STRANGE DECEPTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1177, 13 May 1884, Page 3

STRANGE DECEPTION.

A lingular deception, practised by a girl named Frances Wood, otherwise Fanny Jordan, of Clapham Hill, Whifcatable, has just come to light. It appears that, when about 15 years old, the girl took to her bed, and gradually grew worse in appearance until her face was completely blackened, with the exception of a white mark down the centre of the nose. She lost the use of her whole body except one arm, and could only take brandy and water and light dainties. Naturally, her case called forth much commiseration, eliciting substantial aid from every part of England. Besides the local practitioners, she baffled the questions and skill of three medical men of standing and repute from other districts, and has received relief from both the parochial authorities and the Whitstable Charity trustees. Hearing that her brother had been sentenced to three months' imprisonment, she recovered her natural hue, and whan discovered by her mother, said,' I felt as if something gave me three raps on the head, and * thrill passed through me.' She died a few days after from shock to the system, but prior to that sent for a person who had often visited her, and confessed that during all these years phe had acted the hypocrite, and had been perfectly able to use herlimbß all the time. Several times of late she declared the deceit had been a burden to her, and she had longed to confess. On hearing the postman telling her mother of the imprisonment of her brother, she seized the opportunity to wipe off the black markw with a piece of flannel. She had systemetically and gradually discolored her features with burnt cork, which she kept in a box with a candle beneath her bed. The mother states that she was quite uuaware of her daughter's deception.