Editing Joseph Merrick (section)

== Life as a curiosity ==
Merrick concluded that his only escape from the workhouse might be through the world of [[Freak show|human novelty exhibitions]].<ref name=Howell62 /><ref name=HumanMarvel>{{cite web |title=Elephant Man – The Complete Story of Joseph Merrick |website=thehumanmarvels.com |date=21 April 2008 |url=http://www.thehumanmarvels.com/joseph-merrick-the-elephant-man/ |access-date=18 February 2015 |archive-date=21 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210321201428/https://www.thehumanmarvels.com/joseph-merrick-the-elephant-man/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He wrote a speculative letter to [[Sam Torr]], a Leicester [[music hall]] comedian and proprietor that he knew. Torr came to visit Merrick at the workhouse and decided he could make money exhibiting him; although, to retain Merrick's novelty value, he would need to be put on display as a travelling exhibit.<ref name=Howell62 /> To this end, Torr organised a group of managers for his new charge: music hall proprietor J. Ellis, travelling showman George Hitchcock, and fair owner Sam Roper. On 3&nbsp;August 1884, Merrick departed the workhouse to start his new career.<ref name=Howell63 />

[[File:merrick-shop.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|The shop on [[Whitechapel Road]] where Merrick was exhibited. Today it sells [[sari]]s.]]
The showmen named Merrick the Elephant Man and advertised him as "Half-a-Man and Half-an-Elephant".<ref name=Howell63 /> They showed him around the [[East Midlands]], including in Leicester and [[Nottingham]], before moving him on to London for the winter season. Hitchcock contacted an acquaintance, showman [[Tom Norman]], who ran [[penny gaff]] shops in the [[East End of London]] exhibiting human curiosities. Without the need for a meeting, Norman agreed to take over Merrick's management, and Merrick travelled with Hitchcock to London in November 1884.<ref name=Howell64 />

When Norman first encountered Merrick, he was dismayed by the extent of his deformities, fearing his appearance might be too horrific to be a successful novelty.<ref name=Howell72 /> Nevertheless, he exhibited Merrick in the back of an empty shop on [[Whitechapel Road]]. Merrick slept on an iron bed with a curtain drawn around to afford him some privacy. Observing Merrick asleep one morning, Norman learnt that he always slept sitting up, with his legs drawn up and his head resting on his knees. His enlarged head was too heavy to allow him to sleep lying down and, as Merrick put it, he would risk "waking with a broken neck".<ref name=Howell75 /> Norman decorated the shop with posters that Hitchcock had produced, depicting a monstrous half-man, half-elephant.<ref name=Howell73 /> A pamphlet was created, titled "The Autobiography of Joseph Carey Merrick", giving an outline of Merrick's life to date. This brief biography, whether written by Merrick or not, provided a generally accurate account of his life. It did contain an incorrect date of birth, but Merrick was always vague about when exactly he was born.<ref name=Howell53 />

{{Quote box
 | quote =Ladies and gentlemen&nbsp;... I would like to introduce Mr Joseph Merrick, the Elephant Man. Before doing so I ask you please to prepare yourselves—Brace yourselves up to witness one who is probably the most remarkable human being ever to draw the breath of life.
 | source =—[[Tom Norman]]<ref name=Howell74 />
 | align = left
 | width = 33%
}}
Norman gathered an audience by standing outside the shop and attracting passers-by with his showman's [[patter]]. He would then lead the assembled crowd into the shop, explaining that the Elephant Man was "not here to frighten you but to enlighten you".<ref name=Howell73 /> Pulling the curtain to one side, he allowed the onlookers—often visibly horrified—to observe Merrick up close, while describing the circumstances that had led to his present condition, including his mother's alleged incident with a fairground elephant.

The Elephant Man exhibit was moderately successful, and made money primarily from the sales of the autobiographical pamphlet.<ref name=Howell75 /> Merrick was able to put his share of the profits aside, in the hope of earning enough money to one day buy a home of his own.<ref name=Howell78 /> The shop on Whitechapel Road was directly opposite the [[Royal London Hospital|London Hospital]], ideally situated for medical students and doctors to visit, curious to see Merrick.<ref name=Howell75 /> One such visitor was a young [[Pre-registration house officer|house surgeon]] named Reginald Tuckett, who, like his colleagues, was intrigued by the Elephant Man's deformities. Tuckett suggested that his senior colleague [[Sir Frederick Treves, 1st Baronet|Frederick Treves]] should pay Merrick a visit.<ref name=Howell5 />

[[File:merrick-hood.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|Merrick wore a cap and hood for public discretion.]]
Treves first met Merrick that November, at a private viewing that took place before Norman opened the shop for the day.<ref name=Howell75 /> Treves later recalled in his 1923 ''Reminiscences'' that Merrick was "the most disgusting specimen of humanity that I had ever seen [...] at no time had I met with such a degraded or perverted version of a human being as this lone figure displayed."<ref name=Treves /> The viewing lasted no more than 15 minutes, after which Treves returned to work. Later the same day, he sent Tuckett back to the shop to ask if Merrick might be willing to go to the hospital for an examination. Norman and Merrick both agreed to the request.<ref name=Howell76 /> To allow him to travel the short distance without drawing undue attention, Merrick wore a disguise consisting of an oversized black cloak and a brown cap with a [[hessian sack]] covering his face, and he rode in a cab hired by Treves.<ref name=Howell13 /> Although Treves stated that Merrick's outfit on this occasion included the black cloak and brown cap, there is evidence to suggest that Merrick acquired that particular costume a year later, while travelling with Sam Roper's Fair. If that were the case, Treves was remembering the clothing from a later meeting with Merrick.<ref name=Howell81 />

On examining Merrick at the hospital, Treves observed that he was "shy, confused, not a little frightened, and evidently much cowed".<ref name=Treves /> At this point, Treves assumed him to be an "[[imbecile]]".<ref name=Treves /> He measured Merrick's head circumference at the enlarged size of {{convert|36|in|cm}}, his right wrist at {{convert|12|in|cm}} and one of his fingers at {{convert|5|in|cm}} in circumference. He noted that Merrick's skin was covered in [[papilloma]]ta ([[wart]]y growths), the largest of which exuded an unpleasant smell.<ref name=Howell23 /> The [[subcutaneous tissue]] appeared to be weakened, causing a loosening of the skin which, in some areas, hung away from the body. There were bone deformities in the right arm, both legs, and, most conspicuously, in the large skull.<ref name=Howell24 /> Despite having had corrective surgery to his mouth in 1882, Merrick's speech remained barely intelligible. His left arm and hand were neither enlarged nor deformed. His penis and scrotum were normal. Apart from his deformities and the lameness in his hip, Treves concluded that Merrick appeared to be in good general health.<ref name=Howell25 />

Norman later recalled that Merrick had visited the hospital "two or three" times,<ref name=Howell76 /> and that Treves had given Merrick his [[Visiting card|calling card]] during one of those visits.<ref name=odnb /> Treves had some photographs taken on one occasion, and provided Merrick with a set of copies which were later added to his autobiographical pamphlet.<ref name=Howell79 /> On 2&nbsp;December 1884, Treves presented Merrick at a meeting of the [[Pathological Society of London]] in [[Bloomsbury]].<ref name=Howell26 /> Merrick eventually told Norman that he no longer wanted to be examined at the hospital. According to Norman, he said he was "stripped naked and felt like an animal in a cattle market".<ref name=Howell77 />

During this period in Victorian Britain, tastes were changing in regard to freak show exhibitions like Norman's, which were becoming a cause for public concern on the grounds of decency and because of the disruption caused by crowds gathering outside them.<ref name=Howell29 /> Shortly after Merrick's last examination with Treves, the police closed down Norman's shop on Whitechapel Road, and Merrick's Leicester managers withdrew him from Norman's charge.<ref name=Howell77 /> In 1885, Merrick went on the road with Sam Roper's travelling fair.<ref name=Howell80 /> He befriended two other performers, known as "Roper's Midgets"—Bertram Dooley and Harry Bramley—who occasionally defended Merrick from public harassment.<ref name=Howell81 />