STARVING A LAD TO DEATH.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1821, 23 October 1884, Page 2

STARVING A LAD TO DEATH.

At the Croydon (England) Police Court recently, Robert Henry Bidgood and his wife were charged with the manslaughter of Edward George Sudnry aged nineteen years, their deaf and apprentice, by neglecting to supply him with proper food. The evidence showed that the boy, who had been an inmate of the Asylum for the DeafaiioV Dumb, was in 1880 apprenticed to the to the male prisoner, who worked aMk hoot finisher at woolwich, and who •fljf' to pay. him 6d a, week for the first year and find him in board and lodging. Two years latter the Bidgoods moved to Croydon without informing the boy's Mends or the asylum authorities, and all trace of him was lost until the day of yds death, when Bidgood gave information to the effect that Sudbury was dying. After his death an inquest was held, and the jury returned k. verdict of manslaughter against Bidgood and his wife, who were removed in custody. A man, living next door to accused said that the boy came into hi', shop apparently very weak and hungrwj He had food given him and he atefH, ravenously. The medical evidence went to show that death was caused by starvation. The body weighed only 451b, and the bones were plainly' visible through the skin. Two bakers, stated that the deceased was in the habit of buying lialfpemiy-woMhsjK' stale bread at their shops.- Aftera hearing lasting nearly si* hours, the woman \ya.s, dischargad and the male prisoner was committed for trial, bail being aocepted,