The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-08 00:00:00

CASE OF STARVATION.

Last evening Mr. Brent held aLI inquest in the
Marylebone Workhouse en Joseph Shooberf, aged
two years. The body weighed only fillas.
Mary Tyon deposed th• t she was the 'landlady of
the house, 18, Barrett's. court, where de ceased's father,
mother, and their seven children occu pled one room.
Five weeks ago the mother gave birth to an infant,
when NN itriess vi ited her, end saw deceased lying in
bed in a horribly filthy state, completAy exhausted.
She asked the tneeher what ailed him 11 She replied,
" Nothing." But witness examined him, and finding
that he was starving, gave him some cold potatoes,
which he eagerly devoured. Witnes3 some time after-
wards visited deceased, and always found him hungry
end without food. He wasso exhausted that he could not
move out of bed. The room had not a is-ticle of fur-
niture in it. She had seen the mother intoxicated,
and sand things to pledge, since her confinement. On
Friday her (witness's) husband, seeing the mother go
out to the rewnbrokfr's, desired her to take the chil-
dren some food, as he was sure they were starving.
She availed herself of the mother's absence, and took
them food, which they seized, and voraciously ate.
One chili was wholly naked, and the others were all
but naked, and covered with filth.
By
a Juror—lt is a frightful fact that all the chil-
dren in the neighbourhood are allowed to go in a state
of semi-nudity.

Margaret bunkirk, a lodger in the same house,
corroborated the previous witltess.
Isabella Shoobert, the mother, a wret,ehed, naked,
half-starved creature, eaid that upon, awaking on
Sunday morning she saw dee.,:-;sed looking queer,
and called her husband, but deceased 'soon afterwards
Expired. fie was stupid and ill from his birth, and
She head to feed him on tops and bottoms. Herself,
husband, and seven children slept on one bedstead.
Deceased fell out of bed three weeks ago. She bad
buried two other children. Although her husband
earned 233. a week she could not support her family.
She had never applied for reli4 to the workhouse.
She had not eaten anything that day, nor had she had
n penny for the last three weeks, as her husband gave
her no money. She could not bring the baby with
her, for it was naked. Her children were without
£,od,but she did not know bow to apply to the: work-
house.

Samuel Robert Shoobert stated that he imagined
that the family bad enough for their support. It was
only lately that his wife took to drink. He never
saw his children from eight, A.M., to seven, p.m.,
hen he returned from work. He did not observe
deceased muting away, as it was a puoy child from
kirth.

Foreman—l am astonished at your lying down on
your bed knowing that your children were starving.
You must be deprived of all feeling.
Mr. Josephs, surgeon—All the children were
filthy, naked, and starving. The infant would soon
die the same death as the deceased, unless the paro-
chial authorities interfered. He made a post mortem
examination of deceased. The body weighed Elba.
lloz., and was only skiq and bone. It had neither
fat nor muscle. The stomach and intestines were
contracted and devoid of food. In all other respects
the body was healthy. Deceased died from exhaustion,
produced by the want of nourishment. Mr. Josephs
concluded his evidence by calling upon the jury to
request the parochial authorities to remove the sur-
viving children to the workhouse, as otherwise they
would be starved to death.

The CORONER, having summed up at great length,
I the jury returned the following verdict :—" Deceased
died from exhaustion, produced by the want of
nourishment ;" to which finding the jury appended a
censure upon the parents. The Coroner then called
in the wretched parents, and having cautioned them
as to their future conduct respecting their children,
told them they narrowly escaped a charge of man-
slaughter, which verdict would have been returned
had culpable neglect been fully proved. The jury
further requested the Coroner to forward, without
delay, to the parochial authorities the whole history
of the horrible case, so that the other children might
be instantly looked after and taken care of. The
Coroner promised compliance with the request, and
the court was then broken up.