INQUEST AT NEWTON.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3178, 24 September 1867, Page 5

INQUEST AT NEWTON.

An inquest was held at the Newton Hotel, yesterday, by Dr. Fhilson, on the body of the child which was found on Saturday last on the New ton Road. The following evidence was laid before the jury : — Harriet Tilsley, wife of John Tilsley, deposed that; she lived on the Newton Road. At eight o'clock on Saturday morning, her nephew, a boy of six years, came and told her that there was a parcel of linen on the Newton Road. Witneu went with the boy, and found a child lying on the side of the road, about a hundred yards on the town side of the toll-gate. Witness's house was the nearest to where the body was lying. A piece of flannel formed the outside of the parcel. There was no attempt to conceal the parcel by earth being thrown over it ; it was not at all concealed. Witness did not Jift the parcel, but went foe a neighbour, wko unpinned the flannel, and untied a white cloth that was underneath the flannel. They saw the feet of the baby, and then wrapped it up as before, senr^ng a man to inform the police. The child was dee I when witness first saw it, being stiff and cold. Witness's nephew informed ker that he had found the parcel in the ditch on the left-hand side of the road, «ud had removed it to the road. Constable Greene deposed to having found the body, and to having removed it to the police-station < On examining the body, he found it to be that of a newly-born female rifant. It was fully grow a, and did not seem to bave been more than three days dead. There was no sign of putrefaction. The head and face were of a dark color". The rest of the body was pale amd white. There was no ligature about the neck, nor sign of any. There was a thread on the navel-string. There was a little blood on the lineD that was about its head, as if it had issued from the mouth or nose. So far as he had seen, there were no marks on the '"'nen. The ditch where the boy found the body is d./ at present. The olothes were saturated with moisture. He and others of the police had made : iqr : ries with the view of tracing the mother of the ch'ld, but hitherto without success. From the manner in which the child was wrapped, it could not have breathed after being so rolled up. Dr. Hard ; ng deposed that he had made a postmortem examination on the body of the infant. The child had been born about a week ago. There were slight si&as of decomposition »bout the face and head, but the rest of the body was in a good state of preservation. There were no marks of external violence. There was no sign of strangulation. The naval string waa tied with thread about m inch from the body, and no blood appeared to have escaped, It was a fu u y-grown female European infant. The brain presented a natural appearaece. The lungs presented a healthy appearance; and respiration had taken place — must have been perfectly established, lhere wrs no morbid appearance in the abdomen. The stomach was empty, and he thought no food had been given to it. Thare was no smell of opium. There was no trace of food in the intestines. The surface of the body presented fie appearance of not having been washed since birth. There was a bandage round the body, and also one round the head, to keep the mouth closed. In his opinion, the child died from exposure to cold and want of nourishment. He thought the mother must have been attended by some female assistant. As he found the child wrapped up, respiration could not have been carried on after it was rolled up. The hair was fair, and the eyes blue. The verdict was : — " That the said female infant was' found 'dead without marks of violence, but how, or by what means, it came by its death, no evidence thereof dpth appear." To which the following rider was added: — "The circumstances attending the finding of the body of the said newly -born female infant are very suspicious and obsoure, and the jury commit the whole case to the vigilant investigation of the police." •