Is it true what they say about girls with big feet?
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet Miss Fanny Mills
Fanny lived from 1860-1899. She suffered from Milroy's disease, which is similar to elephantitis.The advertisement below boasted that Fanny (who weighed only 115 pounds)had size 30 shoes, and that it took three goatskins to make them. Her feet measured nineteen inches long and ten inches wide.
Mills began her career in 1885, exhibiting herself in dime museums along the east coast. As a ploy it was advertised that her father offered $5,000 and a well stocked farm as dowry to any man who would marry her. Ironically enough, these advertisements continued even after she was married.
At the height of her career it was said that she made $150 a week. She died in 1899.
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