The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-05-13
ONCE FAMOUS FREAKS.
Two-Headed Woman and Camel Girl
 Were Rare Attractlons.


 From the Cleveland Plain Dealer
 One of the funniest freaks I ever ran across" said Frank M. Drew, an old timer in the dime museum business, was Milie Christine. the two-headed nightin- gale
 'Millie certainly could sing And she had two heads all right enough, which caused me several times two kinds of trouble.
 "She could give an entire programme by herself. First she would sing an alto solo, and then soprano solo. Occasionally she would sing a duet.
 "She had four arms and four legs. When it came time for the instrumental music she could play a simple thing with two hands. or she could play an intri- cate composition with four hands. Great girl, she was.
 "The most expensive exhibit l ever had was Lucy Zarote, the Mexican midget. She was really the smallest woman in the world. She was about 2 inches high and played like little child. She got s20 an hour for sitting on the stage.
 'T don't believe there ever was boy ! who hasn't heard of Barnums what is it? The bills called him Zip. He was a southern colored man with peculiar shaped head. I don't believe any one really figured out just what was the mat ter with him.
 
 women were plentiful as the air. The best skeleton we ever had was Isaac Sprague. Isaac used to walk around with a can of milk in hand to keep himself alive. He sure was a thin one. We had a fel- low. though, who was almost as thin as Isaac, who could eat anything and every thing. I never saw such an appetite. Still he couldn't get fat.
 During one particular week we had two fat women on exhibition. Big Laura Wolford was the star and Hattie Bowen was the other. Laura was colored, Hat tie white. Laura weighed almost thou sand pounds and Hattie weighed little less than S00 ast
 "A Circassian girl could be made in a few minutes. All that was needed was a 1uxuriant head of hair or a good white wig. Nothing else was needed except a little bleaching material for the long haired girl
 hair man and hair woman. Both were completely covered with hair-real hair, too. There was nothing fake about them. \ "The camel girl was a funny-looking object. Whenever she walked she walked away from herself. From the thighs down her legs were turned the wrong way If she stopped over her knees would stick out behind like a camels.
 "Ivanovitch, the Siberian exle.' was one of the most versatile exhibits He was a hideous little fellow, nearly cov- cred with hair l
 "One day he would be an exile. Next day he might go into cage and be a wild man. He got better salary for be- ing wild man. but it didn't make much difference to him which he was.
 If anything he would rather play the exile, because the wild man had to try to eat raw meat. Ivanovitch didn't like that very much.
 "Trip was the armless wonder. He used to travel with Barnum's. Trip was really good. He could write. sew, feed himself and do anything else merely by the use of his toes.
 We had a girl. too, who was born without; arms. She went Trip little fur ther and played the plano with her toes. That is no joke.
 Next to the Circassan girls snake charmers were easiest found. Anybody could go into cake with the snakes.
 "Blll Doris had the largest one that ever played Cleveland. One of them died at the museum. It swallowed big woolen blanket and choked to death
 Sad end for him. The blanket got caught in his teeth. You know their food is swallowed 1t has to remain in the stomach until it is digested. That is what queered this reptile.
 .erhe ossified man l found up in Can ada I brought him down here by pay ing the expenses of himself and his son and giving them a little money They stirred up the most attention the museum ever had.
 Myrtle Corbn. one of our four-legged girls, was a good drawing card until she was married. In her travels she found a man from Kentucky and married him. Now she has three or four children. They live in the Kentucky mountain region, and so far as know are perfectly happy. "Annie Jones was the best bearded lady we ever had. She married a lecturer with a museum. It is peculiar thing about freaks that practically all of them are married. They marry each other.