The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-26
FREAKS HOLD A COUNCIL.
THEY OBJECT TO BEING CALLED
WHAT THEY ARE.

hAeepIOhaily High types Ihey
Say.
From the London Telegraph.
Miss Annie Jones' the Bearded Lady
and her companions who constitute the
abnormal department of the Barnum
and Bailey show at Olympia, are in a
| highly indignant state of mind at the use
of the word freak" to describe their pc
| culiarities, and yesterday morning held a
meeting at which they vigorously dis
cussed methods of finding a Synonymous,
but more euphonious word than freak"
They are scarcely in open revolt; they
have not even threatened to strike; in
deed, they have the sympathy of the or
ganizers of the show at their back, but
there exists a powerful and unanimous
resentment among them against the word
freak" But the question at once sug-
gests itself How is this band of peculiar
ly formed people to be called? 1t is not
against the meaning of the word that the
objection arises, but against the word IT.
self. The term is characterized vigorous
ly as mean, impohte, contumelious slangy.
FREAK, freak. 1t certainly is some
what undignfied; it is thin; it trips off
the tongue too readily, with too much of
a click; and yet there is the good old
Anglo-Saxon word "freca," meaning bold,
strong, vigorous, hearty, which undoubt-
edly many of the Olympia 'abnormals'
are.
This unexpected action on the part of
the "freaks"--to call them so for the mo-
ment--is not, however, a sudden whim.
Some of them had brooded long over the
question, now and again one or another
member of the band had mooted the adj
visibility of a change, but the subject had
been allowed to flag, until it was suddenly
sprung as a mine yesterday morning and
in a very few minutes an indignation
meeting had been called. 1t was all very
formal and proper A chairman was
elected, and Mr.. Lew Graham, manager
of the department, acted in that capacity,
and with Miss Jones opened the case for
the plaintiffs; the witnesses and the 9TH
| err aggrieved ones acquiesced emphatical-
ly in the pleas entered on their behalf,
and resolutions were passed but neces-
sarily very hurriedly, as the doors were
opened, and many had to be on view.
1t was, however, suggested by Col Stone,
the lightning calculator that some other
name ought 10 be provided in place of the
condemned word freak" and that, as the
resolutions offered no suggest lion. the mat
ter ought to be discussed by the members
of the company who were purely human
curiosities, and that speciality performers,
like himself, ought not to take part. James
Morris the elasuc-skinned man, said that
all that should come in, as those who had
no physical peculiarities to entitle them TO
a voice were of peculiar mental constitu-
ton, and to revert, for the instant, TO the
tabooed word, there are freaks of intel
lect as well as freaks of person.
A series of resolutions were, however,
carried unanimously, signed by nearly all,
including Hassan Ali, the giant, who old
not understand much but nevertheless APP
pended his name in Arabic, and Old Zip
and the Wild Men from Borneo, who made
their mark:
Whereas, The Press and public of both
hemispheres, without just cause, have for
many years past gratuitously and volun-
tarily bestowed the name of Freak upon
all human beings differing in any way
from ordinary mortals; and
Whereas. The term freak is opprobious,
and without any specific meaning In an
anatomical sense; and
Whereas, We feel that the term so I'M
justly conferred upon us, without our con-
sent, is an indignity; and
Whereas, Because, unfortunately, or
otherwise, we are possessed of more or
less limbs, more or less hair more or less
bodies, more or less physical or mental at
tributes than other people, and which
might be taken as additional charms of
person or aids to movement, as the case
Whereas. Because we, differing so from
the ordinary or regulation human being,
in that we have certain marked and dis
tinctive characteristics of mind or body,
we hold that to be no reason whatever for
being called NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. be it
Resolved, That we, a majority of the
living curiosities in the Barnum & Bailey
show emphatically protest against the APP
nlication Of that word to us, and severely
mol nee fgyf1Ff ant 10
who. for their benefit or otherwise, were
created differently from the human family
as the latter exist to-day, and
Resolved That, in the opinion of many,
some of us are really the development of
a higher type, and are superior persons,
inasmuch as some Of US are gifted with
extraordinary attributes not apparent in
ordinary beings.
find fault with the unfortunate appella-
ton. they were not so quick to find
suitable substitute, as was evident from
a visit last evening II was no easy mat
ter To hold converse with them. They are
all perched on a platform some five feet
above the ground, and it is rather awk-
ward to talk to another head four or five
feet above your own. The crowd, too,
were somewhat difficult to circumvent.
However, first by getting ahead of the
"lpcturer,' II became possible 70 tdlk uH-
interruptedly with Miss Jones and Mr..
Charles b. Trip, the "Armess Wonder"
and then. by dropping behind it became
equally simple to learn the views of Mr..
Sol stone, the Lightning Calculator, and
others. Miss Annie Jones Is the ringleader
If the movement and her reasoning is
REGULARLY subtle and essentially feminine.
She was perfectly ready to talk.
Freak to my mind. means something
very like fright and though l possess
q heard l don't consider myself a fright
Pesides. If a beard makes a woman a
fright IL makes a fright, and no man who
has as fine a beard as / have would con-
slider himself a fright"
|'iss Jones also acknowledged that she
was not impervious 70 ridicule, She OBJ
,ects 10 the way some of the comic jour
mails treat the freak" She started the
movement because she is inclined to the
"new woman theory, and possesses
strong ideas on women's rights. One of
her companions, however, whispered that
what set Miss Jones "going" was am
,rnkind remark in the crowd a day or two
ago about a freak" She had been rest
less ever since. But" continued this