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THE ELEPHANT MAN,Wondering how theunfortunate so-called ‘•Elephant Man ” was faring now that he had ceased to be a nine days’ wonder, London journalist journeyed the other day on his way to the London Hospital. After a few minutes of lounging and parleying in the wait-| ing-rooms, watching all sorts of cases being brought I in, from a compound fracture to a put-out thumb, the emissary gained his point and was escorted by an attendant towards the secluded part of the institution where poor Joseph Merrick makes his home. Some time back, when the latter was abiding in one of the waTds, he used to receive numbers of visits from curious impertinents, to use Cervantes* phrase; but now, though various ladies of rank, in particular, are still very kind and thoughtful in their attentions, the general public is fast forgetting the “ Elephant Man.” Merrick was having a meal when the reporter entered his little room, built out on the ground floor of the ward that bears the singular name of “ Blizard” (with one z). He brightened up visibly at seeing a new face, and affably motioned his visitor to take a chair, but then relapsed into his favourite attitude of resting his head upon his strangely dis-proportioned right hand. This he does, as he has no hesitation in telling you, to relieve the pain that he constantly feels in his head, which measures as many as 36 inches in circumference. It would serve no good purpose to descant upon Merrick’s many malformations, though, to be sure, he is willing enough to talk about himself; but it may be noted that his left hand is quite normal, and gripped the newspaper man's hand in right hearty fashion, and that he walks very lame, using a stick, and' alleging that this lameness is the result of a fall in boyhood, which his family carelessly treated as of no account. He js decidedly short and rather slight, and speaks in a very intelligent manner. His accent shows plainly that he is not a Cockney. As a matter of fact, Merrick was bom in Leicester gome 29 or 30 years back. *The disease only began to manifest itself noticeably when he was in his teens, while, unhappily, his mother, who might have lookedafter him, died when he was ten. There were two other children by this first marriage, but his father married again, has had a large family by his second wife, and has not set eyes upon his hapless son for 14 years. Merrick speaks with considerable bitterness of the way in whieh he was swindled on his tour in Belgium by his Austrian entrepreneur* In his own words he is pretty comfortable in the London Hospital, where he has been now for considerably over two years, but bow can a man, whose terrible malady seems if anything to be growing worse, be as cheerful as a cricket or as blithe as a lark. His little room is hung round with pictures and decked out with knick-knacks. Joseph Merrick spends a good deal of his time in
Newspaper Details
Middlesex Messenger
London, Middlesex, GB
Fri, May 17, 1889
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 21 Oct 2023
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