetown. The bit
terest of all was the separation and split
ting up Of families. The people were filled
with detection, and the poorest of them
apparently built some rude lodge in the
forests and took no care how they lived.
None spoke their language. They were
strangers in habits and manners. Men
had been separated from wives and daugh-
tiers, and wives left without their hus-
Just what the name Of the French neu-
trail ancestor of the albino Pittsleys may
have been no research has ever revealed.
On the town records, until within nifty
years, the name has been Piggsley, In
many cases the name Piggsley has been
corrupted into "Hoggsley.
The first appearance Of pink eyes and
white hair was in a Robert Pittsley. some-
where in the first half Of the eighteenth
century. Some place it as early as 1871.
From that time down the albinO charac-
teristlcs have been continually reproduced.
il is believed that continual intermarriage
has been largely instrumental in handing
down the pink eyes and white hair. The
Pittsleys were clannish. They wouldn't
mingle with other families, much less
take wives from them. They dubbed by
themselves but oftener one family made
a home for itself in some deserted house
or jucket house in a lonely part Of the
woods or out-of-the-way end of the town
ship. They rarely came to town to live.
In their ways and their love of outdoor
life these people show many of the charac-
terlstics of the gypsy, and another point
which allies them to the wandering clans
Is their ability TO swap" horses, a hasi-
ness at which most all of the males are
experts. They are illiterate, and account
for their physical peculiarities by the the
DRY that one Of their ancestors had his
hair turn white after a fright and be-
queathed his curious hirsute possession to
his children.