Having given their hearts and hands to the Siamese brothers, Adelaide and Sallie Bunker were soon settled in happily with their new husbands. Their neighbors at Trap Hill welcomed them warmly, accepting the marriages as a fact of life and bearing no prejudice toward the bizarre household.
In the beginning, and for nine years thereafter, the foursome lived together under one roof. The honeymoon house, a simple, sturdy dwelling set back from the main road, was furnished plainly and neatly with oak and hickory furniture. The one bedroom contained the specially built bed, large enough to accommodate four occupants. While it is possible that another room in the house was also converted into a bedroom, to serve alternatingly three of the four Bunkers, it is more likely that conjugal duties were carried on with all four people in the same bed at the same time.
So devoted were the twins to these conjugal duties that in two years the Bunkers had produced four children.
Within three or four weeks after they were married, Eng and Sallie conceived their first child. Nine months later, on February 10, 1844, Sallie was delivered of the first Bunker child, a girl, named Katherine Marcellus, after the twins' early friend Miss Catharine Bunker of New York.
Also about four weeks after the marriage, Chang's Adelaide became pregnant. Nine months later, on February 16, only six days after Eng and Sallie had had their child, Chang and Adelaide became the parents of Josephine Virginia.
Learning of this in New York, James Hale was impressed and wrote back to Harris: "Your twin-children story creates a good deal of astonishment with those to whom I have told it. That was pretty close work—within 6 days of each other!"
But that was only the beginning of procreation at the Bunkers'. On March 31, 1843, Sallie gave birth again, this time to another daughter, Julia Ann.
And on April 8, just eight days after her sister's delivery, Adelaide bore Chang a son, Christopher Wren.
It is clear from the almost constant childbearing that occurred that the four Bunkers led active sex lives from the start. The questions about this aspect of their marital life, in their own time and the years after, never stopped. People would ask one another, "Just how did they do it?" And, "Wasn't it inhibiting or embarrassing for the twin and his wife who were making love to have the other twin inches away?"
There exists little actual information as to the twins' sexual practices, and any answers to the persisting questions must therefore be largely speculative. Dr. Worth B. Daniels, of Washington, D.C., who undertook a study of Chang and Eng and announced his findings to the American Clinical and Climatological Association in 1962, made a statement on the twins' sex lives that was representative of the general attitude of propriety toward them: "It is not the purpose of this paper to enter into speculation upon the conjugal arrangements of Chang, Eng, Adelaide, and Sarah Ann. Possibly some imaginative member of The Climatological can report on his conjectures as to this at a later date."
It was observed, after their deaths, that the twins' genitals were normal. The only unusual thing about them, also observed in an autopsy report published many years later, was that the pubic hair of each of them was half black and half gray, being divided vertically.
As to the practical accomplishment of the act of love, Chang and Eng's connecting band limited the number of possible positions available to them.
The ligament held them five and one-half inches apart. There was enough flexibility in the ligament, however, to enable them to pull eight inches apart. Normally, when standing they were side by side and their adjacent shoulders overlapped. Yet a writer who knew them stated that "the flexibility of the cartilage is so great, that they can readily turn those shoulders outwards (which are close together), when they walk." After their deaths, physicians noted, "When the bodies were laid upon a table Chang's left side and Eng's right side were drawn somewhat toward one another. This was most marked in Chang, and gave a greater inclination of his trunk toward his brother's."
Physically, the twins could not maneuver very far apart. They were bound tightly when lying down, too close for either to achieve any real degree of independent performance or privacy. In sexual intercourse, only the obvious missionary position—with the man on top—could have worked well. Yet it could not have worked too well. The anatomical restriction was always there. If Eng mounted Sallie, then Chang could not be far behind—indeed, he would be dangling seven or eight inches to one side. Moreover, it meant Chang had to be curled against Sallie, partially covering her body throughout. The same condition would have occurred when Chang made love to Adelaide. Eng would have been drawn against or partially across Adelaide.
Another likely position of copulation that may have been employed was that of the woman mounting the man. Whether the straitlaced prudery of the period would have allowed such lovemaking by Sallie and Adelaide will probably never be known. In the later years of the marriage, such a position was unlikely because Sallie and Adelaide tended to a corpulence which would have made the act extremely difficult. Other possible positions, and the difficulty they presented, can only be left to one's imagination.
As to the possibility of both couples making love simultaneously, it was quite possible with both women on top, but quite improbable with both men on top, because their mates beneath would have had to be lying one partially across the side of the other's body, evoking images of an incredible orgy of flesh.
To the ever-titillating question of how much inhibition and embarrassment was created by the necessity of three persons being in bed at one time, an answer was once offered. It was the physician who attended Chang and Eng after their deaths, Dr. William H. Pancoast of Philadelphia, who asked this question of either Sallie or Adelaide, and received an answer:
"The twins . . . had become so accustomed to their curious relation as to act and live under certain regulations of their own as one individual. We were told in North Carolina that they had agreed that each should in turn control the action of the other. Thus Eng would for one week [actually for three days] be complete master . . . and Chang would submit his will and desires completely to those of Eng, and vice versa. Though it seems most immoral and shocking that the two should occupy the same marital couch with the wife of one, yet so thorough was this understanding of alternate mastery, that, as I was told by one of the widows, there had never been any improper relations between the wives and the brothers."
This "alternate mastery" referred to the alleged ability of one twin to become mindless, to "blank out," as it were, thus allowing his joined brother to enjoy his wife in what might be termed at least mental privacy. Presumably the method of "alternate mastery" disposed of all inhibitions and embarrassment when the twins lived together in a single residence, just as it did in later years when they had two separate homes.
While this kind of mentally controlled separation may be difficult to imagine, necessity demanded the invention of a workable method of some kind, and other Siamese twins have remarked on possessing the same ability. Violet and Daisy Hilton, a renowned pair of Siamese twins who were born in 1908 and who were joined at the hips, were eloquent on the subject.
Said Violet: "When Don came to see my sister, he just stood there gazing at her. A big thrill ran through both of us. At that time I had not yet learned how to will myself to be immune to my sister's emotions. Later on each of us acquired the ability to blank out the other in romantic moments.
"This was our first real-life romance, and it intoxicated both of us. I was as anxious for Daisy to experience her first kiss as she was herself. Then Don held out his arms to her. She moved closer—and he kissed her on the forehead!
"Our first kiss was a little disappointing to both of us. Don was of the old world and he didn't believe a man should kiss his lady-love except on the forehead, until they were engaged."
In later years, after having developed their own form of "alternate mastery," Violet remarked:
"Sometimes I quit paying attention, and didn't know what was going on. Sometimes I read and sometimes I just took a nap. Even before that, we had learned how not to know what the other was doing unless it was our business to know it."
While the girls seemed to be satisfied with their "blank out" abilities, it was not so easy for their mates.
Daisy was married once, but her husband moved out after ten days, saying, "Daisy is a lovely girl, but I guess I just am not the type of fellow that should marry a Siamese twin. . . . As far as being a bridegroom under such conditions is concerned, I sup-pose I am what you might call a hermit."
Fortunately for Chang and Eng, their wives, Sallie and Adelaide, expressed no such sentiments. The twins' old friend James Hale expressed his own doubts about the arrangement in a May 12, 1843, letter to Charles Harris: "Do write me as soon as you can for I am very anxious to know how they got into such a stupid scrape. If they only wanted skin, I think they might have managed to get it for less than for life. Depend upon it—the result will be, a desire to attempt a surgical operation upon themselves."
If two's company and three's a crowd, then four might be called a convention. It quickly became obvious that while the Trap Hill house was large enough for the comfort of two attached brothers, it just was not large enough for two married couples and their growing family of children. The search was on for a bigger house, and finally, in the summer of 1845, the twins went to look at a farm for sale in Surry County, near the village of Mount Airy, which they immediately purchased and occupied.
Shortly after their move, the twins sought a new doctor in the immediate vicinity to look after children, wives, and themselves. They sought one physician, and found two. They found the Hollingsworth brothers, both well known in the community. Dr. Joseph Hollingsworth and his brother, Dr. William Hollingsworth, owned houses and consulting rooms side by side on Main Street in Mount Airy. Dr. William Hollingsworth, born in Mount Airy, a graduate of Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, was in his early thirties when he first met Chang and Eng. The twins called their physicians Dr. Joe and Dr. Billy, and were not only patients but lifelong friends.
Besides devoting their time to the producing and raising of offspring, Chang and Eng pursued their lives as farmers with great vigor. They put into effect methods and techniques that are known today as "scientific farming." They read widely on agriculture, and used the most modern methods available.
Again they cleared the brush and stones from endless acres, fertilized their land, and nourished it by ditching, deep plowing, and turning under clover and peas. They brought in the best new farm implements, introducing several of these into Surry County. Their innovations enticed landowners from along the Yadkin River to pay inspection visits to the twins' booming farm.
Chang and Eng were among the first farmers in the state to produce "bright" or "bright leaf" tobacco, which was especially prized for use in cigarettes. They owned a tobacco press, which their slaves used to manufacture chewing tobacco. The twins were very fond of smoking clay pipes and chewing tobacco, and it was observed that whenever one put a fresh quid of tobacco in his mouth, the other did the same.
The Bunkers' farm provided for almost all of the family dietary needs. They raised milk cows, cattle, sheep, pigs, and fowl, and they grew wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats, peas, beans, and both Irish and sweet potatoes. They made butter, obtained fruit from their orchards, and kept bees for honey and beeswax.
In addition to being skilled farmers, the twins were considered to be excellent carpenters, especially so when they built themselves a larger house on their Mount Airy farm.
It was said that Chang and Eng were the first to chop wood by the method that is known today as the "double chop." This involves two men, the first man hitting the tree trunk with his ax slanted in one direction, and the second wielding an ax slanted in the opposite direction. By this method, the tree can be cut right through without either man having to shift the direction of his ax. Of course, for Chang and Eng, this was the easiest and most natural way to attack the task; it became widely adopted as a fast and efficient means of chopping wood.
Chang and Eng donated some of their land as a site for the White Plains Baptist Church, which they helped to build. They cut and hauled the logs, constructed the roof, and installed a special two-seater pew for themselves. The building was small, plain, and sturdy.
All of this participation in the church's construction was probably done more out of goodwill and community fellowship than out of religious devotion. Adelaide and Sarah were avid churchgoers, but while Chang and Eng attended services fairly regularly, they were not nearly so devout as their wives.
No one knows exactly what the twins' religious beliefs were, but they seem to have embodied a personal blend of Buddhist and Christian fundamentals. Judge Graves speculated on this:
When we consider the circumstances of their childhood and youth it will not seem strange if Chang and Eng with all their clear conceptions of the doctrines of orthodox Christianity were yet unable to remove entirely from their minds some faint influences of the early training of the mother before the household image, and of the instructions of the priest in the temple of the "Golden Supreme." Notwithstanding there may have lingered some tinge of the superstitions of their native land, some shadowy dreams of transmigrating spirits, yet they were firmly impressed with the reality of all the great essential truths of the Christian system of theology. They believed in the One Supreme God, in Christ the intercessor, the atonement for all men, in the Bible as the word of God, in the punishment of the evil and the reward of the good. . . . They were not faultless. Who is except the blameless one? They did not love their enemies, they did not bless those that cursed them, but they hated an enemy with an honest hatred, returned blow for blow, but were ready to forgive and quick to repair a wrong.
The twins were avid readers of the newspapers, and took a lively interest in local elections. They were staunch Southerners, before and after the Civil War. When traveling in the Northern states, they had to take pains to control their Southern indignation regarding the Fugitive Slave Law, and controversial South versus North questions in general.
As to their actual political affiliations, Chang and Eng were described as "zealous followers of Henry Clay and the Whig party." Henry Clay—a handsome, charming Kentucky lawyer who became Speaker of the House of Representatives, Secretary of State, a U.S. Senator, and leader of the Whig party—was beloved by his fanatic followers, including Chang and Eng. Clay, known as the Great Pacificator or Great Compromiser, believed in nationalism and a unified United States free of sectionalism. Northern manufacturers liked him because he advocated a protective tariff, and Southern landowners liked him because he was easy on slavery. He was a colorful man who fought duels, drank Kentucky whiskey, enjoyed high-stake card games and horse racing. He once said, "I had rather be right than be President." Yet he wanted to be President, and ran twice, against Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk, and lost both times, to Chang and Eng's dismay.
The Whigs were popular in North Carolina, and their membership generally consisted of the "better elements" of society. Since it was unusual for immigrants to become Whigs, the twins' support of the party indicated their strong desire to identify with the majority of native Americans. Chang and Eng were often heard to say that they much preferred the democratic system of government in America to the monarchy of their native Siam.
There was one element of the Whig party that the twins disliked—they were "greatly displeased at the illiberal views which the 'know nothing' element in their party evinced." After the Whig party dissolved in 1.852,, this element was referred to as the Know-Nothing party, a secret society and political group which was anti-Catholic and anti-foreigner, and wanted to bar naturalized citizens from public office. Its leaders told members that when they were questioned about the workings of their organization, they should simply answer, "I know nothing." Chang and Eng, as foreigners and naturalized citizens, felt threatened by the so-called Know-Nothing party and fervently opposed it.
Despite the fact that Chang and Eng's opinions on most political matters coincided, there were rare instances when they disagreed. On at least one occasion, in 1847, Chang voted for one local congressional candidate, and Eng for his opponent. It was never revealed which twin voted for the more conservative candidate, and which for the more liberal.
Chang and Eng, like their affluent Southern neighbors, owned slaves. In North Carolina, it was the custom to own "house slaves" and "field slaves." The field slaves' daily life consisted of rising before dawn, feeding the animals, then rushing to the fields before sunrise. Depending upon the season, the laborers would work the fields, plant or harvest the crops, cut down trees, build fences, and engage in numerous similar activities.
After working from dawn to sunset, the field slaves would then care for the livestock, put away tools, and cook their own meals before the master's horn sounded bedtime. During cotton-picking season, work lasted until nine at night; and on the sugar plantations, slaves worked eighteen hours a day during harvest season.
For the house slaves, the physical labor was somewhat less demanding. However, they had to suffer the constant surveillance of their white masters, who had the legal right to beat them at the slightest hint of "insolence," as well as for actual mistakes. While some masters were kind to their slaves, others were brutal to the extreme. Women were raped, and children were frequently beaten. Flogging was common practice. Even worse was the psychological torture the slaves were forced to undergo—mates and children could be abruptly separated from their families and sold to new masters.
Many slaves rebelled and ran away, and some escaped to freedom, though many more did not, and these were subjected to severe punishment upon recapture. Others became the docile "Sambo" stereotype, passive and nonresistant.
The slaves, when not hard at work for their masters, spent time cultivating a community of their own. They preserved the essential elements of their African religion in their voodoo ceremonies. Some attended church at the insistence of their masters, and what they drew from exposure to Christian beliefs was expressed in highly emotional form, singing, dancing, and shouting, the roots of later black revival meetings.
Much of the slaves' free time was spent making music on homemade instruments or getting drunk on corn whiskey, in an attempt to cope with the degradation of their position.
Surviving documents reveal that Chang and Eng paid as high as $450 for two female slaves, Mary and Nicey, who were only 51/2 and 71/2 years old at the time of purchase. This was a great deal of money, considering that female slaves were probably less useful than male slaves, and that the girls were so young. Other expenditures that the twins made were $600 for a 17-year-old boy named Briant, $500 for a 16-year-old female named Emilia, $470 for a 23-year-old female named Lyde, $425 for a 40-year-old male named Berry, and $217 for a 7-year-old boy named Charles.
As the twins prospered, they were able to afford more and more slaves. By 1860, they owned a total of twenty-eight slaves, Eng owning six males, two of whom were mulatto, and ten females. Chang owned four black males, six black females, and two mulatto females.
Besides sharing one ancient female slave, Chang and Eng each had an older female slave, forty and thirty-five years old respectively. With one exception, neither owned any males older than twenty-three. This may have been coincidence, or it may have been a matter of deliberate choice, because older males would be the most likely perpetrators of a rebellion.
The slaves' living quarters were crude, roughly built one-room cabins. Not only were the dwellings cold and uncomfortable, they were usually overcrowded as well. Chang and Eng had an average of seven slaves living in each of their four cabins.
The black "mammy" was a deeply important figure in slave culture. More often than not, she was more influential in the raising of the white children than their own mothers. She nursed them, rocked them to sleep, told them bedtime stories, punished them and loved them.
The Eng Bunkers received as a wedding present the venerable Grace Gates—known as Aunt Grace—a buxom woman who managed both twins' large broods. She once posed in a family picture taken of the Bunkers, holding a little boy on her lap. Aunt Grace was known for wearing oversized men's shoes, because she had such unusually large feet. She could chew tobacco and smoke a pipe at the same time, and it is claimed that she lived to be 121 years old.
In the South, it was common practice to allow the black and white children to play freely together, and this must certainly have been the case in the Bunker household. Not until age ten or so did the social relationship change from playmates to master/ slave, as the young blacks were treated more and more harshly by the white adults. When black children were fathered by their white masters, some of these were lucky enough to become "favorites."
The Siamese Twins were rumored to be hard on their slaves, sometimes whipping them. J. E. Johnson, editor of the Mount Airy News, whose mother had shared teaching duties with Chang's daughter Nannie in their own private school, recounted something of the twins' relationship with their slaves:
On one occasion a negro desiring to see them on business appeared at their front door. It was the custom in those days for negro men to apply at the back door of a Southern man's home. When the Twins saw the negro standing in the front door they instantly made for him with a malignant air and that negro lost no time in taking himself away. After that he knew his place.
Another story that is current is one they tell about a bad negro and illustrates the spirit of the Twins in their dealings with their neighbors. They owned many negroes and one developed into a desperado and was considered dangerous. In those times occasionally a negro would refuse to obey his master and run away. He usually was a pest, for the hand of every man was against him. There was no law to protect such slaves and it was considered the proper thing to do to kill him on sight. This bad negro, the property of Chang, was reported one night to be in the negro cabins of a slave owner near Mount Airy. The citizen went with his gun to investigate and the negro ran from the cabin and as he ran the citizen fired his gun intending to shoot him in the legs. But as luck would have it he aimed too high and killed the negro.
There was no law to punish him for his deed; but he saw a big bill facing him in the way of pay for the value of the dead slave. At once he went to the home of the Twins hoping to make the best settlement possible. Imagine his surprise when the Twins refused to accept a cent and expressed their satisfaction that the negro was out of the way.
The twins themselves were fond of telling this story: One time, when they were traveling in Virginia with a neighbor, they were urged by some gamblers to join in a game of cards. They did not engage in gambling games, and so they refused. However, they agreed to back the neighbor, who was "handy with cards." The neighbor won royally, and the gamblers, in their desperation, bet "a negro." The twins won him, and then sold him back to the unlucky gamblers for $600.
Slaves were usually forbidden to leave their cabins to visit other slaves on neighboring farms. Nevertheless, they frequently managed to sneak out for after-hours parties. Chang's daughter Nannie had a favorite little dog, who barked whenever a slave tried to slip away at night. While Chang and Eng were in New York City, one of the slaves killed the watchdog, so upsetting Nannie that she sent off a tearful letter to her father reporting the pet's demise. Upon receiving the letter, the twins decided to consult a spiritualist who claimed to see the past and the future. Many people had heard stories from blacks about the powers of fortunetellers and conjurers, and some had come to believe them. The twins, carrying with them the remnants of their early Eastern culture in which oracles were more highly accepted than in the West, were willing subjects.
The twins asked the fortune-teller the name of their mother, and to their surprise received the correct answer, Nok. Then they asked who had killed Nannie's dog, and they were given a man's name, the very name of one of their own slaves back home. When Chang and Eng returned to North Carolina, they confronted the black man and accused him of killing the dog. The frightened slave confessed, and got, as Johnson put it, "what in those times was supposed to be coming to him."
For their part, the Bunkers' slaves must have found it odd to have Oriental masters, not to mention masters who were anatomically joined together. A reporter from the Southerner, a Richmond, Virginia, publication, could not help remarking on "the unusualness of the twins with their slant eyes giving orders to their black slaves." Then, the reporter went on:
The twins frequently took their slaves out with them on early morning possum-hunting expeditions, and this was one of their favorite recreations.
They attended the local shooting matches, where a turkey or beef was the reward for the best marksman, and Chang and Eng acquired reputations as crack-shots with rifles or pistols. It was the object of much curious speculation on the neighbor's part how two men tied together could be so adept, often more adept than a single man.
The farmers in Surry County were frequently plagued by wolves, who wreaked havoc among their livestock. There existed one particularly notorious wolf, christened "Bob-Tail," because he had lost part of his tail in a trap. This wolf did not merely limit his dinings to sheep and cattle, but was believed to have eaten a negro baby who wandered into the woods. Bob-Tail made trouble for three years, and no one was able to trap him, until one night when Chang and Eng were awoken by noises coming from among their livestock. They ran out, taking with them a gun and a slave carrying a lantern. It was Bob-Tail, and the wolf breathed his last at the twins' hands. This coup gave Chang and Eng considerable prestige in the community, especially as no more negro babies were ever known to be stolen or eaten.
The twins were also skilled at horse-breaking, the taming of wild horses for domestic use.
A Surry County neighbor owned a beautiful black colt, whom no one could handle. Several people tried to tame him and were injured in the process, so no others dared to go near him. One day the twins saw him, and they asked the owner his price. They were told that they could have the colt for almost nothing, provided they could catch him and take him away. To the owner's great amazement, Chang and Eng approached the horse, made "a few mysterious manipulations," then walked away, with the horse following submissively behind them. After owning him for a couple of weeks and working him in harness daily, they sold the now gentle creature back to the original owner at a handsome profit. No one discovered what their secret was for taming horses, but it always worked.
Besides hunting, fishing, and shooting, Chang and Eng enjoyed other recreations. For one thing, they were great music lovers. They both played the flute well, having serenaded their wives with this instrument during courtship.
They were fond of reading poetry, especially Eng, who often read aloud to Chang, or to his whole family. Alexander Pope, the English poet and translator of Homer, was their favorite author. Curiously, one of Pope's poems celebrated the visit to London of the Hungarian twins, Helen and Judith, who were joined at their backs and shared a single pair of legs. The twins also appreciated the works of Shakespeare, Lord Byron, and John Fleetwood's Life of Christ. Eng was so partial to Pope's poems that he read all of them ten times over.
"They never spent a day in the schoolroom for the purpose of study, yet they were educated and intelligent men," a future son-in-law, Zacharias Haynes, would say of them. "They could read and write very well, and transact all of their business with facility. Their wisdom did not consist of Greek and Latin ... but in practical common sense."
The twins continued to enjoy checkers, having learned to play the game at seventeen while on shipboard coming from Siam to America. Their skill at chess was renowned, but, as with checkers, they never enjoyed playing against each other.
One point of contention between the brothers was Eng's penchant for late-night poker games. One of Eng's sons, Patrick Bunker, recalled:
"Father loved poker and he would often sit up all night and play. Uncle Chang never played and it took a good deal of persuasion to get him to stay up so long. I remember that once father won two Negro boys at a poker game. Father was a great checker player, too, and many a game I played with him. He would sit up all night to play with a good checker player and that irked Uncle Chang."
There was, in their later years, a great deal of controversy about whether or not these differences led to ill will between the twins. However, too many stories of arguments between them have survived to allow any doubt that it was gradually becoming more and more difficult for the brothers to coexist peacefully. Indeed, on occasion, they actually resorted to physical violence during their disputes.
While they were building the roof of the White Plains Baptist Church, they got into such a heated argument that they fell to the ground. According to legend, this fight was provoked when Eng's hammer accidentally (or not accidentally) hit one of Chang's fingers.
In an earlier dispute, in 1845, they were so angry that they came to blows—over what, was never known, but the sight of them fist-fighting at such close range must have been extraordinary. They were very much ashamed of the brawl afterward and tried to keep the incident hushed up, but the news of it traveled fast. A grand juror in the next county heard about the incident and reported it to County Attorney Lee Reeves, who "sent a bill for an affray against them," whereupon they were hauled into court for disturbing the peace. The presiding judge was Jesse Graves, the man who was to become their close friend. Observing that their wrath had dissipated, Judge Graves fined them a nominal fee and closed the case.
There were several reasons for the slowly growing discontent between the twins. After all the public exhibition and travel, they had now settled down into a regular routine that was free of the pressures and demands of their early years. While this contributed to the twins' happiness, there was also time for the many conflicts of domestic life to creep in. As their families expanded, they yearned for separation, and each became an albatross around the other's neck. Furthermore, it was said, their wives were quarreling.
As they grew older, their personality differences hardened and were accentuated. The most serious point of contention between them was undoubtedly Chang's increasing fondness for whiskey. While Eng took his liquor in moderation, Chang drank to excess.
Unhappily, Chang did not hold his liquor well. His more fiery temperament was often excited by imbibing, and he sometimes got out of control.
Dr. William H. Pancoast reported one such incident: "Thus Chang would become intoxicated in spite of his brother, and much to his inconvenience; would break things in his own house, and, upon one occasion, threw a featherbed into the fire, and made himself otherwise disagreeable, in spite of the remonstrances of his brother."
When Chang drank, Eng did not get drunk, contrary to what many people thought. However, Eng sometimes voiced his displeasure over the difficulties he suffered being attached to a disagreeable, violent, drunken man.
For all their differences, however, it may safely be said that Chang and Eng probably quarreled less than most of the legally attached couples whom they counted among their friends.
It was at this time that the twins shared two common losses.
They had remained in touch from afar with Robert Hunter, continually interested in his ups and downs. After his financial reverses due to a Siamese flood, Hunter made a comeback and in recent years had been prospering. The British government had a trade treaty with Siam, and Hunter, who was close to King Rama III and enjoyed what amounted to a business partnership with the ruler, had a virtual monopoly on foreign importing and exporting. He had received permission to build a spacious dwelling on the riverbank outside Bangkok, and there he lived comfortably and entertained extensively. He enjoyed his cognac every morning (supposedly as a measure against cholera), ran his business affairs in the afternoon, and evenings played host to old friends like Marsinello de Rosa, the longtime Portuguese consul and Siamese scholar. Often, Hunter relaxed by playing games with visiting British and American seamen and travelers. As one foreign visitor recalled, "Occasionally we amused ourselves at Mr. Hunter's by playing Lagrace, and we were once or twice guilty of a game at ring-taw, the marbles being our own manufacture out of sealing-wax."
Then something went wrong, and Hunter's commercial monopoly was threatened. According to a biography of King Rama III, "When the Siamese nobles began to trade on their own, Hunter became their competitor instead of their middleman. Thus the obstacles placed in the way of foreign trade at this time also affected Hunter, cutting into his profits and prompting him to act rashly." Despite the fact that the king had issued an edict against the importing of opium, Hunter, to bolster his diminishing income, began to bring large quantities of opium into Siam and sell it to the Chinese. He was found out, and severely reprimanded by the king. Next, Hunter imported a British steamer, which the Siamese government had ordered. The government officials refused to buy it because "they were dissatisfied with its condition and the price Hunter set on it." In a fury, Hunter insulted the officials. If that was not enough, Hunter appealed to the British Governor General of India, telling him that the Siamese had broken their trade treaty and demanding that he send warships to Siam. The Governor General felt that there was not enough reason to intervene.
Finally, King Rama III had had enough of Hunter. In December 1844, the king expelled him from Siam. Hunter had no place to go, except home. He returned to his native Scotland, and after languishing there for four years, he died in 1848.
All of this Chang and Eng learned that same year, and together they mourned the passing of the man who had made their present lives possible.
Less than a year later, the twins suffered their second and even greater loss.
Charles Harris, the self-styled doctor, their onetime manager, had always been a stabilizing influence in their lives, and they had great affection for him. Harris and his wife Fannie had produced four children, while he struggled to support them as the Trap Hill postmaster and by working for St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Wilkesboro. Then, Harris contracted tuberculosis. In two months, his decline was rapid, and on July 5, 1849, he died.
With their old travel companion and friend of so many years gone, Chang and Eng were drawn ever closer to their own families.
As time passed, the Bunker families continued to grow with remarkable consistency. After the appearance of the third child in each family, the previous pattern of Adelaide and Sallie giving birth almost simultaneously was altered. Instead, with only one exception, the Bunkers were having one child each year, but by alternate wives.
After Katherine Marcellus and Julia Ann, Eng and Sallie had nine more children. In order of birth, they were: Stephen Decatur, James Montgomery, Patrick Henry, Rosalyn Etta, William Oliver, Frederick Marshall, RoseIla Virginia, Georgianna Columbia, and Robert Edmond.
This gave Eng and Sallie a total of eleven children—six boys and five girls.
Chang and Adelaide had a total of ten children—three boys and seven girls. In order of birth, they were: Josephine Virginia, Christopher Wren, Nancy Adelaide, Susan Marianna, Victoria, Louise Emeline (who was a deaf mute), Albert Lemuel, Jesse Lafayette (also a deaf mute), Margaret Elizabeth, and Hattie Irene.
It is possible that the alternate childbirths were coincidental, but there is a likelihood that they were planned. If this was the case, it may have been a decision made in order to simplify the running of the household: while one wife was carrying a child or recovering from a birth, the other wife could take over the house-hold affairs for both families. Judge Graves observed that, after the first few children, Adelaide and Sallie began to show signs of "hereditary obesity"—each of them weighed 250 pounds or more—although they never attained their mother's massive proportions.
As the younger Bunkers grew up, the question of educating them arose. There was a school in Mount Airy at the time. Chang and Eng were eager to see their children educated, particularly their daughters. Adelaide was adamant in her desire for this, while Sallie did not particularly care.
In 1852, the Bunkers bought the C. W. Lewis house in the village of Mount Airy. Adelaide moved into it with those children who were old enough to begin school, while Sallie remained at the farm. Chang and Eng divided their time between the two places.
Later, the Bunkers built and shared a schoolhouse with the Greenwoods, who were their next-door neighbors on the farm. James Greenwood was a good friend, but the twins and Greenwood maintained a certain formality with one another: the twins always addressed him as "Mr. Greenwood," and he always ad-dressed either twin as "Mr. Bunker."
The Greenwoods and the Bunkers built their one-room log cabin—austerely furnished with table, chairs, and a stove—on the boundary line of the two farms, and hired a young man as the first teacher. Any of the local children were welcome to attend classes. Eventually, James Greenwood's daughter Emma and Chang's daughter Nannie taught the younger children.
Through the years, the twins continued to remain objects of curiosity to an inquisitive public. They cordially received the numerous visitors who came from all over the country to see them. A good number of reporters called upon the Bunkers, and several of the more important biographical pieces concerning them were written at this time.
In 1847, a reporter from the Raleigh, North Carolina, Biblical Recorder went to pay the twins a visit, and not finding them at home, interviewed one of the wives, not specifying which:
In company with my friend, William M. Nance, Esq., I called to see the Siamese twins, Chang and Eng, residing one and a half miles from Mount Airy, on a valuable farm which they have lately purchased, and removed to from the county of Wilkes. To my great disappointment they were not at home, being absent on a visit to their plantation in Wilkes. The wife of one of them was at home, and four of their children, all of whom favor them much in appearance. . . . The Mrs. Bunker whom we found at home appeared to be a good-looking, intelligent woman, with a fresh, open countenance, apparently about twenty-five years of age. There appeared to be a number of servants about the premises, of different ages and sexes. Their house is small, but they are making arrangements to build a new and commodious one. The wife of one of them, and two of their children, were at Wilkes. They live alternately at each place, and will so continue until they build a new house, or sell their plantation in Wilkes, which they design to do.
They take pleasure in farming, have a fine crop, are quite plain and economical in their dress and manner of living, are fond of hunting, and, with their wives and little ones, apparently quite happy and contented.
A typical account of the twins at home was given by the reporter from the Southerner, of Richmond, Virginia. In early 185o the newspaper sent a representative to get a firsthand view of the Bunker farm life. The journalist sent back an account of his findings:
When we got off the stage at Mt. Airy we were told by the townspeople that the Twins were moody, sulky people and often refused to see anyone who called on them.
After a few glasses of ale and a meal at the Blue Ridge Inn in Mt. Airy we felt more in place in calling on the Twins. It was an extremely warm day and the driver gave the horses plenty of time, in addition to taking the long way around. After having arrived we drove up into the shade of a large cottonwood tree. Everything seemed quiet except a colored boy doing some metal work in a shop nearby. There was a large male peafowl strutting across the yard. Then the twins appeared in the doorway dressed in rough cotton. Each had a quid of tobacco in his mouth, each was barefooted. They stood in the doorway a minute or so, then waved good naturedly. They approached our carriage and asked how they could serve us. We told them the nature of our business, that we were representing the Southerner. They bade us come inside.
They led us into the living room which contained a bed and other necessities. We found them to be extremely interested in farming as well as moderate conversationalists, often speaking in unbroken English. One would talk awhile then the other would take over and talk for a few minutes. A colored boy was instructed to bring in some fresh cider, which we really enjoyed. The conversation went on for quite some time. Often they would introduce new topics. These two men are perhaps the world's greatest travelers and are known worldwide, and perhaps have already faced more people than most folks would in 100 years. They are still a bit conscious of stares from strangers. But now it was getting later in the afternoon and we bade them a fond adieu after stealing another look at our host. We explained that we had to get back to Mt. Airy and make lodging preparations. That we would return tomorrow for a look at their crop, etc. They asked us to stay and sup with them, of which we thanked them most kindly ..
Most of the stories published about Chang and Eng in this period treated them sympathetically, although there were a few exceptions. One notable exception, a newspaper article that appeared in the Greensboro Patriot in 1852 and purported to give an unblemished picture of them, proved to be the most scandalous piece ever written about the brothers. The author signed himself merely "D.," which was undoubtedly prudent, for had he not remained anonymous he might have suffered physical violence at the hands of Chang and Eng.
This infamous article began with deceptively mild and standard paragraphs about the twins' homes and families, but by the third paragraph the author's dagger was unsheathed:
Messrs. Eng and Chang are alike remarkable for their industry and belligerent dispositions. They are strict and thorough going business men, and woe to the unfortunate wight who dares to insult them.
Formerly they resided in Wilkes County, but in consequence of the numerous actions for assault and battery brought against them in the county, they removed into the adjoining one, shortly after which they were fined fifteen dollars and costs, at Rockford, the county seat, for splitting a board into splinters over the head of a man who insulted them.
As regards the supposed sympathy existing between them, it may be stated that their most intimate acquaintances deem them to be entirely independent of everything of the kind, and give us instances to sustain their opinion—that not long since they attended an auction sale of hogs, and bid against each other till they ran up the prices altogether above the market rates—also, that on one occasion Mr. Eng or Chang was taken ill and took to his bed, where he lay complaining for some time, although his brother scolded him severely all the while for detaining him in bed when he ought to have been attending to the business of their plantation.
On another occasion, as they were passing up the road, a gentleman inquired of them where they were going—whereupon Mr. Chang replied, "I am going over the Blue Ridge in the stage," and, at the same instant, Mr. Eng, looking over his shoulder, replied with an arch smile, "I am going back home to look after our wives and children." When questioned about their mother some time since by an acquaintance, they stated that they had formerly received letters from her, but latterly they had heard no tidings of her, and even if they were to receive letters from her, written in the Siamese language, they would not be able to read them, as they had forgotten their mother tongue.
When they chop or fight, they do so double-handed; and in driving a horse or chastising their negroes, both of them use the lash without mercy.
A gentleman who purchased a black man a short time ago from them, informed the writer that he was "the worse whipped negro he ever saw." They are inveterate smokers and chewers of tobacco—each chewing his own quid and smoking his own pipe. It has been remarked, however, in support of the sympathy supposed to prevail throughout their systems, that, as a general rule, when one takes a fresh quid, the other does the same, notwithstanding they do not always expectorate the same quantity of saliva or spit at the same instant. It is also generally admitted that there is a marked difference in the systems and temperaments of the gentlemen, and still they almost invariably draw the same inferences from topics submitted to their consideration, and arrive at similar conclusions. Mr. Eng not unfrequently gives serious offence to Mr. Chang, by jesting him about his having one more child than he has, whereby he claims to be the better man of the two. When shooting (a sport they are very fond of), one sights or takes aim and the other (it is said) pulls the trigger. Now if this be true, it would go far to prove the doctrine of supposed sympathy existing between the brothers, but it is questioned by most of their neighbors.
Whether these accusations were true or false may never be known, but Chang and Eng were enraged by the gratuitous attack. They responded by writing a letter to the editor of the Greensboro Patriot, dated October 3o, 1852. In this letter they defended Chang's manhood, their treatment of their slaves, and their standing in the community:
Messrs. Editors: We have noticed in your paper of the 16th a communication signed D, a portion of which we ask permission to answer, as it immediately interests us. It is true that we live in this place surrounded by our wives and children, and that one of us is blessed with more of these "little responsibilities" than the other, but that it is or was ever unpleasant for either of us, needs no denial in this community.
That portion of said communication which assigns the cause of our leaving Wilkes County and becoming citizens of Surry, is unqualifiedly false, as is also that portion which represents us as having been indicted and fined in this county for splitting a board into splinters over the head of some "one insulting us." We have never appeared on the State docket in any county but one (and that in Wilkes County, and were fined sixpence and cost). We have had no difficulty of that kind with any man, woman or child in Surry County; and have endeavored to live soberly, honestly, and in peace with all the good citizens of this country.
The portion of said piece relating to the inhuman manner in which we had chastized a negro man which we afterwards sold, is a sheer fabrication and infamous falsehood. We have never sold to any man a negro as described, except to Mr. Thos. F. Prather, who denies the truth of said accusation, or of ever having told any person that which the author of said communication says he heard. We are well aware that to some who have not seen us, we are to some extent an object of curiosity, but that we were to be the objects of such vile and infamous misrepresentation, we could not before believe.
It is a well known fact that for some 18 months or 2 years after we moved to Surry, we spent at least one third of our time, if not one half, in Wilkes County, and indeed, we are very frequently there now, and receive from the citizens of that County nothing but the kindest treatment.
We are partners in business and consequently are not often guilty of the folly of bidding against each other for any species of property.
Finally, in conclusion, we would like to say to your correspondent, that hereafter when he wishes to parade the character of private citizens before the public in newspaper columns, that his communication should at least have some semblance of truth. Who he is we do not know, and if his communication is anything like a fair index to his character, we wish no further acquaintance.
CHANG & ENG BUNKER
Chang and Eng had their letter endorsed by thirteen local citizens and friends, to authenticate their denial and preserve their dignity:
The undersigned citizens of Surry County, do certify that we have been acquainted with the Siamese Twins since they became citizens of our county, and some of us for a much longer period, and we take pleasure in bearing our testimony to their good character, peaceable demeanor and strict integrity, in all their intercourse and business in this country.
We further say we have examined the foregoing letter from them, repelling a portion of a communication signed D., in The Greensboro Patriot, and that the statements in said letter are substantially correct.
Among the thirteen signatures to the postscript were Chang and Eng's close friends Robert S. Gilmer, S. Graves, Elisha Banner, and T. F. Prather, the purchaser of the slave.
A more objective article on Chang and Eng appeared a year later. In 1853, the American Phrenological Journal—which had already published a piece about the twins in 1835—published a second analysis of them. The study of phrenology, created by the German anatomist Franz Joseph Gall in 1800, was a means of deducing a subject's mental attributes and personality by examining the contours and bumps of his head. Gall believed that different mental abilities were seated in different parts of the brain, and that the extent of each ability could be judged by the shape and feel of the skull in a specified area. Phrenology had achieved widespread popularity in the twins' lifetime, although interest in it would decline later.
Chang and Eng allowed their heads to be studied by a phrenologist. The examiner's findings led to the following article, in which capitalized words (such as "Destructiveness" or "Benevolence") referred to the parts of the twins' heads where those traits were believed to reside:
Eighteen years ago, we examined the heads of these world-renowned twins, and have just reexamined them. The only perceptible difference is, that one is a little larger than the other. The head of the largest one is a quarter of an inch larger than that of the other, and his individual organs correspondingly fuller; but otherwise, we could not detect the slightest difference. Their characteristics are so perfectly alike, that many have maintained that they were but one being. We usually find the heads and characters of twins very nearly alike, yet never before have we seen any two heads, even of twins, that began to correspond on every single point as perfectly as these do. This complete correspondence, considered in connection with their perfect similarity of character, corroborates as far as one marked fact can do, the truth of our science.
The shape of their heads is very peculiar. Nothing like it is ever found in the Caucasian head. We have never before seen, even in our women, as high, long and full a moral lobe, along with as narrow a head at the ears, as those of these twins. Combativeness is well developed, yet of Destructiveness and Secretiveness they have almost none. Their Benevolence is of the very largest order; while Veneration is much larger than we almost ever find it in our own race. Their immense Benevolence and almost nominal Destructiveness corresponds with their national characteristic of being so very tender of the lives of animals; to kill which, they consider a heinous sin: while their very large Veneration corresponds with their nation's extreme devotion to their religion.
Firmness is large, and the lower or Will part of Self-esteem is also large, while the upper part or Dignity is small; and Approbativeness and Cautiousness very large. As large Adhesiveness as theirs we never find in Caucasian men, and rarely as large Parental Love or Inhabitiveness. Judging from this, they must be a most affectionate and domestic people. Amativeness is full, but not over-grown, while Continuity is full. Appetite is large, but Acquisitiveness only moderate; and we suspect they lack this element in character.
Of Hope, they have scarcely the least, and this, as far as we can judge, is a national characteristic. Conscientiousness is also small, and Spirituality almost wanting.
Their intellectual lobes are well developed as a whole, yet while the reflectives are large, the perceptives are deficient, except that Form is quite large. But Individuality, Color, and Weight are the smallest we ever find. Mirth and Ideality are also only moderate—other national characteristics. Imitation is very large, and Time very small, while Language is fully developed, but Eventuality rather weak.
While the fame of the Siamese Twins was being spread through newspapers, magazines, and pamphlets, their story was not the exclusive property of journalists. Soon, playwrights and novelists would use them in their creations.
The playwright who had the most success with a stage piece based on their lives was Gilbert Abbott a Beckett, an English writer, barrister, and judge, who was a friend of William Make-peace Thackeray and Charles Dickens. At the time Chang and Eng were raising their families, a Beckett was a writer of humorous pieces for the new Punch magazine. Before he died of typhus fever in France in 1856, he had also written and produced stage plays. One of his biggest hits, based entirely on Chang and Eng, was a play entitled The Siamese Twins, a romantic farce that had its debut in London and later became equally popular in New York City.
The play revolved around the scheme of its protagonist, a man named Vivid, who hoped to marry a pretty young thing for her money. The young lady was the ward of an eminent surgeon named Forceps. Vivid's plan was to disguise two of his friends, Dennis and Simon, as the Siamese Twins, whom he called Ching and Wang, and to impress the eminent surgeon by separating them.
Novelists, also, were aware of Chang and Eng, and numerous works of this time carried references to the twins. For example, Herman Melville in his 1857 novel The Confidence Man: His Masquerade wrote a passage in which one character leaned against another with "an air of trustful fraternity with which, when standing, the less strong of the Siamese twins habitually leans against the other."
But the most enduring writing about Chang and Eng in their lifetime was to come from the pen of Samuel L. Clemens, who, as Mark Twain, was to become the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Mark Twain was born six years after Chang and Eng came to the United States. In 1857, while the twins were still in Mount Airy, Twain was serving as an apprentice riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. After two weeks in the Confederate Army as a second lieutenant, he went to work as the city editor of the Virginia City, Nevada, Enterprise. In 1865, he published his short story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in the New York Saturday Press and became famous almost overnight. Three years later, Twain seized upon Chang and Eng as a subject. Always attracted by the bizarre and the unusual, he found Chang and Eng's unique situation perfect material for his extraordinary sense of humor.
In 1868, when Chang and Eng were once again touring, Mark Twain wrote an essay entitled "The Siamese Twins." The essay began with an account of the twins' childhood:
They nearly always played together; and, so accustomed was their mother to this peculiarity, that, whenever both of them chanced to be lost, she usually only hunted for one of them—satisfied that when she found one she would find his brother somewhere in the immediate neighborhood.
Next, readers were treated to a delightful description of the twins' personal habits:
The Twins always go to bed at the same time; but Chang usually gets up about an hour before his brother. By an understanding between themselves, Chang does all the indoor work and Eng runs all the errands. This is because Eng likes to go out; Chang's habits are sedentary. However, Chang always goes along. Eng is a Baptist, but Chang is a Roman Catholic; still, to please his brother, Chang consented to be baptized at the same time that Eng was, on condition that it should not "count." During the war they were strong partizans, and both fought gallantly all through the great struggle—Eng on the Union side and Chang on the Confederate. They took each other as prisoners at Seven Oaks, but the proofs of capture were so evenly balanced in favor of each, that a general army court had to be assembled to determine which one was properly the captor, and which the captive. The jury was unable to agree for a long time; but the vexed question was finally decided by agreeing to consider them both prisoners, and then exchanging them.
The following was an imaginative reverie by Twain on the courting of Adelaide and Sallie:
The ancient habit of going always together had its drawbacks when they reached man's estate, and entered upon the luxury of courting. Both fell in love with the same girl. Each tried to steal clandestine interviews with her, but at the critical moment the other would always turn up. By and by Eng saw, with distraction, that Chang had won the girl's affections; and, from that day forth, he had to bear with the agony of being a witness to all their dainty billing and cooing. But with a magnanimity that did him infinite credit, he succumbed to his fate, and gave countenance and encouragement to a state of things that bade fair to sunder his generous heart-strings. He sat from seven every evening until two in the morning, listening to the fond foolishness of the two lovers, and to the concussion of hundreds of squan-dered kisses—for the privilege of sharing only one of which he would have given his right hand. But he sat patiently, and waited, and gaped, and yawned, and stretched, and longed for two o'clock to come. And he took long walks with the lovers on moonlight evenings—sometimes traversing ten miles, notwith-standing he was usually suffering from rheumatism. He is an inveterate smoker; but he could not smoke on these occasions, because the young lady was painfully sensitive to the smell of tobacco. Eng cordially wanted them married, and done with it; but although Chang often asked the momentous question, the young lady could not gather sufficient courage to answer it while Eng was by. However, on one occasion, after having walked some sixteen miles, and sat up till nearly daylight, Eng dropped asleep, from sheer exhaustion, and then the question was asked and answered. The lovers were married. All acquainted with the circumstance applauded the noble brother-in-law. His unwavering faithfulness was the theme of every tongue. He had stayed with them all through their long and arduous courtship; and when at last they were married, he lifted his hands above their heads, and said with impressive unction, "Bless ye, my children, I will never desert thee!" and he kept his word. Fidelity like this is all too rare in this cold world.
By and by Eng fell in love with his sister-in-law's sister, and married her, and since that day they have all lived together, night and day, in an exceeding sociability which is touching and beautiful to behold, and is a scathing rebuke to our boasted civilization...
Having forgotten to mention it sooner, I will remark in conclusion, that the ages of the Siamese Twins are respectively fifty-one and fifty-three years.
Twenty-two years later, in 1891, Twain drew again on his fascination with the freakish, and began to write a novel that was published in 1894 as The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. He created in the story a pair of Italian twins named Angelo and Luigi, who had two heads and two pairs of arms, but only one pair of legs.
Although still inspired by the memory of Chang and Eng, Twain based his fictional twins largely on another real-life pair, Giovanni and Giacomo Tocci, born in 1875 in Turin. The Toccis were one body below the sixth rib, two bodies above. Each brother had control over one of the legs. Because they were unable to coordinate their movements, they were never able to walk. The brothers exhibited themselves for some years, but despite money and fame they were exceedingly morose about their condition.
Twain took their tragedy, overlaid it with his knowledge of Chang and Eng, and turned it into a witty comedy. While Luigi was olive-skinned and dark-haired, Angelo was blue-eyed and blond. Luigi liked to drink and cavort, thus getting his brother drunk in the process. Angelo was president of the Teetotalers Union, and very religious.
Twain solved the problem of his twins each not having a pair of legs in a most unusual way. For one week one of the twins possessed complete control of the two legs, and the next week the other twin took over. This alternation was an act of God, and occurred with unerring regularity. According to Luigi: "So exactly to the instant does the change come, that during our stay in many of the great cities of the world, the public clocks were regulated by it; and as hundreds of thousands of private clocks and watches were set and corrected in accordance with the public clocks, we really furnished the standard time for the entire city."
At the climax of the story, the twins were accused of being "a pair of scissors." At this insult, they kicked their accuser, and were brought to trial for assault. The poor judge was unable to ascertain which twin was the guilty party. A lawyer named Pudd'nhead Wilson defended the twins, who were freed because it was decided it would be impossible to punish the one without punishing the other.
One of the more interesting passages in the book revealed Twain's musings on the subject of lusus naturae:
At times, in his seasons of deepest depressions, Angelo almost wished that he and his brother might become segregated from each other and be separate individuals, like other men. But of course as soon as his mind cleared and these diseased imaginings passed away, he shuddered at the repulsive thought, and earnestly prayed that it might visit him no more. To be separate, as other men are! How awkward it would seem; how unendurable. What would he do with his hands, his arms? How would his legs feel? How odd, how strange and grotesque every action, attitude, movement, gesture would be. To sleep by himself, eat by himself, walk by himself—how lonely, how unspeakably lonely! No, no, any fate but that. In every way and from every point, the idea was revolting.
This was of course natural; to have felt otherwise would have been unnatural. He had known no life but a combined one; he had been familiar with it from his birth; he was not able to conceive of any other as being agreeable, or even bearable. To him, in the privacy of his secret thoughts, all other men were monsters, deformities: and during three-fourths of his life their aspect had filled him with what promised to be an unconquerable aversion. But at eighteen his eye began to take note of female beauty; and little by little, undefined longings grew up in his heart, under whose softening influences the old stubborn aversion gradually diminished, and finally disappeared. Men were still monstrosities to him, still deformities, and in his sober moments he had no desire to be like them, but their strange and unsocial and uncanny construction was no longer offensive to him.
Twain eventually decided that his novel was really two books in one, so he performed a "Siamese twin" operation on his own work. As he put it, "I dug out the farce and left the tragedy." The "farce" part retained the book's original title, Those Extraordinary Twins, and the rest became the well-known Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson.
Chang and Eng's continuing fame inspired more than prose. A countless number of sentimental odes were written in their honor. Occasionally, the poems were amusing. One of these, one of the earliest and longest, was composed by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the popular English novelist who had gained fame with The Last Days of Pompeii, among other books. In 1831, when he was twenty-eight and Chang and Eng were at the peak of their success in Great Britain, Bulwer-Lytton published a book, The Siamese Twins. In one typical verse, in which Eng had committed a public disturbance and been brought into court with Chang, Bulwer-Lytton had Eng defend himself before the magistrate:
I made the row, sir, I alone
While Chang was gazing in the sky, sir; He press'd me greatly to come on,
But — such a girl was in my eye, sir! And so not deeming it could hurt
You, or your laws, I stopped to flirt;
And tho' my weakness you may blame, sir,
Perhaps you might have done the same, sir.
Eng continued his plea to the magistrate, and then concluded:
But one word more; — in this affair
If I have sinned, my sin not knowing,
Such penance I consent to bear
s you may deem it worth bestowing;
But he — my brother — no offence
Committed; you must let him hence!
Take me to prison, if you please,
But first this gentleman release;
And while to jail the guilty sending,
Take heed, nor touch the unoffending!
Another poem was one written in 1902 by William Linn Keese entitled "The Siamese Twins, A Chapter of Biography." These are a few select verses from the poem:
I
'Tis common to speak of things in pairs:
A pair of eyes or a pair of stairs;
With a pair of trousers for the sake of rhyme;
A pair of gloves, and a pair of shoes,
The hands and feet to match if you choose;
A pair of scissors; a pair of bellows;
A pair of capital jolly fellows;
A pair of pigeons, a pair of wings
And pairs of numerous other things;
But the pair with which my lay begins
Is that singular dual,
Original plural,
Known round the world as the Siamese Twins.
II
From far Siam came my heroes hight,
(The land where the elephant bleaches white,)
Whence Siamese; and if ease they ever
Enjoyed, it must have been there, for never,
When in this country they cast their lots,
Did they heed the teachings of Doctor Watts.
Their names were respectively Eng and Chang,
Their surname Bunker, which has a twang
Of that Island, you know, just off Cape Cod,
Nantucket yclept; and it's rather odd
That a name so calmly unsentimental
Should be borne by a native Oriental.
Conceive yourself saying "Mr. Bunker!"
To either festive Siamese younker –
Bunker, avaunt! thou hast no claim
To Chang and Eng's united fame .. .
VII.
What shall be said of this state of things,
Prolific of many imaginings?
Suppose, for a moment, Chang were ill,
And felt like remaining perfectly still,
And Eng felt splendidly au contraire,
And of all things wanted to take the air—
How would they fix it! Why, Eng, of course,
Must stick to his brother's side, perforce,
And hear him fret and murmur and groan,
And see pills and powders down him thrown—
Be dragged off finally, willy-nilly,
To bed at an hour absurdly silly,
And lie there, trying to sleep in vain,
With thoughts that were certainly most profane.
Or suppose some fell, contagious thing,
Small-pox for instance, had captured Eng.
Unhappy Chang would be sure to catch it,
And then how inconceivably wretched The situation —
for brother and brother Would then be pitted against each other!
Or, fancy that Eng was to church inclined,
And Chang preferred to stay behind —
Either Eng must relinquish his pious path,
Or Chang go with him in holy wrath!
Ah, how hard the fate
That makes one await
The whim of another without debate!
"The Siamese Twins," wrote one commentator, "were even better known than John L. Sullivan," who became the world champion heavyweight fighter, and "more widely noted than the President of the Republic."
Yet, in Mount Airy, North Carolina, oblivious of their ever-widening fame, Chang and Eng had remained in seclusion, concentrating their time on their wives, their children, their farms, and their sports. They had been in retirement from show business since 1839, out of the limelight and the public eye as performers for almost ten years.
Now, suddenly, in 1849, that would all change.