Birmingham state herald., 1897-07-10
DR. DRENNEN'S STATEMENT
Continued from First Page.)

See the baby as he had expressed a will dngnsss to call on it, sick or we'll and .advise us as to his welfare I went to IDr. Drennen's residence, instead of tele- ,bhoning him, and found he was absent [ left him note telling him that the child was sick and to come cut and see 1t as Soon as he returned home. About D. m. she came to my house and wrote a pre- sscription for the child asking me where s1 traded, if l didn't do a greater part of 1t at Godden's. I told him I did. He sSa1d, sYou cannot get this medicine there saS there are two kinds of the pellets 1 have prescribed for the baby and he does sno. CD the soft one,' describir them as ssoft and hard. He told me 1 had better sget the medicine al the Adams Drug rcuulpany or. at Parker's and for me to xbe very careful in purchasing the medi-. seine, to see that the pellets were of the Soft kind and that the box from which Ihey were taken was stamped with sSharpe & Dohms signature upon the did. This I did. l returned with the medicine to my house, having purchased rSanie from the Adams Drug company, sand dissolved one of the pellets in spoonful of water, as directed, and gave eit to the baby. They were to be given hourly until five were taken each day. rFrom some cause or other, from this stime, q do not say it was the medicine, ~hor from Dr. Drcnnen's treatment, the ~child began to fall eff in flesh and before Sthe child had taken the fifth pellet he thad retregraded to such an extent that 1 told my wife she had better not give it sarother and called in a midwife who shad been recommended to me before by sfriends. She stated, upon seeing the rehiid that it was under the influence of @aqt opiate or strong medicine of some ekind, and that the hives had been driven Hn on the child, (not one being visible sat that time). The child continued to sgrow worse and the next morning l called san. Dr. .Griggs. He came about noon. He slooked at the child, and after examining the medicine, told my wife, that it was syvise in her not to give it another one -of the pellets, because if she had done tso,- the child would not probably have rbsen alive then for him to see.
 ~ pr, Griggs called again after preScflD- ding for the child on 'tnle following morn ring and asked my wife if she was giving the medicine he had prescribed. She in s3ormed him that she was. He called again @thas evening, and said the child was It. tile or no b.'tter, but said If he could bring the child through until the following sevening without it getting worse he could ssave it. It fingered four days longer in .convulsions, one after another, each .Srowing harder than i-s predeci ssor. pr. sGriggs remarked several times that he ndid net see how child so young could tstand such spasms, stating that it was Zone of the most peculiar cases he had sever. witnessed in his whole forty years of sexperience in the medical profession. +The child finally died in great agony.
 = Upon the statements of Dr. Griggs and s4ha- exceeding quickness of the retrogres- sion of the child. after taking the pellets, Nand the child being of unknown parent sege, and from the fact that I had run speople from my yard who could give no raccount of themselves as to -heir being in my yard at that hour of the night and sfrom remarks made by people who were Heye witnesses of the child's sickness, my #nind was firmly impressed that some Lthing was wrong, and probably th@ child shad come to its death by foul means at ssofnebody's hands q do not say who) .Eha5 I immediately went to the coroner swith my neighbor. MT. E. Owens, and A4reported the case just as stated above sTIe said that h. would come to my house Hon, the following morning, this being not Elater than 8 30 D. m., the child having died Tat f6 :55 o'clock. impressed it upon the ~coroner's mind that I-thought an inyesti- .gation was necessary, and that immedi- wately. thinking that he might accompany me to my house, as ths hour was not -.very late He told me that he would come to my house early the next morning: ~ffiar if the child was at my house and guarded no further harm could be done it until ta saw 1t. The next morning I made every preparation for the coroner's sconvenience. Nine o'clock came and no Aoroper had shown up. I was afraid to NeSK4 the house, fearing he might come %inVthe interim. l wsnt to MT. Hiils coal s.yard and tried to find him by telephoning vto Warner & Smiley's and other places 'where I thought he might be, but could Snot find him at any of them. l waited .,until Il 80 o'clock and again went to MT. ssI1ills coal yard and called up 300 (cen- 4traD and asked if they knew where I scould find the coroner
 In few moments she called me and Ssaid, Here is the coroner talk to him" T asked him what was the matter that he -did. not come to my house. He said he fwould be there in a few moments. l told ~f1ifn to come as soon as possible. as the r1child was becoming offensive and needed .attention at once.
 < I went back to my house and waited .uHtif 2:40 o'clock and the coroner had not yet come. MT. Owens had ladd off ,Jthat day to assist me in the burial of the schild.
 We waited until o'clock and he did not come and we started after him. We
 met him about three blocks from the house. We returned with him. I gave -efru~ the certificate of death issued to me
 by pr. Griggs."
 The coroner did mot get out of his bug
 gy, told me to get in the buggy, which I
 did. and we came to the city. He drove to Miller's undertaking establishment.
 En route there I again expressed my views upon the sickness and dsath of the child and he claimed to me that the doc tors certificate barred him from any fur 'ther investigation of the case. %~ =
 Upon arrival at MiIers he got out of this buggy and told me to remain in the buggy and hold his mule.
 =. One of the employers came out with common pine box. Hating to see the 1it- tie fellow put away in such a rude man. ner I went 10 the undertaken and told him that had spent all my money try ing to save the chld's life and asked him
 if he would kindly wait on me if I would
 buy casket for the child instead of the box about to be sent to the house He told me that he thought I had done
 enough and suggested that I ought not
 to go to any further expense. then went
 to my house with the driver and had the
 body brought to Miller's.
 My wifs suggested that as the box was
 such rude affair I go to Dr. Drennen
 and ask him to aid me in giving the child
 decent burial. I went to his office but
 he was out I spoke to young Dr. Dren- nen About the matter in front of the office
 door in the presence of MT. Owens and
 he remarked that he had no idea that hts sfather would give mo any assistance to-
 ward burying the child as the parents
 W ere poor and were not able to render any
 help. T told him that w3s led to believe