CHILD SUFFOCATES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 69, 14 December 1937, Page 3

CHILD SUFFOCATES

-Press Association )

Tangled in Bedclothes

(By Telegraph-

" MARTON, Dec. 13. The five-month-old son of Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Barrington, B'owen street, Marton, was found dead in his cot soon. after S a.m. on Sunday. The baby was t'ed about 6 a.m. and then went to sleep. Mr. Barrington going to wake the child some two hours later found him dead. At the inquest held on Monday morning by the district Coroner, Mr. F. C. Wilson, the father of the child described the baby as strong and healthy and how he had found it, when he returned to the cot to wake it, face downwards upon the pillow and apparently dead, and stated that he had immediately called a doctor. Dr. R. A. Church said that when he saw the child it had been dead for some time. There was nothing in the appearance of the child to indicate the cause of death and there were no marks of violence upon the body. He described his examination of the infant's cot and his finding that the pillow was damp. He surmised that the baby had somehow got into the position as described by the father, and had been unable. to extricate himself and was suffocated. Mr. Wilson said that this' was the most unfortunate oecurrenee that he had come across in his 15 years as Coroner. It was not only a great loss to the parents but also to the country. His verdict was that the child had died from asphyxiation caused by being accidentally suffocated by its bedclothes.