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(Ivy, as photographed in 1898, later colorized in 2007) November 14th, 1875 - February 19th, 1901
Judith Romano, later known as Ivy, was an Italian-American-Canadian circus and freak show performer responsible for the deaths of Catherine "Kitty" Johansson and Victor James.
Born in Verona, Italy, Judith was the oldest of three siblings; Richard (born 1876) and Violet (born 1877). Her father, George Romano, was a painter and his family was more often than not the subject of his paintings. The following is a painting of Judith, made shortly after her birth, entitled My First Little One.
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Judith's mother, Edith Baker Romano, was a kind woman and always did whatever she could for her family. She was very close to her children and had a remarkably functional relationship for the time with her husband. In 1880, Edith fell ill and George sent the children to America to stay with their aunt Meredith. This was when Judith decided what to do with her life.
Meredith took the children to a circus and Judith fell in love, devoting the next few years of her life to learning circus-worthy skills. On May 19th, 1890, Judith would join the Ringling Brothers Circus as knife thrower. Despite being only fourteen, she was a very talented girl who brought a lot of attention to the circus, more than a 'non-freak', as she was deemed, normally would.
She worked there for seven years in total. During that time, she fell in love with a count named Victor James, who had hypertrichosis. She fell in love with him due to his very kind nature, but when she confessed her love to him after a show one night, he told her that a normal woman like her could her that 'a normal woman could never be with a freak like him'.
In an act of despair, Judith attempted to take her life via slitting her wrists. She survived and the scars from her attempt gave her an idea. She carefully cut ivy leaves into the scars, putting ink over the scars. Very soon after, she cut scars up and down her legs and on her face. She was able to control the bleeding and soon did the same as she did with the wrist scars. If anyone asked, she'd say she was born from an affair, conceived in ivy. That the scars were a curse from God himself. It was here she began using Ivy as a stage name.
Two years later, she went to Canada, where she joined a different, smaller circus, called The Delight Cirque. She joined simply because Victor was a part of it. But when Judith got there, she found out that Victor was engaged to another woman, Catherine "Kitty" Johansson, a tiger tamer and non-freak. This made Judith extremely bitter.
"I cut all this ivy into my skin for nothing!" Judith would write in an unsent letter to her sister Violet, in 1899.
For the next two years, Kitty and Ivy became close with one another. On the surface, they were close, but really, Ivy was trying to figure out Kitty's weaknesses and dangerous habits. She learned that Kitty got in the cage with her tiger, Shere Khan, so Judith made sure he went hungry, starving him for weeks, before Kitty's last show. The night of said show, like normal, Kitty got in the cage and was grabbed by Judith and her throat was slit.
When Kitty's death was ruled a homicide, Judith pushed the blame onto Victor, as he had gone bankrupt and Kitty was set to inherit a large fortune. In her will (as working with tigers is very dangerous), she had written that Victor was to inherit all she had. But when he was found dead in his cell, as all the performers were placed in cells, it was obviously not him.
He was killed by Judith, who had teamed up with another performer, a magician, known as Sir Knight. Judith threw a switchblade into Victor's neck and then the monkey retrieved it and took it to Sir Knight, who swallowed it. The knife was later discovered when the janitor punched Sir Knight in the stomach, causing the blade to open and kill him.
After several more pieces were put together, it was concluded that Judith killed Victor and Kitty and she was subsequently arrested. They were able to get a confession out of her.
On February 19th, 1801, Judith Romano was hung for her crimes, her final words being "It was a murder, but not a crime". These final words are referenced in the Chicago song, Cell Block Tango.
