INQUEST.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4681, 23 August 1899, Page 3

INQUEST.

An inquiry was held on Monday at the Courthouse, Lawrence, before Mr T. Pilling, Acting-Coroner, and a jury of six, of which Mr A. Miller was chosen foreman, to iuquire into the circumstances attending the death of the ille- j gitimate child of Bertha Labes. Sergeant King couductcd the inquiry. Catherine Labes, residing at Tuapeka Flat, deposed that Bertha Labes was her daughter and was at j resent in the Lawrence Hospital. Her daughter complained of being unwell on Monday, the 14th instant, and went to bed about 7 o'clock in the evening, remaining there until the following afternoon. Witness knew nothing of her condition and she went about her work in the usual way until the following Saturday, when she remained in bed, fraying she was not very well. Towards evening her cordi- ! tion became worse, and sometime after midnight Dr Newell was sent for. | About an hour before the doctor arrived her daughter told witness she had given birth to a child on the previous I Monday and added that she had told nobody about it. On being told by her i daughter where the body of tiflQ Child was, witness aucl Dr Newell removed tho body from under a box turned mouth i down at the side of the bed, on top of which was placed another box. The body was rolled up in some cloths. The body was alterwards handed over to Sergeant King, who took possession of it. She never suspected her daughter's condition and was not aware she had given birth to a child. On Saturday, the 19th instant, she remarked to her daughter that she looked like a woman who had given birth to a child, and her daughter replied that, she was talking nonsense. Her daughter was going on for 24 years of age. t9he told witness the child was born dead and that no one had assisted her in removing it, but she did not tell her when the birlh took place. Christina Labes, daughter of the last witness, corroborated her mother's testimony. Dr Newell stated he had been sent for on Sunday morning and arrived at the house shortly after 3 o'clock. Be saw Bertha Labes in bed, and was told by her where the child was. He took it into the next room and made a cursory examination of the body and found it was dead. He had since made a post mortem examination of the body and found no bruises on it. After an examination of the internal organs he was of opinion that that the child breathed^ bub not very vigorously, after birth. There were indications that the child was alive after .being born. He believed that death was due to exhaustion after birth, caused by the child receiving no skilled attention. 'The body was fully developed and well nourished and ma healthy condition. The jury after a short deliberation returned the following verdict:— "We are unanimously agreed that the illegitimate child of Bertha Labes came by its death on Monday, the 14th August, owing to not having received proper attention at its birth.