BABIES OF TRAGEDY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5334, 3 October 1928, Page 3

BABIES OF TRAGEDY.

TWO. ATHLETIC MITES. PATHETIC AUSTRALIAN STORIES. .. Australia is deeply, sincerely inter- , ested in two; little babies of tragedy : ' , one abandoned to, the- sea hef.e by its mother like a modern Moses ; the other, the little Ohuey Gow, I' v taken to prison by his motner, who is charged with murder ip Sydney. And which is the more pathetic The little yellow fellow whose mother stands face to face with an awful charge:, but, who, still loves him, c ; r the two-weeks-old baby consigned to, the water to die because, apparently, ‘ his mother did not lovq him. The XifaW" Chinese, prattling in English and ut- ( f *7. tering; str.angs words in Chinese, plays f happily with the wardresses, while fjjji , the other, saved from (th© sea and j then frcjin a, cold marble .slab at the t *' morgue, is slowly recovering at the j • Melbourne Hospital. j jSfa The Melbourne baby’s life was

’ f saved in circumstances: that seem almost incredible. Four boys were fishing off the enjd of the Kerford) Road jetty, when .they noticed a bundle cf some sort floating by. Ope lof .them hooked i.t, and the bundle, a shawl, was fished up. The boys undid the Shawl, and were shocked! to find that. , it contained the still, cold body of a little baby boy. Placing it. on the sandy beach near the jetlty, they ran for help, and Constable Elliott took charge of the .mite. It was so smajll ■ that, he placed it in, a large cardboard Wf boot carton apd carried! it to the * ' morgue, where it was laid on a marble slab. It appear# I to, have been in the water same time. Then the attendant at the morgue noticed one of the little mite’s museA ■ c,les quiver, and he requested the conjK, stable to get a medical man to formally pronounce life extinct. So the constable too>k .the pea waif to the Melbo-urne Hospital, where .the strange story was related to Dr. Davey. He, applied artificial respiratory methods ■ for an,- hour, and was about to pronounce the child dead when he found , that, he had produced a. flicker of lifeA little later a- mirror held oiv©r the ■ tnouth and nose collected a - - 5 v faint mist; unmistakable signs of ; life-. I But this did 'not mean that the child j would live. It had beep ajpparently < an hour or-more floating on the water, 1 the dry woollen clothing keeping it ]

slightly above the sfurface, ans it was clear that it was still pariksusly close tc‘ death. It was packecf in cotton wool, surrounded with hort-jvater bottles, and wa'li. later placed in an electric. bath. Next morning it ’opehed its eyes and began to cyy. This was the most satisfactory evidence; of its returning vitality. Since then the . little abandoned! infant has slowly nmproved, and is taking food in tiny ’f portions. It is the pet and wonder of * k ’ the whole stajff at the hospital and fejf the delight of Dr Dajvey, the constable, ® "jL the keeper of the morgue, and the > four tisherb.oys, who all played their part in saying Albert’s life. He is being called Albert, after Albert Park. More than that,, this fou,ndling has Snuggled! into the. heart of Melbourne. The other baby, Chuey Gc;W, is 15 months old. He finds himself in prison with his mother and stepfather after .a, curious set of circumstances. On May 23 Chuey Cqw had his first birthday, and his father, Percy Chong Gow, celebrating the event according to the Orient, returned home laden with a biintihclay cake, , sweetmeats, and crackers. That pight z he became ill and steadily declined. Dr. J. Young Wai, the; young Chinese medical graduate of the Sydney iUniversify, and other doctors failed to • J|j-.seeure ah, improvement in his condi- * tion, and the well-to-do Chinese retfused to remain in hospital. Besides £ taking the medicine prescribed for him he also obtained some of the ageold herbs of China. an d induced his wife to prepare them. However, nothing availed him, ajnd , he steadily declined; until the, night of July 19, when ih died. He was buried two days later, 'an.dl nine days afterwards hifi attractive half-caste widow married 20-year-pld. Ernest Percival Trapman, seaman in His Majesty’s Royal Australian Navy. Subsequently detectives secretly exhumed the body of the dead Chinese and! submitted it to the Government medical officers for examination. The stomach, according to the Government, analyst, revealed traces of arsenic. so the young man,-o’-w.a|rsman, f Trapman, and his Hong Kong bride were arrested, and both were charged with murder. There was a touching scene as the pair parted in the cprridor leading to the cells at ithe Sydney Centr.ajl Police Station. The sailor passionately caressed his seductive Extern bride an,d the little, chattering Chinese baby. The baby, ed by the strange stern faces, and ( alarmed at the cold, dark corridor, clung to the uniform of his step- ‘ . father. ,