Page 302

“…arranged for her to be profiled…”

See “Booth was born…,” above.

There is no document demonstrating that either Sims or Stuart arranged for Booth to be profiled by the American Phrenological Journal, but it strains credulity to suggest that the magazine would independently decide to profile her right around the time she was moving into Sims’s house. Far more likely is that Sims made it happen, through Stuart, hoping that Booth would write well of him in return. She didn’t.

“…to assist the Blackwell sisters…”

See “…noted the significance…,” above.

“…his greatest success came on October 18, 1861…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to Theresa Sims, November 21, 1861, held in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill libraries. The letter was reprinted in Sims’s autobiography.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 412.

“It was a terrible case…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 317-18.

“…operate on a woman of class…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to Theresa Sims, November 21, 1861, held in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill libraries. The letter was reprinted in Sims’s autobiography.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. And I 412.

“…a young, beautiful royal.”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 419.

“…the girl’s skin began to turn blue.”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to Theresa Sims, November 21, 1861, held in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill libraries. The letter was reprinted in Sims’s autobiography.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 412.

“He froze.”

Sims’s account of the operation goes on for several pages. Also notable—for the sheer audacious falsehood of it—is the account of the same story that the medical profession began to tell itself about Sims, after he died. The account comes from one of several memorial meetings held in the immediate wake of his death in 1883, and was reproduced—notably, just a few pages removed from Sims’s original letter included in the same book—in the appendices of his autobiography.

Letter from J. Marion Sims to Theresa Sims, November 21, 1861, held in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill libraries. The letter was reprinted in Sims’s autobiography.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 412-14, 467-68.

“…told them that he preferred ether…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to Theresa Sims, November 21, 1861, held in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill libraries. The letter was reprinted in Sims’s autobiography.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, p. 415.

“…mice killed with chloroform could be revived…”

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 324-25.

“The royals behaved quite like normal people…”

Letter from J. Marion Sims to Theresa Sims, November 29, 1861, held in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill libraries. The letter was reprinted in Sims’s autobiography.

SIMS, J. Marion, (1885). The Story of my Life, ed. by H. Marion-Sims. D. Appleton & Co: New York, pp. 416-17.