A SINGULAR‘ CASE.

Taihape Daily Times, 9 July 1919, Page 5

A SINGULAR‘ CASE.

aINF'ANT FOUND IN DEAD WOMAN;’S COFFIN.

Z Detectives are investigating 3 I'o- - case concerning the death of a. young woman at Korong Vale (says the Melbourne “Age” of recent date.) In the course of their inquiries it was necessary for the police to have the body exhumed, and it Was then discovered that there was also the body of an infant in the coffinThe extraordinary belief was 011' tertained by the detectives, and by the child had been born after the death of the mother, because, as far as the police could ascertain, the child’s body was not in the coffin when the WO4 man was buried. When the case was brought under the notice of several prominent medical practitioners they were unanimous in declaring that it was impossible for a child to have been born after the death of the mother. Such an event had no parallel in their knowledge, The true history of the case, they stated, could only be obtained from the doctor who had charge of the case in the fifst‘ place. ‘ According to the police story, a young single woman, Alice‘Elizabefh Niva, who had been employed as a domestic servant by Mr_ T. Scott, farmer, of Woolshed Flat, Korong Vale, died suddenly in the early morning of May Ist last. Mr. Scott was away from the farm at the time, and the only man in the house was a boarder, Richard Noel Nash. The doctor was sent for at Wedderburn, but on his arrival at 2 a.m. the girl was dead. Preliminary investigations were made by the local constable at Korong Vale, and later in the day a magistepial inquiry, was held by the deputy coroner, who returned a verdict that the woman had died from stry-r chnine poisoning, .app_a_rently_ self—administered} Next day 4 the "body. was ; :buriétl iii” the localiaglithority.

[iilvidcnce given at the inquest showled that Mr. Scott kept strychnine in the house in an oven built ‘into the wall;7‘of the kitchen. The =‘girl, 'acco‘f'df¥‘ ing to the testimony went to bed‘ about ‘9.30‘»p.m., on the day preceding her death and she was then "apparently in |the best ‘or health_ It afierwards tranlspired that the alarm cl_qck in her lroom had been Wound up and set f& the usual time for the girl to get up in the morning. ‘Frein this fact the detectives’ deductions led them to believe that suicide had not ‘been premeditated, although it is --conceded -that the winding ~ of, the clock may {have been due to force of habit. Acup [and spoon showing traces .of powder ‘believed 10 hr. prison were found on jthe table nea" Th» girl’s bed_ Weeks’ elapsed but the element of :n‘yst;-r_v's3lrl'ol:rding the death had not been; dispelled. From , informa¢ tion received DeteCti\'e,Sel'.geallt Sullivan was detailed to investigate the cumstances. On May 31st the body was exhumed, and, then discovered for the first time that the inf_ant;’s body was in the coffin. The police was admittedly baffled by this extraordinary. ;event, and despite the closest inve‘7s-« tigati’o_n' they havebeen unable 4 tot solve the niystery of the"ehild’s‘ ‘birth. 1 Conte_n't_s'of the body were sent to Mr’ Price, the 'GJovernlhent "’alialy'st, and the presence of strychnine was prov-§ ed indubitabhly. Further inquiries ini connection with the girl’s death. are; being pursued by the police. §