The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-24 00:00:00

THE DEATHS FROM CHOLERA
AT TOOTING.
VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER.

Yesterday morning Mr. Wakley resumed, at the Globe
'Tavern, Gray's lon-road, the inquest which has been
,continued by adjournment since Monday se'nnight on
the bodies of four children chargeable to the Holborn
Poor-law Union, who died at the Royal Free Hospital,
Gray's Inn-road, soon after their removal from Mr.
Drouet's establishment for pauper children at Tooting.
Mr. Ballantine, the barrister, was present on behalf of
Mr. Drouet.
After the Court had been opened,
Mr. Ballantine said he held in his hand a letter from
Mr. Baker, who was coroner for some portion of Mid-
dlesex.
The CouoszEn,--He is one of the coroners for the
county; he acts for the eastern division.
Mr. Ballantine—Mr. Baker states that he is holding
an inquest on the bodies of three or four persons who
have been in the establishment of Mr. Drouet, and that
he gives Mr. Drouet notice of the circumstance to afford
him an opportunity of attending the incjuiry if he chooses
to do so. The inquest is held at one o clock to-day; but,
as Mr. Drouet has been attending this inquiry, and as
everythqag connected with his establishment has been
investigated to the fullest possible extent before this
jury, I think it advisable that he remain here. I wished
to snake this statement publicly that it may not be sup-
posed that Mr. Drouet is absenting himself from another
inquiry which some persons might think he ought to
attend.
At the suggestion of the Foreman, after some conver-
sation between the coroner and jury,
Joseph Saunders, an inmate of the Holborn Union
Workhouse, was called in and sworn. He stated, that
on Friday last he had charge of the children who were
brought to the jury-room for examination from the
Royal Free Hospital. He placed them in the taproom
below. At the conclusion of the sitting Mr. Drouet en-
tered that room. It was a public room. Mr. Drouet
said to Henry Hartshorn, one of the children who had
been examined, "As to you, you lying young scoun-
drel, mark my words; you will be taken ill before the
night's over." Witness did not interfere, because Mr.
Drouet went away directly.
The CORONER observed, that he had considered it
right to inquire into this matter, for if the boy to whom
Mr. Diouet had spoken had not been examined Mr.
Drouet's conduct might have been construed into a
contempt of court. The observation of Mr. Drouet
could produce no effect on the evidence of the boy to
whom it was addressed, as he had already been exa-
mined, and he (the Coroner) was not aware that any
other child who was present on the occasion would be
called as a witness. He must say, however, that Mr.
Drduet's conduct had been as improper and reprehen-
sible as it was impolitic.
The Foreman was glad an inquiry had been instituted
into the transaction, as Very exaggerated reports had
been circulated on the subject in the neighbourhood.
Mr. Ballantine considered that the jury bad acted
with great kindness to Mr. Drouet—whose conduct had
certainly been most improper—in ascertaining the real
facts.

Sarah Sellers was then called, and deposed—l am an
inmate of the Holborn Union Workhouse. I went to
Mr. Drouet's establishment to attend to the children on
Friday, the sth of January. I arrived there about mid-
night, was employed in the boys' sick ward. There
were, Z think, 30 beds in the wrrd; there was only one
child in each bed. I saw the greatest attention shown
while I was there, both with regard to medical attend-
ance and nurses. I was there ten days. Two of the
nurses belonging to the establishment were taken ill
while I was there.
Mr. Popham—She does not state she was herself ill.
Witness—l was attacked with purging and vomiting.
Elizabeth Elliott, another nurse, remained up with me
five nights and five days. We were obliged to be up,
because there was no other assistance. I had not my
clothes off for five nights. I never went to bed, or got
any rest whatever. The ward was very dirty and dusty
when I went into it. We cleaned the rooms. We had
two little boys belonging to the house to assist us in
carrying away the slops. •
. •
Mary Ann Keith, widow, an inmate of St. Pancras
Workhouse, deposed—l attended the children from St.
Pancras parish in Mr. Drouet's establishment as nurse.
I went to Tooting last Friday fortnight, and arrived at
Mr. Drouet's between eleven and twelve at night. I was
in Nurse Green's ward. I remained there till the next
morning. The ward was c!ean. There were three chil-
dren in one bed, but they did not remain long. I had 19
children to attend, and for the first two days there was
.no one but myself. I at first carried down the slops
myself, but after the first two days I got a little girl as
a helper. I was up three nights without going to bed. I
did not go to bed in the daytime.
Thomas Lovick, assistant-surveyor to the Metropo-
litan Commissioners of Sewers—l surveyed the vicinity
of Mr. Drouet's premises by direction of the Board of
Health, mainly with regard to the ditches. That exa-
mination was made on the 6th of January. (A plan was
_handed to the witness.) The plan of the premises pro-
duced is generally correct. I did not examine the
buildings, with the exception of one of the dormitories,
besi•les what is called the farm-yard. I observed that
one portion of the drains at the end of Mr. Drouet's pre-
mises had been cleaned out, and I was informed it had
been done recently.
Mr. Kite, in answer to the Coroner, said the ditch in
questiun had been cleaned out twice within the two
months be had been at Mr. Drouet's.
Mr. Whitfield, surgeon to the Holborn Union, ob-
served that one of the ditches was not a stagnant ditch,
but a clear running stream.
Mr. Lovick was understood to say that in same of the
ditches the water was stagnant.
The For( man aaked whether the boys were employed
in cleaning out the ditch.
Mr. Kite said he believed not; the cleansing took
place under the direction of the local sanitary com-
mittee.

Mr. Lovick, in reply to the Coroner, said be certainly
considered that the (Alluvia from the ditches would have
a prejudicial effect upon the health of the inmates of
Mr. Drouet's establishment.
Mr. Erasmus Gilbert Livesay, proprietor of a board-
ing-school at Tooting, and a member of the committee
of health for that place, observed, that about the 6th or
7th of Decembrr men were employed in cleaning out the
ditches near the new range of buildings in Mr. Drouet's
establishment. Most of the ditches were thoroughly
cleaned, but it was impossible in some parts of the
ditches to prevent an accumulation of offensive matter.
One of these ditches was in such a bad condition that
witness pointed it out to the committee as the cesspool
of Tooting. Witness had not noticed that any case of
illness or fever had resultvd from the condition of the
ditches. Witness might observe that he had formerly
resided at Guildford, and that since he had lived at
Tooting, three years and a half, his medical bills had
been much less in proportion to the number of his pupils
than at the former place.
• William Porter—l have been master shoemaker at
Mr. Drouet's establishment for ten years. I also drill
the boys and attend at their meals. I assisted in serv-
ing out the food to the children. The pottage fur break-
fast was made of milk, flour, and arrow-root, and was of
the substance of or linary gruel. The meat for dinner
was weighed ;it was entirely without bone. Mutton
was supplied to the young children only. The children
had the same allowance for supper as for breakfast. The
bigger bo
,y s had four or five ounces of bread each. A
41b. loaf was cut into about thirteen pieces. I never saw
a loaf cut into sixteen pieces. The bread was not weighed
for each child. Sometimes a boy has come and told me
that from the manner in which the bread had been cut
he had got too small a piece, and I would then give him
another. The children seemed satisfied. None of the
children ever spoke to me on the subject of their
shoes being too small, and hurting them. I
should say that the bays could always get
water when they wanted it. There is no water in the
boys' yard, but I have always considered that there was
a sufficient supply in the children's dining-room. I had
half-a-crown a week to distribute among the boys who
were engaged in my workshop in making and mending
shoes.

A juryman stated, that when the jury visited Mr.
Drouet's establishment they saw seven or eight children
sitting round the fire, who said they were waiting till
shoes were provided for them, or their shoes were
mended.
The witness said, they might have been waiting till
the matron coul g d get them shoes from the store-room.
The juryman observed that the children stated that
some of th:.m had been waiting for shoes for a day or two.
examined
in
Mr. W. B. Whitfield, surgeon, sworn and
d
—I am medical officer of the Holborn Union.
con-
sequence of an order of the beard of guardians,
3d o
uardtain. js'anwuhaircyh
I received about nine in the evening of the
I went down to Tooting at ten o'clock in the morning of
the 4th, to exa,nine the state of the Holborn children
there, and report thereupon. On account of the great
number constantly being brought into the sick ward, I
found considerable confusion prevailing. There were
not attendants enough. In a case of this kind every
threw or four children would require a separate attend-
ant. But I do not blame Mr. Drouet on this account, be-
cause confusion was inevitable from the sudden und violent
nature of the disease. Mr. Drouet requested me to
make any suggestions I could, and promised to adopt
them. I accordingly made an entry in his book, re-
commending the use of flannel as an under-garment,
four blankets to each bed, and an alteration in the diet.
I returned to town in the evening, and the guardians
met early next morning, and heard my account, and on
the same day Vie of our children were removed by me
in vans, to the Free Hospital, Gray's. Inn-road. Seven-
teen of them died at Tooting, and tour at the Free Hos-
pital. saw the deceased, Andrews, the day after he
I
arrived at the hospital, about four hours before his death.
His disease appeared completely similar to what I had
seen at Tcoting. I have do doubt Asiatic cholera was
the cause of his death. I say the same of the girl
Johnson. The children generally
girls. The
looking
abdomen
pale,
with the exception of the younger
was tumid in many of them. A great many of the young
children were very thin. A number of them had the
itch and various forms of cutaneous eruptions, enlarged
glands, sores in some places, scrofula, and impetigo.
We always find these most among tiro poor; it is pertly
from the want of proper cleanliness and diet. I believe
that Andrews and Johnson had the seeds of the disease
of which they died in them when they started from
Tooting. I believe cholera to be infectious under par-
ticular circumstances; where a number of persons, hay
ing received the atmospheric poison, are confined toge-
ther in a small place, or place not well ventilated, the
exhalations of the bodies of the diseased are capable
of communicating the disease to others, but in large
apartments, in which there are but few cases, I think
there is little chance of infection. I attribute this
outbreak of cholera to a poison which then and still
.---exittsjuthe atmosphere through the whole of this
'2:_eciuttielekefa- it-varions parts of Europe. I attri-
,' •irate-the—spread-rind great prevalence oti the disease
iu tlziL vase`to sfii'veral causes. First, the excessive
OW, and the inV9rfect planner in which the children ,

,

~,