The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1896-03-26
A GEORGIA MAN WITH THE AL
PHABET STAMPED ON
IIiS EYES.
A WONDERFUL HUMAN PHENOMENON
A New Jim Jam Horror i'm Which the
Victims See Festive and Exceeding
ly Wicked and Various Microbes
and Such Things.

|
Every letter of the PC is distinctly
marked in his two great blue organs of
vision. They are as plain as print and
lie around the edge of the iris like the
| figures on the face Of watch being
slightly in relief and appearing as if
enameled on a blue background.
The man possessing this strange pc
culiarity was at the late exposition in
that city, but not on exhibition as a
freak" If he had been, he would have
attracted more attention than three
fourths Of the show. He was simply
Waterman at the main door of the
government building and made no eff
fort to secure the notice OF the vast
crowds that swept past him. Probably
less than score of the multitude of Wis
itors discovered those wonderfully
marked eyes, which could not, il is safe
to say, be duplicated in all the world
The name of this IMAM of letters" as
he might be called, is Alonzo Lee.
How account for his almost marvel
BUS popularity?
1t is Leyond question the result of the
well known law of birthmark But
connected with this extraordinary and
unprecedented case there is an absorb
ing tale of n mothers devotion to her
children, of her resolute determination
to instruct them properly and to learn
for herself the great truths of the Bible.
About 1855 there lived in a rural dis
trict of Northeastern Georgia a humble
father of very meager means. The
father, an illiterate man, titled the soil
for living. The mother, also illiterate,
attended to the household duties. In
spite, however, of her poverty and ig-
norance of the world, she was filled
with ambition and had an intense de-
sire for an education. She could not
alphabet from another, but she contn-
ued to cherish the idea of being able
to read and at last one day the first
step towards the realization of her life
idea was taken at a campmeeting that
she had attended. The eloquent words
of the preacher made her convert, and
she resolved to learn to read the Bible.
Securing little spelling book, she
solved, after the most intense applica-
ton. the mysteries of the alphabet.
AT this period she was in that delicate
condition foreshadowing maternity. A
few days after son had been born to
her the eyes of the infant began to at
tract attention, ana before many weeks
had passed the letters could be distinct
ly traced around the iris of each eye.
The intense mental strain OF the mother
who had looked at the book until the
letters made her eyes ache, had left its
impress on the eyes of the child.
In each eye the entire alphabet is
plainly marked in capital letters. but. not,
however, in regular order. lie ''W"
Is at the lower part of the iris and the
"N" at the top. They appear. to be
made of white fibre or nerve cord. being
connected Mt the top by white cord
ity of each letter. The eye itself is very
blue, with white lines radiating from
the center almost to the letters them
selves, but these letters do not slope eX-
actly in the same direction that the
radials extend from the pupil; Begin
ming at the bottom with "W" and fol-
lowing the letters like the hands of Il
clock, they can be more readily distin-
guished. Then, too, the irregularity is
a striking feature, showing how the
mother learned her letter in broken
patches, as n child learns when begin
ming to read.
"a" and ''B" are in a group together,
they being the easiest letters on account
of ease of pronunciation. The letters
were photographed in the eye of the child
in the order in which they had been
learned by the mother,
After leaving A and \ she seems to
have skipped to X, theh back to j, over
again to = and baek to M. She probably
on another occasion began at w, then
went back to the more simple letters, such
as n, o and L, thence skipping over to
II, receding to l., then l, and finally ID,
thereby mastering all but the difficult let
tiers and impressing them on her mind
1t is strikingly noticeable that the diff
cult letters follow in a group-Q, Il. G. ii,
G, Y, y, ". U, e, (which completes the
series.
Lees early life was spent in the neigh
borhood of his birth. In some way he had
heard of the "big men, who spouted forth
eloquence like babblng waters from the
hillside and he was impelled to do likewise.
He soon became weary of his trade as
Il carpenter and entered the ministry,
where, in his own words. "he was pow
er unto the converted and Il thorn in the
flesh of the sinner"
He has been three times married and
three times divorced. Several children
have blessed his unions" one of whom
is now travelling in Texas. The alphabet
cal phenomenon in the sons eye is rs
marked as in those of the father. He
turns it into cold cash by displaying him
self in public.