The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-04-09
Cat Sucked ssl Baby's Breath.

that cat may take the life Of q child
by simply inhaling its breath. Tie
strange case brought under the actual
knowledge Of DR.. F. E. Waxham,
proves conolusively for the medical
profession the hearsay Of old family
physicians and the tales Of old-time
medical authorities long out Of print.
The infant son Of G.stave Brown
was killed by his favorite playmate, q
great maltese cat, while taking his
morning nap in his carriage in the
back yard of the residence yesterday.
The examination Of DR.. Waxham, the
mother's observations and the investi-
cations Of Coroner Horan, all bring
the same uncontradicted decision.
The cat killed the sleeping baby by
putting its: mouth within the ohild's
mouth, sucking is breath. the child
breathing back the cats breath till
suffocation resulted.
1t is my positive belief" said Dr..
Waxham this morning, ''that death
came to the baby in just this way,
and for my own experience, the old
saying is proven. I have heard of
death having been caused in this way
before, but have never had reason to
believe it until now. This is tho first
instance that ever came to my obser-
vation and that I have ever heard of
directly
Mrs. Brown is certain that Dr..
Waxham is right in his conclusion.
"Yosterday morning she says,
II put the baby in its carriage as
usual for its nap, and as I have always
done, put him in the back yard, with
the parasol lowered to keep the light
out Of his eyes and to prevent the ad-
mission of too much cold air. I had
had a man engaged to clean the house
and was so preoccupied and busy dur
ing the morning that I did not run
out to look at the baby as often as I
generally do, to see that he is we'll
covered and sleeping quietly.
At noon when we were at lunch.
con left the table to look toward the
the baby's carriage, and at that mo-
mentI saw the parasol moving. I
thought the baby had awakened. He
is 80 sweet and happy when he first
wakes that I thought for fun would
just run out and steal some Of his
smiles and play 'peek-a.boo' at him to
see the dear little things delight. I
went to the kitchen door and as I
opened it and started .down the steps
saw the maltese puss, the family
pet, jump out on the other side of the
carriage from under the parasol over
the baby's face. I thought nothing
of it especially, since the cat often
jumps into the foot Of the carriage
and lies there asleep while the baby
takes his nap.
when I reached the buggy, push
ed the parasol away and leaned down
to look at the baby. there he lay,
dead, his little mouth slightly ajar.
Not a mark Of Disagreement on his
white face"
This part Of Mrs. Browns story is
corroborated by Mrs. F. S. Knox, q
neighbor, who also saw the cat jump
down from the baby's carriage, and
who ran over to the Brown yard when
the mother'c scream announced that
something terrible had happened to
the child. DR.. r. e. Waxham was
hurriedly summoned and two other
neighbors. Mrs. G. J. Dutch and
Mrs. NJ. N. Jones helped their friend
in her effort to restore life to the
child by rubbing and all the other
methods they knew.
DR.. Waxham efforts proved equal
ly fruitless. The child had probably
been dead he said, for some time.
The strange conduct Of the cat during
the efforts to bring the baby back to
life was remarked by all four women.
"When we took the baby in the
house," Gays Mira. Jones, "the cat ap-
peared uneasy and followed close be-
hind Mrs Brown. When the baby
was laid down and we were all work
ing over it, the cat sat with it's eyes
fixed on the child, as if perfectly fas-
cinated, and seemed under an almost
hypnotic influence. It got up and
walked around us and appeared to be
crazy to get nearer the baby, until We
finally became 80 annoyed at its strange
behavior that we had to put it OUT"
Mrs. Jones declares that she has
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