CHILD STARVED TO DEATH.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 766, 5 November 1886, Page 19

CHILD STARVED TO DEATH.

(united peess assooiation.) Invercargill, November 3.

An inquest was held to-day on the body of the four months’ old son of Arthur Russell, a gardener, residing at South Invercargill, who was alleged to have died of starvation. Witnesses deposed that the mother was scarcely ever sober, and that she left the child locked up in the house alone for hours together. The medical evidence went to show that the infant had been starved, there being no organic disease to account for the death. The body weighed 41b 12oz. The doctor, to whom the child was shown by his mother, said that he told‘her that the child was not getting sufficient nourishment, and gave instructions for food to be given. The mother stated that she gave the child all it would take, and that it rejected the food ordered by the doctor, and had diarrhoea after. She had appliedtothe Charitable Aid Board for help, but her complaint at the office was chiefly that her husband had deserted her. She was told to call when the Board was sitting, but did not attend, and was intoxicated when she made the application. The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the child had died from starvation, but they could not say who was to blame, it not being clear that the husband had not supplied funds for the maintenance of the child. The woman seemed always to have money to spend on drink, and it was proved that she had bought several quantities of milk, but not continually.