Anonymous

“ Of all the curiosities ever unearthed by the immortal Barnum, none can compare in the most minute degree with Millie Christine, a daughter or daughters—whichever the fastidious please—of the State of North Carolina. They first saw the light nineteen years ago, and the mother is presumably the founder of that gigantic Woman’s Rights Association in America, which has lately made formidable inroads upon English society. Here we have a young lady with one body, but two distinct minds, borne by two separate heads. ”

“ McCoy’s family commenced then a course of care and attention to her health and welfare.
During the first eighteen months of her life nothing of importance occurred to Millie Christine worthy of note. She grew as other girls grow, learned to walk at twelve months old, was of a lively and agreeable disposition, and at fifteen months began to talk with both her mouths. She was cheerful and active as any girl of her age, with every appearance of robust health. ”

“ We can only say that an hour’s audience with her yesterday afternoon proved her to be a cultured, self-possessed and accomplished person, who had a most singular attribute of being able to hold two totally distinct conversations at the same time with different persons, or the same person, can sing a duet very tastefully and tunefully in two voices, soprano and contralto, and can dance a mazourka with singular grace and facility. ”

“ The two-headed girl must be extremely circumspect, not only in her walk, but in her conversation. As she can never have a secret, she can have no opportunity to go around telling it. Neither will any one ever tell a secret to one head for fear that the other would split upon it.
“The fact of having two tongues should not militate against her, as, if she had only one, she would probably keep it going all the time, while, if she uses two, the one deadens the sound of the other. ”

“ I have examined Millie Christine and consider her a more interesting anatomical curiosity than the Siamese Twins, on whose bodies I made (assisted by a colleague) a post-mortem examination. I consider the union of the Carolina Twin more curious even than the famous Hungarian Sisters, who were born October 26th, 1701. Millie Christine is joined by the sacrum and coccyx. The lower part of the spinal cords are united together. There are separate bladders, but one common vagina, one uterus to be recognized, and one perfect anus. ”

“ It will be necessary to append to this sketch a few of the medical and surgical reports on Millie Christine’s physical organization; but it may not be uninteresting to give a brief description of her as she strikes the mind and eye of a familiar friend. Millie Christine, physically, has but one existence; mentally, she has two, perfectly developed. From the middle of the single spine grow two perfectly developed busts, each of which has a pair of fine arms, and terminates in an interesting head. ”

“ Since the days when the Siamese twins arrived in this country and occasioned so much excitement in medical circles, no illustration of the freaks of nature has been found at all approaching in its remarkable character to that given in the person of Christine Millie, a native of North Carolina, who arrived at this port on Tuesday, per City of Brussels, from New York. The young person who is about to proceed to London for exhibition, is the child of parents formerly slaves in North Carolina, still living, and having several other children, and was herself born a slave. ”

“ Christine Millie is a phenomenon of the Siamese twin order, but far more wonderful, for instead of two bodies connected with a ligature, there is only one torso, the body separating a little above the waist. There are two distinct busts and pairs of shoulders, two heads, four arms, and four legs. Anatomical examination has proved that the young lady—she is nineteen years of age—has two sets of lungs, and two digestions. It is certain there are mentally two perfect individualities, for conversations may be carried on with each of the two persons so mysteriously blended in one ”

“ He learned from a man then keeping a drinking house that at one time, when engaged as a cabman in the city of New York, he had been hired to convey a girl answering her description to a sailing vessel, the name of which he did not remember, bound for and ready to sail for Liverpool; that he had seen the vessel depart, and knew the child was aboard of her when she sailed. Acting on this valuable information, Mr. Vestal immediately returned to North Carolina and urged on Mr. Smith the necessity of following her. Mr. Smith determined to make the attempt, and accordingly prepared for the journey. ”

“ The being is never at a loss for society or for company, for each has, attached to itself, another existence; and yet in no single instance has a particle of disagreement ever occurred to conflict with the happiness or comfort of either. ”

“ Whichever way we look at the two-headed girl we see her to advantage, though we don’t mean to say the least that should be understood to disparage a girl because she happens to be born with only one head.”
After an absence of eight years Christine Millie returned to her native land on October 1st, 1878. Her tour abroad was a continued ovation of success. She visited the principal cities and towns in England, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Austria, Holland and Russia. At every point the young lady was commanded to appear before the nobility and rulers of these great countries. ”

“ The eminent medical men of the United States testify that this remarkable freak of nature is united at the lateral posterior portion of the pelvis, while above that portion they are separated, have separate chests, two pair of fully developed [Pg 18] arms, but only one trunk. With the double head they possess separate intellectual faculties as entirely distinct as in the brain power of two different individuals, while their faces indicate to a remarkable degree intelligence of a high order and great amiability. ”

“ Christine has a soprano voice, Millie a contralto; and they sing duets together with exquisite taste and sweetness. Their natural taste for music has been conscientiously and carefully cultivated by their kind protectress, and the public will not be slow to discover that they have as much power to please and amuse as a very large number of artistes of established reputation. It should now be stated that Millie Christine has four legs, on which she walks with grace and ease ”

“ And all this, you remember [Pg 4] happened more than a century since, so that it takes Nature a hundred years at least to produce such a marvel again. Helen and Judith died at twenty-two years of age, while Millie Christine still lives, healthy and happy, at thirty-eight, and bids fair to attain a ripe old age as easily as less wonderful beings. ”

“ The single-headed ones are certainly the most numerous, but the double-headed ones appear to be the most attractive. This is evident from the fact, that while we can see a single-headed girl almost any time, we have to pay in order to be introduced to the maid with the duplex cranium. We say ‘maid’ because the last double-headed girl we saw was not married. There was one man who courted her successfully, as he thought, for a time, but before popping the question he kissed one face first, and could never get the consent of the other head. ”

“ This duplex girl, however, must be in every way a desirable match. Though the assurance given that she eats with both heads may tell against her with parsimonious wooers, yet the fact that she buys dresses for one only must be an immense advantage. ”

“ There are a lot of people here, or elsewhere, always ready to strain at the smallest gnat and swallow the biggest camel, who will doubtless put this young lady down as outside the pale of ordinary humanity. ”

“ Only one is on record, attested as a fact, and leaving out of the question fabulous monsters. The first year of the eighteenth century witnessed the birth of a similar phenomenon in Hungary, the sisters Helen and Judith, born in the year 1701. These girls were united at the lower part of the body only, and were perfectly distinct beings in every way. Helen was larger, stronger, and better-looking than Judith, besides being much more active and intelligent. These girls lived to their twenty-second year, when Judith fell sick and died, Helen following her within a few minutes of her demise. ”

“ As children they used to have little struggles and quarrels for supremacy, but, as they could not get away from each other, they early concluded that the best way to get along in their novel path through life was to yield to each other. ”

“ During the Professor’s lecture the Misses Christine Millie and Millie Christine appeared very much interested in the diagnosis of their singular condition, and evidenced their superior intelligence by their apt and ready answers.
While abroad Millie Christine made herself mistress of the French, German, Italian, and Spanish languages. Always industrious, she makes her entire wardrobe, even to her dresses, for exhibition purposes. ”

“ They can stand and walk on their outside legs, but they prefer to walk on all fours. Millie cannot lift up Christine’s legs, or Christine Millie’s legs. Since the Hungarian sisters, there has been no similar case reported reaching adult life for 170 years. The bond of union between these, which is just above the bones of the spine, is chiefly cartilaginous, but the spines are so closely approximated that there is an osseous union between them. ”

“ A life of contentment we live;
We sigh not for wealth, from its cares we are free,
For wealth cannot happiness give.
Chorus.—From our merry, &c. THE DEAR, DEAR FRIENDS AT HOME. Written and Composed by Professor W. Wilson, expressly for Miss Millie Christine.
What cheers us when we are far away
From home and all we love ”

“ A very careful anatomical examination, made by the professors at Jefferson Medical College, America, has led to the discovery that the lungs, heart, and functions of digestion are those of two persons, apparently perfect and healthy in each, but that the whole of the lower organization of the body is that of one female, with the exception of the four legs. ”

“ During the past few months Millie Christine has received an enormous number of visitors. Christine Millie’s receptions have always been attended by great numbers of people. In the city of Washington, during a fortnight’s stay, thirty thousand persons attended her [Pg 15] receptions; in Philadelphia, during eight weeks, a hundred and fifty thousand visited her; in Boston, seventy thousand in three weeks; and in New York, in a single day, ten thousand persons flocked to see her. Christine Millie has made an extensive tour of Europe, and remained there several years. ”

“ If it was not the child of the defendants, then mother never bore a child. Every lineament, every feature, every look betokened it; every spectator in his inmost heart felt, yes, knew it to be her child, almost as certainly as though they had seen it every hour since its birth.” A long and hearty shout of approbation at this decision ascended to the dome of the stately old building.
As soon as order was restored, the plaintiff determined to make one more effort ”

“ There is, at the juncture of the trunk, but one spinal column. The nervous system seems to be identical, but each possesses individual consciousness, and each head does its own thinking. On the other hand, the appetite is the same; when one is hungry the other is the same. The digestive organs are independent. ”

“ She is a very graceful dancer, and executes the schottische, polka or waltz with equal ease. Her manners in the presence of strangers are most engaging. She does not object to speak of herself or her own peculiarities, and her two minds are always as one on these points. ”

“ Under her care the girl was reared to regard with reverence and love the Supreme Father of all mankind, and speedily grew up into [Pg 11] an intelligent Christian child. She not only became proficient in elementary education, but, showing a high appreciation and taste for music, soon became an object of great interest to all visitors at Mr. Smith’s home by the rapid progress she made in that accomplishment.
The year 1860, the dreadful year which brought so much pain and suffering to the United States of America, brought its own individual sorrow to the home of Millie Christine. Mr. ”

“ At this time Mr. McCoy, being a man in very moderate circumstances, a plain farmer, thinking the girl would become a burden to him, and annoyed with the frequent visits of strangers to see her, determined to dispose of her. He was not long in finding for her a purchaser, a person of the name of Brower, who offered $10,000 for her, seeing the possibilities of the child in the way of an exhibition. But inasmuch as this Brower was not possessed of the requisite cash to back his faith, and only offered to give a note of hand for the purchase money, Mr. ”

“ Miss Millie Christine, or Christine Millie, was born of slave parents, on the plantation of Mr. Alexander McCoy, near the town of Whiteville, Columbus County, North Carolina, on July 11, 1851. At her birth her mother was in her thirty-second year. She was a handsome woman, finely formed and in excellent health. Millie Christine’s father, of Moorish descent, slender and sinewy, with the powerful activity characteristic of his race. ”

“ From habit their appetites call for food and drink at the same time. All the ills of flesh are not, however, necessarily theirs in common. One may have the toothache and the other be free from any ache. But in the examination conducted to-day the Professor discovered a remarkable development of sensibility since his previous examination eight years ago. ”

“ WM. H. PANCOAST, M.D., etc.
1,117 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pa., Jan. 20th, 1882.
I have had the opportunity (in conjunction with Professors Gross and Pancoast) of examining very carefully the celebrated Carolina Twin. She and they are simply wonderful in their anatomical construction—far more so than the Hungarian Sisters or the Siamese Twins. Intellectually they are separate and distinct, sexually but one. Rectum and vagina in common and possessing but one uterus.
T. H. ANDREWS, M.D.
New York City, August 5th, 1871. ”