WRONG BABY BURIED
MISTAKEN IDENTITY. GRIEF OF TWO MOTHERS. A remarkable case of mistaken identity involving the burial of one infant in the name of another and the attendance of the wrong mother at the funeral while the real mother was inquiring frantically for the body of her baby has occurred at Middlesborough. The 26-days-old infant son of Mr. Robert Poster, of Wellington Street, died suddenly and the body was taken to the public mortuary for a postmortem examination. The same day the 21-months-old daughter of Mr. Alfred John Dalton, of Hardman Street, died of diphtheria, and the body was taken to the sanatorium mortuary. Instructions were given to an undertaker to* remove the body from the mortuary, and he assumed that. the public mortuary was indicated. An assistant obtained the body of the Foster baby from the public mortuary believing it to be the Dalton baby, and the Dalton family attended the funeral. Mrs. Foster insisted on seeing her dead baby. She was taken to the cemetery, where the earth was removed and the lid of the coffin raised so that she might have a last look. Mrs. Dalton, having endured the pangs of a final parting, was called Upon to endure the pain again. The casket name-plates were changed and the two coffins left in the same grave.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19270406.2.84
Bibliographic details
Manawatu Times, Volume LII, Issue 3576, 6 April 1927, Page 9
Word Count
220WRONG BABY BURIED Manawatu Times, Volume LII, Issue 3576, 6 April 1927, Page 9
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Manawatu Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.