Ella Harper

Ella Harper

Ella Harper , known as The Camel Girl , German as much as "the camel girl" (born January 5, 1870 in Sumner County , † December 19, 1921 in Nashville ) was an American circus actress.

Harper got her name as the Camel Girl from her way of walking on all fours, as she was able to turn her knees back due to a malformation .

From 1886 it was an integral part of the WH Harris's Nickel Plate circus and appeared frequently in the daily newspapers of the towns the circus visited. Harper was making $ 200 a week , which probably opened up new opportunities for her.

On her business card she described herself as follows:

English original:

"I am called the camel girl because my knees turn backward. I can walk best on my hands and feet as you see me in the picture. I have traveled considerably in the show business for the past four years and now, this is 1886 and I intend to quit the show business and go to school and fit myself for another occupation. "

German translation:

“I'm called the Camel Girl because my knees twist back. I can walk on my hands and feet very well [at the same time] as you can see in my photo. I've been in show business a lot over the past four years and now it's 1886; I intend to leave show business, go to school and learn another profession. "

Next life

According to a reporter, Harper returned to Sumner County , Tennessee , and lived there with her mother and a niece according to the 1900 census. On June 28, 1905, she married Robert L. Savely. In 1906 she gave birth to a girl named Mabel E., who died that same year. In 1918 she and her husband adopted a girl named Jewel who died less than three months old. In 1920 she and her husband still lived in Nashville. Harper died of colon cancer in Nashville in 1921 and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} RayM: Finding Ella (my search for The Camel Girl). In: Ella Harper. April 18, 2015, accessed December 15, 2018 . 
2. ↑ ELLA HARPER - The Camel Girl. In: Circus Freaks and Human Oddites. May 8, 2006, Retrieved December 15, 2018 (American English). 
3. ↑ Ella Harper. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 28, 2010 ; accessed on December 15, 2018 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.