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Show I ABOUT THE fAMQUS SIAMESE TWINS I' -.Special to The Tribune. .. MARSHALL, Tex.. Jlnrol). 27. Dr. L, -11. Ilo'nley of Marshnll was Intimately . acquainted with the famous Slameso uvjns. llo 1ms a. fund of Interesting stories sto-ries ;iutl Incldonta relating to iholr re-i re-i iparkablo career which he Is fond of ro- i latlng. ' "I spent mv boyhood In tho -years 1S0 to JS75 at .Mount Airy. Surroy county, I North Carollnu, near tho homo of tho noted Siamese twins," ho ealtl. '"I became be-came acquainted with both tho twins. I but knew Enrr Bunker bettor than 1 did I his brother Chang.' I also knew their ; wives. Mrs. Sallie and Adelaide Bunker, and fully twenty of their many child ron. ".More than M others, perhaps, tho I biologist would bo Interested in the his tory of tho Siamese twins, their morrlago ' In southwestern Virginia to a couplo of American mountain girls also twins I their peculiar unions and tho peculiar outcome of the same, and how Uko falls : sometimes to produce like. ! "Those conjoined twins were horn In Slam, further India, about tho year 1S12. I Little of the particulars are known save tho fact that they were rather bright boys and by tho time they arrived at the age of IS they had, by raising ducks, I amassed a sufficient sum to bring them i to Amerlca- i "Their family name I sna.li not under- ' take to give, from the fact that It was so Oriental as to bo out of tho ordinary to the Occident. . "Eng and Chang arrived in New York about 1SS2 and were taken In charge for . :hib!tion by a Mr. Bunker, whose name became theirs by adoption. Bunker ex-,' ex-,' hiblted these Oriental conjoined boys for eight years, and the matter seems", to have been mutually beneficial to all parties par-ties concerned, as" well as Interesting to ' the American public, which had not then been brought face to face with so many monstrosities a3 in recent years. Married Sisters. "About the year 1S-10 the twins visited the mountain region of southwestern Virginia, Vir-ginia, and there met two country girls, also twins, and I2ng Bunker became Interested In-terested In Sallie. the largest. Eng was al&o sllghtlv taller and larger " than ?5ang. Saille was light nnd her sister Adelaide was dark complected tho latter rather 'a small lady. "When It became evident that Eng and Sallie would marry, influences were brought to bear that Induced Chang and Adelaide to marry also. "Enc and Sallie seemed to truly lovo each other and to live happily In this love, while the same cannot be said of ' Chang and Adelaide. "The bonds of affection seemed strong between Eng and Sallie throughout life, nnd especially so through death, w.hlch occurred at the home of Eng. Bunker on tho early morning of February IV, 1S74. I The brothers, as thoy preferred to bo , called, seemed to be contented with their j condition during early life or, If not so, . no one seems to have found It out. "But when love came In. that point In life which really makes so many changes. there was a change in tho contentment of Eng and Chang Bunker. A peculiar ' jealousy a dligust. a dislike almost a , hatred 'for each other arose, which was I reflected into the lives of their wives, ) who did not appear In continuous har- ;! ' mony thereafter, but each raised large i families. Th&y lived four miles west of ' Mount Airy In the country, on a farm, and about one mile apart. Their time '. was equally divided between their homes, j day and day about. The Orlott river ran r ' between these farm houses, across which a high crossing was kept by tho Bunkers ., for. icgular crossing. "The Bunkers owned somo fine tobacco I farms and many slaves, and were very ji successful business men. This was es pecially true of Chang, who. though b -finally dissipated somewhat, died leaving & a large cstato. Eng might bo called blg- er-heartcd, for he seemed to enjoy his fj friends more, to be more generous and more communicative, ntui, though well to do. his estate was much less than that of Chang. "Early in their married life It appeared that thoy wero unhappy, and their personal per-sonal disagreements bi-camo frequent, which In som- Instances resulted in street l'lghlf and though Chang was slightly smallor, yet h, usually camo out first best In theso encounters and they would seek the advlco of tbolr physician. Dr. Robert S, Ilollngsworth of Mount I Ally, wishing to bo separated, stating that death would be preferred to their present condition. Dr. Holllngsworth hnd little trouble In proving to them that the separation sep-aration would mean death, for a bandtigo put around tho connecting point of their bodies, which was only the connection of their mnmnmry glands, would caueo each of them to faint in a short space of time. There was strong arterial connection between be-tween them, direct from tho artorlcs of each. Thoy could not live separated, although al-though this they ardently desired to do. Always Kept Their Word. In November. 1S73. these brothers came to Mount Airy In a common buggy. dra.wn by a gcnil trusted horre. It wao Chang's day, and Eng was not present to his friends that day savo to say "Howdy?" Chang was drinking. These Siamese maintained one sterling point in their characters always they kept their word to all men and to each other. Once, after a hard tight, they, through their friends, agreed to divide time and took oath to rospect the same, and thus save other such occurrences. They were to have day and day about, and the person not In rightful possession of the time was to yield to tho wishes of the other. The contrast, of course, alternately displayed dis-played tho personality of Eng and Chang, but they kept true to their oath. ""On tills November day Chang was driving to Chang's business. Eng would do no more than speak to acquaintances; but the next day was Enij's, and Chung then would bo out of business and communications com-munications to all men. "As evening camo tho twins went toward to-ward home and a cloud came up. Snow commenced to fall fast. About two miles west of town, whero tho road crossed a bridge, and beyond a slight ravlno that displaced from his went the weak-kneed Chang, who drovo tho gontlo horse, tho buggy stopped oaul there they romnincd until lato at night, when they were found by their families, almost covered with snow and almost frozen. This was the boglunltiL- of the decline In health, but Eng would not drive on Chnng's day, although al-though he. should dlo for his failure to do so. which both did tho following Fob-ruary. Fob-ruary. "Now tho Important point .Is Just this: Eng and Sallie lived congenially tog-ether; they had eleven children, boys and girls; tho children were models physically, but not models mentally or morally by any means, though born out of a harmonious harmon-ious union. Chans: and Adelaide had oven a larger family boys and girls but they lived unharmonlously. Their children were physically do'ective, several sev-eral mutes but they wero brilliant mentally men-tally and morally, go far as I know, they wero models of a most splendid type. "Chang died about daybreak and Eng followed about one hour later. They were taken to Jefferson Medical collogo. Philadelphia, by a committee for postmortem, post-mortem, and the bodies returned and burled in Surrey county, North Carolina, where thoy remain to this day, with nearly one acre of granite cemented over them to prevent Interference. Their bodies were never separated. "Their families In part live In that locality lo-cality yet. and show plainly tho Mongolian Mongo-lian type." |