The Snake Eater

("Ottawa Daily Republic," July 12, 1901, page 3, column 4)

There is a remarkable monstrosity on exhibit in the room just north of the Occidental hotel. She is human in statue, complection, hair and facial expression she resembles an Indian- but she can neither walk nor talk, and has most of the characteristic actions of a snake. She crawls upon the floor like a snake, drinks as a serpent would, protrudes her tongue and hisses exactly as does a venomous reptile.

By birth she is an Abasynian, and according to the custom of her country with the deformed, when a child she was cast out to harbor with snakes and in this manner she acquired the habits of the creatures. Her favorite diet is upon snakes, frogs and other reptiles.