The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-06-19
LITTLE CHILD
WAS DROWNED
Was the Decision of Coroner
McCOilISter..
AFTER THE AUTOPSY
Which Was Held Late YeSter-
day Afternoon.

The little baby that was found in the
Arkansas river Tuesday evening was
drowned Such was the decision of Cor
oner McCoIister after the autopsy held
yesterday afternoon. All day yesterday
the police and coroner hunted for clue
to the identity of the child. but they
could find nothing. There was a possi-
bnity that the child may have been
thrown into the river after its death
t. save the expense Of a funeral or it
may never have lived moment after
birth But that theory was exploded
when the post norton examination was
held. Dr. Jordan conducted the exam
nation He found that the lungs were
inflated with air. showing that the child
breathed after birth, but he left the
coroner to decide as to whether it was
drowned or died before being thrown into
the river. and Mr.. McColister made the
positive statement that the child met
its death by drowning.
Tuesday evening, when the child was
found and taken to the undertaking
rooms and the coroner opened the pack
age, he found between the thumb and
forefinger OF the right hand a piece of
the brown paper. This" said the cor
Oner, simply corroborates the first the
ory advanced by me, that the child was
drowned The baby was wrapped in that
brown paper and deliberately thrown in
the river Naturally it struggled and
the little hand grasped piece OF the
brown paper. The child did not have
strength enough TO tear that paper while
& was dry but II would take a very
light pull to separate a piece Of that
paper after it was wet, and that is what
the child did 1t was alive when thrown
into the river.
when the paper became saturated
with water, as it did Immediately, the
child in its struggles grasped the edge
and tore Off a piece of it. 1t held onto
this and its death grip held the paper
and when I unwraped the body the
piece Of paper was still in the hand and
was held firmly comparatively. I had
10 pry the thumb and finger apart to
get the paper out
"Of course, when I first unwrapped the
child I thought that possibly this paper
could have slipped into the hand. but
when I tried to pull it out 1 found that
the hand grasped it pretty strong. and
1, was at that time that I decided that
Il it could be proven that the child was
once alive I would make a record that
the child was deliberately drowned"
The autopsy was held late yesterday
afternoon. Dr. Jordan cut out the lungs
and after a careful examination found
that the air cells were inflated and he
announced that the child had breathed. |
After more thorough examination OF
the body he stated that it was a fully
developed child The finger and toe nails
are perfect and the eyes were strong
and everything would indicate that the
child had lived a least a few hours be-
fore it was thrown into the river The
doctor stated that the child was not
more than twenty hours old, If that
much. when it was thrown into the
river. but he would not give an opinion
rs to whether ii had been drowned or
not He said that he could not tell from
the examination he made whether il was
drowned or not
The body was placed in casket last
night and taken to the cemetery and
buried in the potter's field All day
yesterday the coroner and detectives
worked on the case to find at least some
clue to the child's identity. but their
efforts were not rewarded. They are as
much in the dark now as they were
when the body was discovered. They
viii not give up the search, however, /
until all hopes of finding a clue are lost. /
and now that the coroner has decided
that the child was deliberately drowned
the officers have been given an impetus
TO renewed efforts.