The southwestern part of Jefferson county, that strange region of hermits an recluses, is all agog over another sensational discovery. The latest wonder to come to light is an electric girl, Mary Birchall by name, who lives with her parents in a dilapidated frame house on the lake shore, in that rock-riven scrub in a district of Henderson known as “The Jobs.” As Trilby was dominated by a superior force, so has this uneducated girl become possessed of a wondrous power. Miss Birchall is a comely girl of 18, tall and graceful, with an abundance of dark brown hair, regular features and a complexion rivaling La France roses. She is almost a recluse, however, and is rarely seen away from the tumble-down structure she calls her home. She is also uneducated save for the knowledge she may have gleaned from the birds, the flowers and the forest of scrub pines that surrounds the house. But she is endowed with a strange electric power that would make her fortune in the museums of the country if she would consent to exhibit herself. One of her methods of utilizing the power is the transmitting of a current of electricity to a sewing machine and a grindstone, causing them to run at any desired rate of speed, and all the family sewing is performed on an old-fashioned machine driven by the electric current from the girl’s finger-tips, while the edged tools of the little farm are sharpened on the grindstone revolved by the same force. She can, in a measure, likewise light up a dark room at her will by her presence. When Farmer Birchall wants to investigate matters at night in the barns, Miss Mary accompanies him and illuminates the building, and there is not the danger of fire there would be by the use of a lantern. When producing the phenomena she seems to be charged with all the electric energy of a live wire, and it is extremely dangerous for a person to touch her. The heavily charged atmosphere that surrounds her at such times repels, and thus has saves many from injury. A large shepherd dog owned by the family rubbed his nose against Miss Birchall when she was transmitting force to the grindstone and received a shock that stretched him lifeless. When illuminating the cow stables one night a vicious heifer kicked at the girl, striking her on the head. Instantly the animal experienced a shock that paralyzed its limbs, and not recovering afterward it was killed by Mr. Birchall. A young man named Charles Harris, who lives at Six Town Point, volunteered to investigate the mystery on April 30. He asserted his willingness to undergo the risk of the girl’s powers, took hold of her hands, and at once began to experience terrible shocks and in a few seconds was unconscious. There are many other strange things told of the girls, but her extreme diffidence and shyness have led her to refuse to see many who have visited the house.–St. Louis Star Sayings.
The writer certainly romanticizes her, doesn’t he? Unfortunately, there are no Google-recorded instances of Miss Birchall, she who killed animals with a touch.
The most famous “electric girl” was Lulu Hurst, also known as The Georgia Wonder and The Magnetic Girl. Her talents were not the same as Miss Birchall’s though, being more along the lines of performing feats of strength a young lady shouldn’t be able to do.
There were electric boys, too. It seems they were more likely to be used at science hall demonstrations of static electricty — much like my brief stint at COSI, where we demonstrated a really cool Van de Graaff generator. I never knew the VdG apparatus was originally designed for serious particle acceleration, did you? I thought it was always just a demonstration device.
The St. Louis Star Sayings is most commonly associated now with the story “The Poppyland Express” which is in volume 2 of Journeys Through Bookland.