THE TWINS OF LOCANA. !

Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 148, 6 November 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TWINS OF LOCANA. !

A Vienna correspondent writes : — ] John and Jacob Tocci, the twins of 1 Locana, who have been shown in almost every city of Europe as the f successors of the famous Siamese 1 twins, are dying in the Prater. ' Their mother is a strong healthy ] country woman. The boys resemble i each other exactly, have pretty, delicate features, and are now in their 1 tenth year. John and Jacob are ] separate as far as the sixth rib, and f have one abdomen and one pair of 1 legs between them. Jacob moves J the right leg, and John the left. The twins cannot walk, and keep 1 their balance by lacing their arms t round each other's neck. Jacob eats J often and heartily, and is the 3 healthier of the two, and to all ap- ] pearance it is he who keeps Ms brother alive. Two days ago the 1 twins quarrelled over a toy, and c John grew so excited that his heartblood suddenly ceased to flow, and he 1 changed to a condition of complete 1 lethargy, from which he had not c awoke on the following morning, a The boy suffered from the same complaint a year ago in Berlin, and t Professor Virchow then declared that 1 a recurrence of the lethargy would t certainly put an end to the twins' 1 life. A number of Vienna physicians are observing the malady, but they 1 entertain little hope for John's life, a and if John dies, Jacob must follow c him to the grave. The twins as they J lie in their bed offer a strange contrast. Jacob with feverish eyes and I a red face seems to harbour all the J blood that has retreated from John's « lifeless body. Tho conscious boy 1 cries incessantly, because he has often heard Professor Virchow's re- i marks repeated, and knows that his ] brother's death is but the harbinger t of his own. The poor creatures are * meeting with the same fate that i some time ago put an end to the life of the Siamese twins, the second of 1 whom died of poisoned blood-vessels, t after having spent six terrible hours * with the corpse of his brother. The + advisability of an operation separate i ing the living from the dead brother t was discussed at the time, but before 1 a resolution could be taken death had done its work. The twins of * Locana, who for the last eight years i have travelled to all the world's 1 shows, were to have left to-morrow 1 for New York, where Barnum is said to have engaged them for a 1 year- at a salary of 30,000 francs. In < In the event of their death the parents have sold the body to a t London anatomical museum for the i price of £8000.

Golden rule a la Mammon — Do be- \ fore you're done. i