The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-23
NEGRO WHO IS TURNING WHITE.
Fermentation Producing Curious
Change in n Dark New Yorker.

fermentation Producing curious
Change in n Dark New Yorker.
From the New York Post.
A remarkable case of a eolored man
turning white is that Of Rufus Hur-
burt. a retail tobacconist of No. 165
West Twenty-third street. The trans
formation began more than two years
ago, and has been progressive, with
the singular phase that it is more
rapid during the summer than in WIN
ter. The new color is very much like
that of normal white person. 1t is
not precisely a pallid white, such as
comes from sickness or a haggard con-
dition. 1t more nearly resembles the
pale color of one who has been
stranger to sunlight for a long time.
Hurburt's natural hue of skin is not
black but brown. He was born in
Saco, Me-, in 1881, and his family his
tory seems 20 give no ground for con-
occurring that reversion is operating
in his case. HIS father came from
Trinidad, West Indies, and lived to
the age of 108 years. His mother,
who was his fathers second wife, mar
ried when she was twelve years old.
She is now seventy-four years old
Hurburt knows of no white ancestry
in his family, near or remote. He is
well-read, self-educated man, and
started in business in this city thirty
years ago on a capital of so cents.
A little more than two years ago
he noticed white spots appearing on
his bands. There was no chipping of
the skin or signs of irritation. Neither
were there any symptoms of sickness
or other disorder. The skin seemed to
change insensibly from brown to a
clear white. The white spots grew
larger and larger, and Hurburt, though
feeling perfectly WELL thought it wise
to get medical advice. He called in
his family physician, DR.. Richard Con-
we'll, of No So West One Hundred
and Thirty-fourth street DIR. Conwell
Immediately detected the cause, and
explained to his patients astonish-
ment, that a process was beginning
by which the color of the skin was
changing from brown to white. From
that time DIR. Conwell has been es-
pecially interested in observing the
gradual extension of the change.
Long before the hands We're even
nearly covered by white skim the
scalp began to turn white. then the
whole body, and finally the nose Hur-
burt's hands are now almost wholly
white. Isolated specks and small
streaks of brown show here and there.
particularly between the knuckles,
but they are the last Vestiges of brown
skin on the hands, and will probably
disappear by the end of the summer.
The body is now partly white. every
month showing a steady progression in
the change. The scalp is more than
half-white. The nose is partly white,
and will perhaps be wholly white by
September, according to the present
rate of progress. The rest of the face
is giving perceptible evidence of
change.
''Mr. Hurburts case,' said DR.. Con-
well to-day. can best be described,
perhaps, as a freak of nature in that
individual. The cause of the change
is Denomination lack of nutrition to
the cutica so as to produce this remark
able change. is rather obscure and at
best intricate. Though the cutica is
subject to ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by the
blood. Hurburt is not anaemic On
the contrary, he is in perfectly
condition. He has never been seriously
i'll, and he takes good care of himself
He is man of regular habits and tenn
perate life. Now, why the body as