A HUMAN MONSTROSITY.

Inangahua Times, Volume II, 14 May 1880, Page 2

A HUMAN MONSTROSITY.

A correspondent of the Chicago InterOcean writing^from _Bat|le, Cr^eJ^ tells a remarkable story of the ' discovery "of a monstrosity in the poor> house of that State, known as • the turtle man.' The correspondent says he visited the poorhouse to satisfy himself as to the truth of the numerous stories he had < heard regarding cithii ferJealureV HThe keeper of the institution introduced him to the monstrosity, calling the four%feet» high dwarf, who stood before him, by the name of Samuel Keene. , He says :— Keene, at the cdnfmtfnd of the keeper, managed, by a singular side movement of the body and pushing his slouch hat from his head by his queer shaped claws, to make a courtesy. , As be stood before us ; , b,areJie,adefl,-The, pfesejnted the post; : wpnd'erf6l*ipecjnoien ioj* mini amalgamated!, with the animal kingdom that can be imagined. On speaking with him he apparently understood every word, but lacked sufficient intelligence to fram« a .reasonable answer, j«jst -as r^d,unxb brute, can comprehend but e'annbrgive tfri intelligent reply. In stature this singular being is. short, thick set, and flat rather than round. His legs and arms are short, the hands turning outward, the sfime^ag ;a, turtle's, and instead of fingers the widened palm ends in webbed claws. The feet are fashioned in the same man* ncr, and when he walks it is with a side* long, ambling gait, moving the entire side of the body in a manner pejuliar.to a. tortoise. In his actions and talk he has a slow, measured jerking style. The inside of his dirty claw or fin, which he held out to shake hands with, was of a yellow colour, as were also his feet and stomach, the skin having the same ribbed appearance and colour as the under part of a turtle. It was reported that be had a shell upon his .back, but upon examination it was found to consist of tough layers of cuticle, which, however, are growing harder each year, and may soon become ossified. The peculiar color of difs ferent portions of his body, some being dark and others white, has led to the concluß:on that his flesh is multi-kind or of different construction in tissue. Although so small he is 33 years of age. The most singular and startling featureof fhe' monstrosity is the head, which seems to be but a continuation of the neck, with a flat face and hpad ooraing to a point on }he top, the same as that of a snake. He is almost constantly moving his head or his eyes from side to side. The back portion of his cranium is directly perpendicular to the neck, and covered with short, bristly, black hair, but no hair grows on any other portion of the body ; no whiskers or moustache, only a few bristles at each corner of bis mouth. The nose flat, like an Ethopian's. The! mouth extends from jowl to jowl, very wide and is furnished with-a full set of teeth. He constantly keeps his mouth open, with bis large tongue lolling out, and it is this more than anything else that causes his unintelligible jargon. But; the eyes are the thos't striking portio/n of hisr features. The whites are excessively large' iand rolling, the pupils small and black, look directly ahead, and possess a wild, staring, yet, fascinating glare. In temper lie is perfectly docile and harmless. In habits he is not very social, and scarcely e^ver says anvlliUjg unless spoken |o, His parents were very poor and bo^h died when ho W f >s very young. He has brothers and sisters well off and respee

able, but they refuse to support him, and he is a pauper upon the charity of the town. The cause of this terrible defor« mify is. said to be a fright received by the. mother, previous to the child.'s birth. It furnished oae^jof the niosfc'startling proofs of parental influence on lecord. The 1 parents resided on Diamond Late and being very poor, often caught fish for ;food. While fishing out a boat one of dayVwith her hanJs just touching the water and holding the line, an enormous turtle attracted by the. movigg ? fingers, sud^en)yjutr^ed ufr'aM bit fcgef. She riever recovered frota ifie fright and" when the child was born a few months afterWtltlfrlf^^aellWy^ta^per'ttpon its entire body the form of the turtle, It hiss hot M first, .but grew with its growth and strengthened with, its ticable was Us desire to creep tartlefashion, even after it could walk. Afterwards upon examination by doctors the joints of the arms and legs were found to be double and turned outwards, like a tortoise. As the horrible truth grew upon the mother, the child became loathsome to ber, and it was probably to shame and grief that the early death, of the parent was due- During boyhood it was found impossible to educate the boy beyond a few words which he utters hourly. As he has no memory of facts or incidents, he cannot tell even his age, or anything connected with his life and all is to him a blank. He exists only in the present, and like the brute seems to have no care for the morrow or sorrow for the past. In summer his greatest delight is to go in bathing, and he will remain nn» der water a long time. When a boy he had to be constantly watched lest he should drown, as his friends feared. He was a constant care to his friends during childhood, as he had to be fed, his claws or fins not being large enough to grasp food ; but lately he has learned to feed himself. He is fondest of vegetable food and fish but will eat anything he sees the rest of his fellow companions eat. He seems to have no passion or affection, and cares no more for the opposite sex than for his own. He takes the greatest pleasure, which is the only sense he seems fto pfssess, in tending a baby, and for our "arnulement the keeper brongbi in an infant. Pam's features lighted up with a smile which would have done credit to an Egyptian idol. His mouth opened still further, and Ins tongue protruded as he s£w the child. Sitting down on a chair and crossing his dwarfed limbs to form a cradle, he tenderly took the unfortunate infant left on the steps a few days before and began to rock it with his knees, while he made a most singular low mumbling noise, which he called singing. Sammy, as he is called by all the inmates, has very little idea of the great world. All his world is the house and .far^on which he lives. He seems to be fsiijfjjjy one grade above animal life, and as fif an argument for Darwin as could be wished. We were informed that Barnum was negotiating for him as a companion to his tatooed man.