PART OF BARNUM'S
FIRST FREAK SHOW.
PECULIARITIES OF THE LUCASIE
FAMILY, ALBINOS.
Burning of Museum in New York
Sent Joseph to Kansas City,
Where He Died of Dropsy.
JOSEPH LUCASIE.
Joseph Lucasie, the Albino, who died of dropsy at the General hospital Friday morning, had in addition to an exceptional gift of harmony the distinction of having been one of the original exhibitions of P. T. Barnum, the pioneer showman.
It was in 1858 that Barnum heard of the strange family in Holland.
The fact that an Albino named Lucase had married an Albino wife and that both had abundant silken hair was in itself nothing remarkable. Barnum could have placed his hand on at least a dozen such couples in different quarters of the world.
It was the phenomena of two white-haired, pink-eyed children, a boy and a girl, born of this union, that made the Lucasie family worth having. The offspring of Albinos are almost without exception normal in every way, and the condition of being an Albino is said not to be hereditary.
HERALDED FROM MADAGASCAR.
When the Lucasie family was brought over from Holland, Joseph was 8 years old and his sister a few years younger. They were assigned to Barnum's New York city museum in 1859-60, where they were featured as having come from Madagascar and being the last of the great race of Albinos made famous by the writings of H. Rider Haggard. In this role they excited immense interest in the metropolis, attracting large crowds daily.
FAMOUS ALBINO FAMILY THAT WAS SHOWN BY THE LATE P. T. BARNUM.
When the Barnum museum in New York burned the Lucasie family started out on its own resources and made money. They were picked up by the W. W. Cole circus and taken to Australia, where they were featured with success in a country popularly thought to be the home of the Albino.
After their return to America they hired out to the Lemen Bros.' circus, touring the West with it until 1898. Then, Joseph's father, mother and sister died in quick succession, leaving him practically alone in the world. The disruption of the family, which had been such a drawing card as a whole, left Joseph Lucasie in rather poor circumstances. He had, however, one recourse which stood him in good stead up to the time of his death.
EXPERT VIOLINIST.
During the years he spent with Barnum in the museum business he had learned to play the violin. Later he had improved his talent by constant practice, so that when his father died here ten years ago he was able to go into vaudeville and make good. It is said that there are few professional violinists in the west who are not personally acquainted with Joseph Lucasie.
Mr. Lucasie at his death was large and thick-chested. His luxuriant growth of white hair had been shorn a year previous because it made his head ache and there was little of the Albino distinctions left about him apparently, with the exception of his pink eyes. He was very sensitive and disliked to be alluded to as "the Albino" or have any name applied to him indicating that he was different from other men.
His memory of P. T. Barnum was very vague, owing to the great lapse of time and his extreme youth when he was in the great showman's museum, and he could tell few anecdotes about him. Since 1894 he has lived at 1117 Norton.
