ATTEMPTED INFANTICIDE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1963, 31 October 1889, Page 3

ATTEMPTED INFANTICIDE.

1 . Beisbawb, Oct. '22. What appears to hare been a shacking attempt at infanticide has just been made public. Late on Monday afternoon a spring cart was driven to the South Brisbane Cemetery, containing two men and a woman, who produced a box which they stated contained a stillborn twin that they desired to have buried. On the sexton lifting the lid of the, box one of the, children was found to be unmistakeably alive, but the woman on being referred to, said that the child could not live. The sexton declined to have anything to do with the case, and the party drove off. The sexton’s wife, Mrs Shipp, has made, the following statement to a newspaper reporter “ My husband is caretaker and sexton of the Brisbane Cemetery. On Monday evening, at about five minutes to five, a spring cart drhve up to the gate with four people init, two women and two men. One of .the men came out of tbe cart and saidy “ I want to bury a stillborn child.” Afterwards he told me there were twins. The man also said he was only tbe driver of the cart ; he was not personally interested in the matter. He then brought a soap box containing the bodies into the house and lifted the lid, although I didn’t ask to see them. When the box was opened I saw a child move. ■ The man instantly dropped tbe lid and hurried away. I called out, ‘Why, the child’s alive.’

He said, ‘ I don’t think so.’ I told him to come back and see, and he came back. The lid was again lifted and we looked at the child. Eoam was issuing from its mouth, its arms were folded, and its chest was heaving, owing to the action of the lungs. The man then said he would call the nurse, and did so. She came to look at the child without removing it from the box, I asked the nurse her name and she said she was Mrs Patterson and that she lived (I think) at West End. I asked her to take the child out of the box and warm it, and offered her flannels to wrap it. The nurse declined the offer, and said, ‘Do you think that child can live? It was black when it was born. 1 I told her I didn’t know, but that it was her duty to do all she could for it while it was alive. My opinion is that the child’s body was discolored with cold. Mrs Patterson stood and watched it. I think she waited expecting to see it die. She said the child was deformed but I saw no deformity. I think both children were alive.” The police recovered the bodies of both children in thsir father’s house, Harriet street, Hill End. The father’s name is Davidson, and he is employed by the Tramway Company as a stable man. When first approached by the police on the subject of the children, on Tuesday night, he was exceedingly reticent, and somewhat insolent besides; he wanted to fight one constable who was endeavoring to obtain some information from him. The post mortem went to show that one ®f the children was certainly born alive, although it was probably weakly from its birth. The police are of the opinion that when burial was denied at the cemetery on Monday evening, the midwife returned the box containing the bodies to Davidsoh, and that he buried them in the night. When Davidson discovered that the police were determined to sift the matter thoroughly, he exhumed : the bodies on Wednesday night, and took them back to bis residence. Mrs Davidson asserts positively that one of them was born alive. Mrs Patterson, the midwife, treats the mrtter coolly. In the meantime the case has caused a profound sensation. A magisterial inquiry into the matter is taking ■place.”