TWO OR ONE ?

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 971, 25 March 1911, Page 4

TWO OR ONE ?

Small wonder that a Great Northern ticket collector was puzzled when he came to the famous Bohemian twins in the Scotch express. Whether this remarkable “pair” are one or two persons has puzzled many, and it was not surprising that the railway official at Peterborough was in a quandary. When the train reached Peterborough the collector entered a compartment in which several people were sitting, one of whom was Mr Ike S. Rose, who handed the official six tickets. “Excuse me,” said the conductor, “there are seven people.” “No, there are not,” replied Mr Rose, “there are only six.” “There’s another woman there,” said the collector; “I can see two sitting together.” “No,” said Mr Rose, “there’s only one.” “But I can see them myself,” said the collector. “Well, prove it then.” said Mr Rose, adding “stand up Josepha Rosa,” The astonished official then saw the famous Bohemian twins, one of whom was carrying her bonnie baby boy. “Well,” said the collector, “I don’t know what they are, but I

shall have to take you name and report it.” “With pleasure,” said the unruffled Mr Rose. The next day the twins shook hands heartily with an interviewer, and pointed to the baby, of which they appeared very proud. They have happy, smiling teatuies, and are 32 years of age. Mr Rose said he had always taken one ticket for them. He was a member of the Musichall Artists’ Railway Association and be took out the tickets for Josefa and Rosa, the twins, in the single name of Josepha Rosa Blazek. “I cannot help it if they summon me, for I do not know whether they are two persons or one. If they are two,” said Mr Rose, “then I will get two tickets. Opinion is divided. Some professors abroad say they are one and others say they are two.” Asked what they thought about it, the twins iu one voice replied, “We are separate people and we think we ought to have separate tickets. We don’t want to go to the police court. We don’t like this single ticket business.” The twins are joined at the back, and they run and move about with great celerity. The baby is the son of Rosa, the (five minutes) younger sister, but both are very proud of the little fellow, who was born in April of last year at Prague, the native city of the twins, whose mother and father are still alive. They have a nurse ond a maid and a manservant with them, and they are going to do the sights of London, this being their first visit, before they go off to Berlin again. During their visit a large number of doctors are to be invited to meet them.