The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-10-24
BABY ALIVE FIVE DAYS
BESIDE DEAD MOTHER.
Found Gasping Near Body When
Door Was Broken Open.
infant BRAvELY FIGHTS DEATH
Mrs. Catherine Denham, Lone
Woman and Fourteen-Months-
Old Founding Discovered in
Brooklyn After Many Days.

Brooklyn After Many Days.
Brooklyn, N. Y.-Struggling for
life with all the resoluteness of a
prehistoric child and with the intelli-
gence Of civilized one, John Boyle,
fourteen months old, through FIVE
terrible days kept himself from
death, though alone In little fat in
No. 4201 Third avenue, with the body.
of Mrs. Catherine Denham, his moth
er by adoption. He was found there
by the dead woman's aunt, who, OBJ,
tanning no answer to repeated calls, Z
got a patrolman to break in the door
Of the fiat for her. Mrs. Denham's
body lay in the middle Of the kitchen
floor, close to the stove. Apparently,
she had died of heart disease when
about to light the fire five days be-
fore, for in her stiffened fingers q
match was clutched, and the Coroner
and ambulance surgeon said she had
been dead at least that long Beside
the body little John was close to his
last hour. He had eaten everything
his strong young jaws could nibble,
edible or inedible, and had come to
theend of his strength. Yet so great
was his vitality, medical men said he
would pull through.
Little Johns tongue was. black and
swollen with thirst when they found
him. His voice had dwindled to a,
gasping whisper. One would have,
said his eyes were falling out. of his
head. The once rosy cheeks were
sunken. His wrists and ankles had
gone down to nothing. From top to
toe he was as emaciated as children
in the horror pictures of Indian fam
ines. The fatal bloating of the stom-
ach from prolonged starvation had
not occurred, but it would have hap
pened in day. or two-had the child
survived his experience that much
longer. az;
Guessing was all Mrs. Denham's
sister, the policeman and the doctors,
could do when they gazed about the
tiny fat and tried to imagine what
had taken place there. Itwas enough!
On all sides were strewn crusts the
baby had gnawed until they became
too hard even for his rare pluck to !
conquer. He had broken a milk bot
tie to get at the contents-at any
rate, he had dragged the bottle on
low table and evidently had Tapped
up the milk off the floor when the
glass was shivered. How he avoided
swallowing splinters from the bottle
was a mystery, yet the physicians
found no symptoms that he had done
so. The little chap, not old enough
to toddle stoutly, nevertheless had
swept the bottom shelf of the pantry
bare in a hunt for food, and a chair
placed near showed that the baby
must have tried to climb up to reach
the higher ones. A small pail which
had contained lard was empty, licked
empty by the starving baby, the
neighbors believed. He had eaten
-four from a broken bag until the
agony os thirst made him stop.
Enough Injurious substances went
into that small stomach to- kill an or
binary child. Physiciansssaid Fifth
avenue baby would have succumbed
In two days. Little John, being
waif-Mrs. Denham had adopted him
from the Guardian Angel Home,
Twelfth avenue and Sixty-6fth street
fought it out for five. Instinct led
him to food as long as there was any,
to be had. When there was no more,
he gnawed a little cloth horse stuffed
with sawdust-gnawed 1t until his
sharp little teeth worked through the
cloth, and doubtless he swallowed
good deal of the stuffing. A rubber
teething ring was found beside him.
gnawed to shreds. {
Small John evidently slept where
sleep overlook him. There were signs
that he had inhabited each of the
three rooms. Fortunately, he was
too young to think. A child few
years older, if not clever enough to
unlock the door, might have died or
fright at being shut in with corpse.
The baby had pulled at the OLD Wom-
ans hair-Mrs. Denham. was close 10
sixty years-and tugged at her dress-
ing sack in efforts to arouse her from
the sleep of death. Failing that' ne
perhaps ceased to notice the bodyi
| Yet-whether by chance or instinct
he had fallen beside it when at last
his little legs gave way under hlm,
and his hand, shrunk to the seeming
of a birds claw, was stretched toward
the dead woman.
Neighbors said they did not recall
hearing the baby's cries. They hard
Iy noticed the fact that Mrs. Denham
was not in evidence in the first fe"
DAYS. and when at last they did, tney
assumed she had gone away on a
visit.
Mrs. Denham became lonesome a
wear ago when her husband, william
!. Denham, a civil engineer, died.
and from. the sisters of the Home OF
the Guardian Angel she obtained an
orphan. In. such q case a 1oster
mother is allowed SO a month for the
care of the child, and this she aGcept.
ed. as her husband s4death had ieit
her Impoverished. Johnnie Boyles
narents, Mr.. and Mrs. John Boyle,
had died within a few weeks OF eacn
other soon after the death or Mr.
Denham, and he had been in. the
home only q month when Mrs. Den