THE DEATH OF A CHILD FROM WINE.

Evening Star, Issue 4075, 18 March 1876, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE DEATH OF A CHILD FROM WINE.

Dr, Bone writes as follows to the ‘M. A. Mail’ (Victoria) representing the death of a boy named Abe, son of the Rev. Mr Abe, at one time curate of Christ Church; Castlemalhe, and now of Borneo, from drinking Colonial wine. Dr. Bone says:—“ On the morning of Tuesday last the Rev. Mr Frank called upon me at 8 a.m., and stated that on the previous day one of Mr. Abe’s children, aged five years, had got into the and helped himself to the wine from a cask, and became intoxicated. That when brought to the house he had confessed to taking two cupfulls, but that he had probably taken much more. A coffee emetic (1) had been given and the child put to bed, but he had gradually become worse and insensible. That Mr and Mrs Frank left ' him at midnight insensible and convulsed, and went to bed, and did not see him until seven o’clock in the morning; that his little brother, who had been put to sleep with him, had stated that he waS groaning and convulsed all night; but he did not like to rouse Mr and Mrs Frank. When Mr and Mrs Frank found him still insensible; Mr Frank came to ask my advice, and having received such advice and medicine, with an injunction to return within an hour unless consciousness had been restored, Mr Frank returned home. At eleven o’clock, not having received any message, and feeling uneasy about the child, I drove out and found ' that Mrs Frank was out at the other farm, but she came in directly ; and Mr Frank was also out on the other farm, and did not come in for quarter of an hour; the child was lying upon his bed, and only watched by his brother, who had been directed to keep a wet cloth upon his head. The unfortunate child presented all the appearance of a drunken person, and was in frightful epileptic convulsions, in which condition his brother informed me he had been all night. The child was lying amongst filthy blankets, and was in a most dirty condition, vermin being plainly visible in their peregrinations about his body, I advised Mr Frank; when he subsequently came in, that the child a moribund condition; T tried to abstract blood from the arm, but the child was too far gone, Wl|?n I re-

turned with Archdeacon Crawford he was just dead. On the following day,* before the inquest, I found that not the slightest care had been taken to protect the corpse, which was in a most horrible state from * fly blows. 1 The post mortem examination showed the cause of death to have been alcoholic poisoning, and also something else—namely, that in the whole of the child alimentary canal there was not one particle of solid food', nothing but half-digested milk and farinaceous food. The brothers afterwards informed me that they * very seldom had meat.’ One brother stated ‘ not for three weeks.’ Mr Frank admitted this at the inquest. The only water available for drinking purposes lat the house was that obtained from a

stagnant hole in the creek, to which cattle and pigs had free access, and which my groom and some of the jurymen found to be quite undrinkable. Is there then much wonder that the poor little thirsty pseudo-orphan should avail himself of the wine to which he had access 1 The boy’s room, bedding, door, clothing, &c., were all found in the most filthy condition, but when I adduced all these facts to the coroner as important, bearing on the neglect shown to the child and his brothers:—and also that if the child had been seen immediately after his debauch and his stomach pumped he ; would have been saved—the coroner, i

coolly, classically (mo more), and impudently asked, ‘Cm bonof* This is not the first time that the coroner has repressed facts offered by me at inquests, and I respectfully submit that the attention of the Crown law offibers should be at once directed to this matter. Having ascertained that Mr Frank received remuneration for these four children at the rate of one hundred and eighty (H80) pounds, &c., <fec,, per, annum for maintenance and clothing, and also that Mr Frank has recently been availing himself of the Sta,te schools for education, and of cast-off clothing for their habiliments, and regarding carefully the administration of a confessedly scanty dietetic regimen, I think the coroner was bound to receive all evidence bearing on such matters; and the justice of the case demanded the very closest scrutiny into all the circumstances attendant upon such baby-farming.