The record-union., 1898-02-23
MYSTERIOUS BOND.
THE RUSK BROTHERS AS LIKE
AS TWO PEAS.
Witnesses and Jurors Utterly
Failed to Distinguish One
From the Other.

| The strong sympathy of mind exist
ing between twins, practically amount
ing to teiepathy, has long been mat
ter of scientific record. Dumas has
| treated of it in his story of The Cor
sican Brothers, and now we have an
] interesting Illustration in the case of
| the Pratt twins Of Chicago. Frank
Fay Pratt and Fred Roe Pratt are as
like as the proverbial two peas in a
pod. And the strangest part of it is
that the resemblance is not merely a
physical one. Their minds are linked
by some mysterious bond, and although
the twins may be miles away from each
other each seems to know just what
the other is doing, and even what he is
thinking about.
Frank Fay Pratt is a lawyer, and is
an active factor in the famous Merry
murder trial, in which he is attorney
| for the defense. The two brothers
dress exactly alike, and are rarely seen
out of each others company. Since
they were boys they have dreamed the
same dreams and thought the same
thoughts. They experienced all the
ailments of childhood together, invari-
ably falling i'll on the same day, and
recovering at the same time.
Frank Pratt has made a study Of the
esoteric phenomena of mind. II know
from my own experience" he said the
other day, that there is such thing
as telepathy. 1 could give many in
stances, but the most remarkable is,
perhaps, what happened when l went
to England 1t was the first time I
/ noI
brother, and then l was absent about
eleven weeks.
When L returned my ship was to
come in upon a Friday, Saturday or
Sunday. AS a matter of fact, the ship
reached port Saturday morning. Satur-
day night, when / was sitting at din
ner at the Imperial Hotel, 1T occurred
to me that ought to cali up my BROTH
er by telephone about business mat
| ter / was to transact While | was in
New York. I went to the telephone,
and the girl said the line to Chicago
was busy. / waited a moment, and
the girl said there was a man at the
other end of the line in Chicago who
| wanted to get the Imperial Hotel and
| inquired for a man named Pratt.
1.-THE girl asked me if / was the man.
Sure enough, it was my brother. He
had called me up from Chicago at the
same moment l called him up from
New York. He wished to inquire
| about the same matter that I wanted
to speak to him about Not only did
he know 1 had landed, but he knew
was stopping at the Imperial.
Il think this is the most remarka BILE
/.
But that happens every day. My
brother will call me up by telephone
and begin talking to me about some
thing I was myself thinking about. Or
he will say: 7 called you up at so-and
so, and you had just left there"
There is, however, another curious
phase of this matter of sympathy be-
tween brothers which is perhaps, even
more remarkable than the fact that
they are able to converse by thought
transference. 1t is this: When Frank
Pratt was in London he was away for
the first time from his brother. When
he came back from abroad there was
quite marked difference in the ap
pearance Of the two. Frank Pratt it
seemed had gained during his absence.
Fred Pratt had lost flesh. The differ
ence in their weight amounted to four
teen pounds In two weeks, however,
they weighed precisely the same to
within an ounce. Frank Pratt believes
this was due to sympathy.
What is still more remarkable is that
the hands of these two brothers are
exactly alike. The lines of the palms
are identical, and the thumb marks ex-
plode the theory of Mark Twain, in
'Pudd nhead Wilson, that no two are
just alike. Frank Pratt is firm be-
lever in palmistry, having studied the
science with a distinguished East In
dian, now dead.
He consulted a Chicago palmst the
other day. Among other things the
palmist said: You have very dear
friend, very dear friend. on the male
side. He is a brother, a twin brother.
And as you We're born very near to-
gether, SO you will die very near to-
gether, within a few hours, or days at
most, of each other. 1t is your fate
to be linked together through life, ard
the one will not survive except for a
short time the death of the other
Frank Pratt is firmly convinced there
| is some mystic tie of prenatal SYM
pathy that links him to his brother.
They have lived together as perhaps
no two brothers ever lived before. I'm
til they We're twenty-five years of age
they We're never parted for a single
night. Frank Pratt believes that per-
haps if they had separated when they
We're children, grown up under differ
ent environments, they might have had
quite different personalities. He thinks
they might not only have had different
minds and morals, but that they wolld
probably have come to be dissimilar n
physical appearance. The mere alb
sence of a few months seemed to make
quite difference In them. but the ball
ance was restored again as soon as
| they We're together.
Students of criminology in it's psy-
Geological phases may recall the case
of the Rusk borthers of Philadelphia.
They were the opposite of the Pratt
twins in every particular except that
Of mental unity.
A psychologist would have gone into
raptures in studying the lives of these
remarkable twins, and in tracing out
the influences which only served to link
their very souls together. Even their
mother, who clung to them with true
mothers love throughout their brief
career stood in superstitious awe OF the
strange beings whom she had brought
to life She said they were two bodies
with one soul.
When separated the one seemed to
know by an inexplicable instinct what
the other was doing. Their very
thoughts seemed to be one. On more
than one occasion when one would be
in trouble, the other, although far re-
moved from the scene. seemed to know