Buncombe County NcArchives News.....Hester Massey July 1, 1836
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Carolyn Shank Carolynshank@msn.com December 19, 2007, 4:13 pm

July 1,  1836   Charlotte Journal July 1, 1836
            HESTER MASSEY
   The following description of a singular female, now living in Buncombe 
County, N. C., is from a correspondent of the Charleston Observer, who has 
furnished other notices of the County for that paper. The editor of the 
Observer says that every reliance may be placed upon the statements.
   "There is a woman in Buncombe County, N. C., 22 years of age, born without 
arms or legs. She is one of 12 children, the rest are free from defect. Her 
head is large, countenance good, and trunk well formed, except a slight 
prominence of one shoulder arising, probably from some habit of unequall 
exertion of the muscles of the back. She is possessed of the usual intellect, 
and reads a good deal. In reading, she occupies an ordinary chair, with a 
table at her left side, and turns the leaves with her mouth. She is capable of 
progression, on a level surface, by advancing first one of the ischia and then 
the other, successively. Fixed on a chair, she gives it a progressive motion  
across the floor, by means of the muscles of her back acting on the back of a 
chair, tilting it a little, and then advancing first one, and then the other 
side of it. She sweeps the floor holding a straw broom between her head and 
shoulder. Yet she cannot dress or feed herself, nor lcan she get on or off a 
chair or bed. Her names is HESTER MASSEY. She is sometimes at Court, and often 
receives presents from those whose curiosity leads them to view her. She was 
once induced to go as far as Columbia, S. C., with a man who lwas to take care 
of her and exhibit her as a curiosity. She, however, received no part of the 
money, and soon returned to her friends.

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