The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-11-14
A CLAW-FiNGsRED PEOPLE.
A Strange Deformity of Family In
Western New York.

~
Western New York.
The most picturesque stream in west.
ern New York is the Cattaraugus.
Through most of it's course it is the
boundary line between the counties of
Erie and Cattaraugus, and it is not
large stream, except when melting
SHOWS or autumn rains have swelled
it into a torrent. Rich farms. wooded
| slopes, deep gorges whose lofty walls
form the high banks, as the natives call
them, and tangled wilderness where
nature still runs riot, as she has from
the first; these mark the course of the
Cattaraugus. The Indian name is it.
self unsteady expressive, and recalls
the days when only red men occupied
its banks. There are still Indians
along it, and the reservation named for
it contains most of the few remaining
members of the Seneca tribe, once the
Possessor OF all the region from Lake
Erie to and beyond the Genesee.
The reservation begins near the vii
lage of Gowanda, and lust above there,
shut in by high hills, is the widest and
most inaccessible spot in the whole re-
gion, the valley of Zoar. How or from
whom the place received its Biblical
name, or what is the resemblance be-
tween this secluded spot and the city
which, in the Old Testament story, fig
ures along with Sodom and Gomorrah,
are matters which not even the oldest
inhabitant is able to explain. Here
among the hills, where strange faces
are rarely seen, is concealed a remarka-
bic example of natures occasional va
carries and the strange persistence of
abnormalities through heredity. Among
the few residents of Zoar there are sew
eral families of claw-fngered persons.
They are not wild or hair-cOvered, at
least not more so than most of the folk
among the Cattaraugus, but nearly all
of them have a curious deformity of
the fingers and toes which gives them
their name. They have lived here many
years, and, although their neighbors
are still inclined to look upon them
somewhat askance, they are no longer
regarded as especially wonderful, and
one might travel through the valley a
dozen times without once hearing a
word about its strange inhabitants.
In driving through the valley recent
ly the writer came across an old farmer
loading hemlock bark by the road
side, and inquired for the claw-fngered
residents.
THAT Robbins tribe? ?" was the reply.
"Yes, I've knowed some of 'em for nigh
on forty years, cause | was raised right
here. Yes, their hands is like claws.
Some of 'em. It's a mighty Gurus
thing, but faint nuthin' much to look
at. Why, folks come all the way from
Buffalo (between 30 and 40 miles)
to look at 'em, an you'd think by the
way they go on about it that they was
goin' to a circus"
The old man shook his head at the
unaccoutable curiosity of the Buffalo
visitors, and turned again to his work.
Although the residents of Zoar usual
ly refer to their strange neighbors as a
tribe, they use the word only as it is
frequently employed in rural districts
in speaking of any large family. They
are by no means looked upon as a sep
arate order of beings. Still there is
strong social prejudice against them.
Although this prejudice has not been
sufficient to prevent marriages with
other families in the neighborhood, it
has discouraged such marriages. The
consequence is that there has been
much intermarrying in the family, and
this may have something to do with the
perpetuation of their deformity.
As well as can be learned, the peculiar
digital formation of the claw-fngered
folks has existed in Zoar through four
generations. In the early part of the
century a man named Robbins settled
in Zoar. He was remarkable because
his fingers and toes were so bent that
they resembled claws somewhat more
than they did human digits. In other
respects there was nothing particularly
striking about his appearance. His
strange, claw-lile hands and toes be-
came objects of considerable curiosity,
but it does not appear that Robbins
ever explained the origin of his de-
formity. OF course after it reappeared
in his descendants it became the gen
eral opinion that Robbins himself in
herlted it. Others believe that he was
the founder of the claw-fngered family,
and that he settled in this remote spot
because of his disfgurement.-N. Y.
Sun.