>From The Cork Examiner, 6 April 1865 - THE SIAMESE TWINS. ------------ TIED YET DISUNITED. The New York correspondent of the Morning Herald gives an account of these extraordinary personages :--Singular as it may seem, there are two persons in the South who have not been materially affected by the war. For them conscription has no terrors ; politics have no excitement. And yet these seemingly happy mortals are not wholly blest. Gladly would they become humble privates in Lee's battered army, if so they might change their condition. Physically they are united, but morally and socially they are divided. Since their withdrawal from public view, the "Siamese twins," as they were properly termed, have resided upon their plantation near the town of Salisbury, in North Carolina. In this world's goods they are well to do, and among their "chattels" are several scores of negroes. For many years they have lived in harmony with their wives and their children, their families being periodically increased, until, after a certain lapse of time, each became the happy possessor of five flourishing "olive branches." Up to this time between the two there had been apparently a perfect community of thought and purpose. But an "event" occurred in the family of Chang, the larger of the two brothers, through which great subsequent trouble arose. A sixth child was added to him, and this "advantage" not only excited intense animosity in the mind of the wife of his brother Eng, but led to a separation between that person and Mrs. Chang, the two women occupying different houses, but remaining on the same plantation. This jealousy had its effect upon Eng, who is the smaller and feebler of the two, and he is now said to look ten years older than his brother. The twins have as little to say to each other as possible ; of course, such a thing as total silence is out of the question. Their fate is certainly deplorable. Regarding each other with feelings of bitterness, they are yet bound together by a tie, any attempt to sever which would almost inevitably result in the death of both. Through the ligature which connects them passes an artery as large as the femoral artery, and it was the opinion of the eminent London surgeons who examined them some years since that any operation tending to free the brothers from this abnormal connection would prove fatal. They are, it will be remembered, wedded to sisters, which renders the estrangement still more unfortunate. Chang and Eng have an ample fortune ; their deposits in various banks in the city are very considerable. In agricultural pursuits they have prospered, despite the war. Taken all in all, matter for a very respectable story hangs about these world-famous twins. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dennis Ahern | Ireland Newspaper Abstracts Acton, Massachusetts | http://www.IrelandOldNews.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -