The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1920-01-10
KINGS AND QUEENS
ONCE GREETED PAIR
OF MIDGETS OF u. s.
Kansas City starr


What world of childhood memo
ries that headline recently awakened
in those readers, who, while not ex-
actly old, have, to put it gently, pass
ed the forenoon of life.
To be sure many of those of us
whose showgoing days runback- only
a couple of decades have seen her.
for she dearly loved public life," as
she called it, and made occasional ex-
cursions into its realms even after she
was more than seventy years old. But
the ones to whom the mental picture
of the famous little LADY in minia-
ture," as she preferred to be called,
rather than dwarf or midget"
brings a real thrill are those whose
childhood was in the period between
1862 and 1885. Then it was that she
and her first husband, General Tom
Thumb, (Charles S. Strattan in pri-
vate life) were at the height Of pop
ularity under the guiding hand of that
master Snowman, the late p. T. Bar
mum.
Famous Around the World.
There have been dwarfs, probably,
ever since the human race began, and
many of them have exhibited them
selves to the curious for pay. Some
have achieved a certain fame, but
none before nor since has compared
with the record of Mr.. and Mrs. Tom
Thumb. Heraided in typical Bar
mum fashion, and most of the time
| under his personal escort, they toured
Europe, met virtually everybody from
royalty down, and went around the
world in a blaze of glory and de-
| lighted the children end entertained
| grownups in every corner of their
| native United States. Their name be-
came a household word, and their
photographs are to be found in half
the old time scrap books of the coun,
| try. On one tour alone, Mrs. Tom
Thumb and her husband and her sis
ter Minnie Warren and her husband
Commodore George Washington Nor
rison Mutt, travelled So, ,487 miles, and
gave 1.47l entertainments in 5S7 cities
and towns.
| Mrs. Tom Thumb was born Lavina
Mercy Bump, at Warrentown, Mass.
October 81, 1S41. Her mothers fam
lily for whom the town was named
was directly descended from Richard
Warren, who came over in the May
| flower. She was exceedingly proud
of the fact that she was a Colonial
Dame and a d. A. r. by inheritance
one might say. She was married tC
| Tom Thumb in 1868 and the two were
inseperable companions until his
death in 1888 Two years after heI
bereavement, she became the wife oi
Count Preino Magri, dwarf born
in Italy, but who afterward became
an American citizen soon after theIl
marriage. With him and his brother
she toured the country several times
with theatrical companies. their last
trip as show people being in 1872.
Brothers Were Large Men.
/ With the exception of herself ant
her sister, Minnie. Mrs. Tom Thumb
family were anything but dwarfS. TWO
of her brothers were more than 81,
feet tall and heavy in proportion. She
Twas less than three feet tall ant
never weighed more than sixty-five
pounds. But her mentality was equa
to that of other persons. regardless q
size. She took a keen interest in al
public questions, including suffrage
and was an interesting conversational
ist in four languages. AS an example
of the way she kept abreast Of the
times, she learned to ride a bicycle II
1895, when the wheeling craze was a
its height.
: Her chief delight, however in hel