The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-31
HEIS COLLECTOR OF FREAKS
PHILADELPHIA WITH A MANIA
FOR DEFoRNAED ANIMALS.
His Home Is Full of stuffed. Preserv-
ed aud Live Oddities.
From The Phnadelphia Record.

lmals. and to present a pig or a calf with
an extra leg or SO. but to find twenty such
deformed creatures grouped together in
one place by a connoiseur in freaks Is
indeed a rarity. Such a collection exists
in this city It is the property of
Fred A. Robinson of 23l6 South Tenth
street. who has made a fad Of the colec-
ton of curios of all kinds. Some of them
died Immediately after birth and are pre-
served in alcohol; others lived for a long
er period and were stuffed and mounted
after death; the remainder, half a dozen
in number are still alive and kicking, and
occupy comfortable quarters in the stable
in the rear of Mr. Robinson's house.
The man who gathered together this
unique collection Of freaks brought them
in from time to time during the past three
years Selling upon the opportunity to add
to their number whenever he heard Of the
existence of an animal in any way extra
ordinary. The pursuit Of the curious in
inanimate as well as animate form seems
TO have peculiar attraction for Mr., Rob
inson and his house. though like any 9TH
er dwelling in the block on the optside, Is
a veritable museum within.
The freaks that have been alcohohcly
preserved are kept in glass jars of various
sizes. in the back paror of the dwelling.
In one Of Che largest of these vessels IS
calf with face with features so distinc-
lively human as 60 almost suggest tnat
it is a human head upon q calt's body.
1t is an ugly face and at the same time
a startling one The neck, exceedingly
narrow, is set upon the body of an ordi-
nary newborn calf. somewhat bloated
by nineteen years soaking in aicohol. sew
enteen or eighteen years ago, Wheh bhi
Long was the proprietor OF a museums az
Fourth and German streets, this was one
of his chief attractions, and 1t Is said that
when it came into his possession he PAID
500 for it,
Another jar contains two-headed duck
ana dou5le-headed pig together; then
there is a chicken with four legs ana
four wings; a mummbied four-legsed
chicken, which had been preserved IN
alcohol until the spirit evaporated; a duck
with a double head, four legs, three eyes
and two sets of bills; a double-headed
chickens; a Delaware pig, fifteen inches
long, with eight legs, single hcad, orha-
mented by four ears, and two talls; an
eight-ieggedS three-eyed pig with two
mouths and two tongues; and a puppy
from Norfolk, Va. equipped by b1dulgent
nature with two legs and TWO tails,
though it has but one head.
The stuffed animals are only three in
number but they are o great deal more
Interesting than those in the glass jars,
because their peculiar formation can be
seen to much better advantage, The larg-
est and undoubtedly the most curious is
doubie-ended calf which used to form
part of the exhibit of an old Wilmington
a oil anf MF Robin
sons hands. 1t stands twenty-five inches
high and is in reality two calves Joined
together by nature a the hind quarters,
end to end. The heads ana bodies, except
at the point of jointure, ore perfectly
formed but the hind legs OF one part Of
the animal cross and interfere with those
of the other. Considered as d single calf.
it has one tail, eight legs and two heads.
Another unique feature of the collection
is a ouble-headed, four-eyed calf, with
two mouths. The double head gives the
animal a slight resemblance o q dog, espe-
cially as two of he eyes ace 50 far around
on the sides that they cannot at first
glance be seen, and the other two are
quite near together in the middle of the
head. The third stuffed specimen is a lit
tie pig with eight legs six of which are
underneath the body, while two grow out
of the middle of the back.
The live freaks naturally attract more
attention from visitors than any of the
others, for they have attained fuller de-
velopment and all are at present in excel
lent condition as 10 health. They are kept
on the second floor of the Robinson sta
bic, just in the rear Of the house along
with two remarkably big horses which
their owner has secured.
In the first stall, to which Mr.. Robinson
conducted Il reporter, was a 17-months-old
heifer. "Tootsie," who has one and half
legs in excess of TIE number usually al
lotted to her kind. "Tootsie" came from a
place halfway between Media and Ches-
ter known as Banks Hill. Her extra leg
and-a-half grow from her right fore quar-
ter, near point where her backbone seems
to divide and branch out. The branch ter
inmates in the extra leg, and al the knee
joint, an extra half-lcg makes its appear
ance. OF course, these extra limbs are use
less and hang down by the heifers flank.
She is red in color with white spots. Her
horns are four inches long and she is IN a
very healthy condition.
Jessie, a two-and-a-half-year old white
sheep. who has not had a hair cut for
eighteen months, and therefore looks a
great deal bigger than she really Is. reveIs
in the possession of five legs. The extra limb
hangs down on the left side, and the hoof
though disuse, has grown to a length Of
five inches. The fifth leg Is concealed in the
itaFy EiON III VI WDOis jessie > mate,
who died in March last, had four horns.
The brother to '~Tootsie,' the five and one
half legged calf. had but three legs and
was sent by his owner to the University OF
Pennsylvania, where he died.
The third living curiosity is Bessie. -
a 7-year-old COW from Minneapolis. She
has two more legs than she needs, grow
Ing from an extension Of the backbone
on the left side, near the shoulder The
formation looks and feels like an imper-
fectly formed extra head between the fifth
and sixth legs. The hoofs of these legs
have grown into long horns, as in the in
stance of the heifer. from disuse
In an adjoining stail is five-footed Del
aware pig whose left front leg IS divjd-
ed at the ankle, forming two feet where
there should be but one. Out on the roof of
a one-story shed, where Mr.. Robinson
keeps his poeltry, is a duck with one web
foot and one chicken foot, that Is report
cd. when in it's native haunts, to swim
on the surface of a pond with one foot
and to scratch bottom with the other. The
list Of freaks is completed by a rooster
with thirteen points to his comb, the or
binary number being but nine.
The owner Of this oddly assorted group
OF animals has had other freaks in the
past few years, but has lost some Of them
by death Among them was a chicken
with but one gill and with two red horns
"a hottf one inch long clicking ouf of tfs