INQUEST.

Evening Star, Issue 8808, 25 April 1892, Page 2

INQUEST.

This afternoon, at a quarter-past three, Mr Coroner Carew and a jury held an inquest at tho Shamrock Hotel into the circumstances attending ths death of a child named Mary Elizabeth Hartnett, one month old, who died at the house of Mrs Blackey, in Dowling street, yesterday afternoon. The evidenoe showed that on the 30th March the child was given to Mrs M'Callum, a widow, residing in Elm row, by its mother, the former agreeing to nurse it for six shillings a week. It was then very delicate, and as it appeared to get weaker Mrs M'Callum called in Dr De Zouche last Friday to examine it. Yesterday morning it was in a very low state, and in the afternoon Mrs M'Callum took it to Mrs Blackey's house in Dowling street, where it died at two o'clock.

The statement of Luoy Davis, a widow, residing in King street, was to the effect that three weeks ago last Saturday a woman with a child about a fortnight old came to her house and aeked for lodging for a fortnight—a request which was granted. She stayed three days and then left, She was a woman about thirty-eight years of age, of a dark complexion, and carried only a small handbag and a parcel containing babylinen. She said she had come to town by train, and that her luggage was at the railway station. She was asksd her name, but refused to give it, saying her business was private. Witness recognised the body shown to the jury as that of the child the woman had with her.

Dr Di Zouche said he thought he recognised the body shown to him as that of a child which he examined last Friday, when it was Drought to him by Mrs M'Callum. It was then ill and vomited, and was wasted very much. Witness directed her what to do with the child. He hai learned from Mrs M'Callum that the child had been wrongly fed. He had been cf opinion that atrophy, together with the want of breast milk and the substitution of improper food, was the cause of death. Mary Ann M'Callum, residing in Elm row, said she saw the child on the 30th March at Mrs Keenan's house in King street. There she met a woman who said she was tho mother of the child that was the subject of the inquest. She agreed to nurse the child for 6* a week, which the mother said she would pay in advance, She also promised she would come to see the child every Wednesday. Witness asked the woman for her name, but she refused to give it, saying " You trust me, and you will not lose by it. Do not let anybody know whose child it is." Witness had never seen the woman before, and had only seen her twice since she took the child, the last time being on Wednesday last. Witness said she would have to take the child to a doctor, and the mother agreed, and then gave the namo of Hartnett. Witness was present with the mother at the Cathedral on the 30tb, when the child was christened Mary Elizabeth. The child was ill when witness got it. She fed it on milk, one-third part of the food being milk and the other two-thirds water. Sugar was added. Witness did not know a woman named Ellen Moloney. The neighbors who saw the child all thought it was sickly, and that it could not thrive. The mother had paid for the child's keep up to next Wednea day.

the inquest was proceeding at 4 45 p.m,