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Lillie B. Williams
Dick
Best recalls how he acquired Betty Lou
Betty Lou
Williams was born on January 10, 1932 in Albany, Georgia as Lillie
B. Williams. The daughter of poor sharecroppers and the youngest
of twelve children, s he
was discovered at the age of one year by showman Dick Best. Best
changed the little girl's name from Lillie to Betty Lou for
unknown reasons, and began showing her at his New York museum,
where she came to the attention of Robert Ripley, of Believe it or
Not?! fame. Ripley and Best negotiated and Betty Lou was allowed
to be shown at the Ripley's Believe it or Not?! Odditorium at the
Chicago World's Fair in 1934.
Working for Ripley, Betty Lou made $250
a week - at the age of two! As an adult, her earnings would nearly
quadruple, leaving her wealthy enough to buy a 260-acre, $40,000
farm for her parents and send all eleven of her siblings to
college. Dick Best said that "Betty Lou was not only one of the
greatest freaks ever born, she was one of the finest, most
generous people I ever knew" (Hartzmann).
Betty was not only generous but beautiful
as well. Anatomically, she was perfect, except for - or perhaps in
addition to - her parasitic twin, which consisted of two legs and
an arm with three fingers (actually it had two arms, although the
second was little more than a single digit). Sometimes she dressed
the twin in custom-made miniature clothes and shoes, and she kept
it hidden under maternity clothes when she wasn't onstage.
According to her promotional material, Betty's "little sister" had
its head imbedded in her torso. Nevertheless, doctors proclaimed
her healthy and said she had "a good chance to live to be very
old." Alas, they were wrong.
Her good looks and kind
disposition did not go unnoticed by male suitors, and Betty became
engaged to one of them. Those who knew the couple claimed this man
was only after her fortune, and when he left her, he took a good
deal of her money with him. Soon afterwards, Betty Lou suffered a
severe asthma attack in her home in Trenton, New Jersey, and died.
She was only 23 years old. Friends claim she died of a broken
heart.
(Elizabeth
Anderson -
Phreeque)
Showman Dick Best recalls how he acquired Betty Lou
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 Dick
Best liked to recall the manner in which
he acquired Betty Lou Williams, the Four Legged Girl, for his
show. He relates that he heard rumors of a four-legged girl
in the backwoods of Georgia and determined to verify them for
himself. After five days of beating the brush near Albany,
Ga., he questioned a crossroads general store owner about the
girl. The proprietor looked askance at him and said he would
be glad to get someone who could help him.
The offer of aid rejuvenated the tired
searcher, but to his surprise it came in the form of a sheriff and
a few deputies, who marched the protesting Dick off to the pokey
on the grounds that anyone hunting a four legged girl mush be off
the beam.
After eight hours of incarceration in
the town jail at Richland, Ga., he was released and resumed his
search. On a chance he asked a local schoolboy if he
know of the elusive girl, proffering a dollar for the information.
The boy calmly led him to the home of Betty Lou Williams-only a
few hundred years for the general area he have been combing for
several days.
Images
Betty Lou Williams 18 years
old - She is
the top midway show attraction at the MI State Fair -
September 1950 - Photograph by Francis Miller
Life Magazine
Dick Best - 1956
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