Carnival Kindness-Thin Man & Fat Lady- My Cousin John Battersby and Hannah

DEATH OF A MUSEUM FREAK-Philadelphia, March 27 Zanie Zanobia, known all over the country as the cannibal fan child, died this afternoon of cancer of the stomach at the residence of John Battersby, in Frankford. Zanie, though born in Africa, was a light mulatto. Her fortune consisted of her fingers, which were about seven inches long and webbed. From this deformity she got her name of fan child. When she was only a little child she became a protégé of Hannah Battersby, who is said to be the biggest professional "fat woman" in America. Hannah is the wife of John Battersby, who was once a "living skeleton," but who unaccountably gained flesh and muscle and was ruined as a "freak," and he is now a wealthy wagon builder. Zanie, who was 19 years old, was at her death the wife of a showman known as "Canada Jack," a white man. She had been ill at the residence of her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Battersby, for several months. Her last public appearance was at Forepaugh's Museum, in this city. (The New York Times, March 28 1885)