In January 1874, when the twins were 62, Chang caught bronchitis but still insisted that they venture out in the cold to honour their twice-weekly house-moving ritual. Two days later, Eng awoke early and called for help. His brother had died.
‘Then I am going!’ cried Eng, and began twisting in panic in bed. Sweating profusely and saying that he was in great pain, he told his wife: ‘I am dying.’ Drawing his brother to him, he uttered his final words: ‘May the Lord have mercy on my soul!’
By the time the doctor arrived, ready to cut the twins apart, Eng was dead, just two-and-a-half hours after his brother passed away.
A post-mortem examination, conducted by doctors who described the twins as ‘the monster now before us’, showed that Chang may have had a cerebral clot but Eng appeared literally to have died of fright, overcome by the realisation that he was attached to a dead man.
Even in death, the twins provided a spectacle when the post-mortem results were made public. Finally, doctors were able to discover just how connected the twins were.
Not only did they share a liver, it transpired, but the make-up of their connecting ligament was so complex that they would never have survived being parted.
