"Can the Ethiopian Change his Skin."

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 118, 13 February 1872, Page 7

"Can the Ethiopian Change his Skin."

3 | —o —• A correspondent of the Norfolk Journal - j relates the following : ' “We have near this place the most per- * feet and mysterious living curiosity ever - known in this or any other country. It is a I case which might justly attract the attention 3 and study of naturalists to account for so i strange a freak of nature. A negro boy (born upon the plantation of Air John Devereux), whose parents are perfectly black, was, at ' | the time of his birth, also black, and remained | so until about eight years old, when, without j sickness or aily other apparent cause, white t; spots began to make their appearance upon f | those parts of his body hidden by clothing* -1 and continued to spread until ho was about i eighteen years of age, when he became peril fectly white all over, except his face and i I hands, these retaining their natural black : i colour. About this time white spots ap--1 peared Upon his hands, which have continued f to grow larger ever since, and will no doubt 1 in a few years more entirely cover these *; members, making him a complete u'li ite negro ) I instead of the ‘ spotted negro’ by which ho fi is generally known. The negro is frequently 3 1 met upon the public roads, and a more fright- - ful object in the shape of a human being al.l tornately interspersed with large blotches of t 1 black and white. Fie is now about twenty-- - j two years old, and has enjoyed remarkably n good health, never having a sick day in his s life except a few chills, which are common - to all persons on the Roanoke. Hundreds s of persons of this vicinity can vouch for the - above facts, and the negro himself can be Sfetii ; at any time."