Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1907-11-19
Infants Body Found in Moody Brook.
PHYSICIAN DECIDES 1T WAS STILL
BoRN.-A PECULIAR AFFAIR.

PHYSICIAN DECIDES IT WAS STILL
BoRN.-A PECULIAR AFFAIR.
The body of a newly born female
child, about seven pounds in weight, was
discovered in the brook at what is called
the Moody bridge, about three miles
north of Paris Hill, last Tuesday.
A saw mill was built few years since
on the bank of the brook just above the
bridge, and the sawdust is piled on the
other side of the brook. The mill is not
now running, and there is no one staying
on the property. On Tuesday George
Lennard, son of Joseph Lennard, who
lives near Stearns Hill, was at the mill
after load of sawdust. While there he
went down to the brook to drink, at a
place just below the bridge. There he
discovered the body of an infant lying in
little eddy at the edge of the brook.
Near the body was water-soaked
pasteboard box in which the body had
apparently been when placed there.
The place where it was found was just
below the bridge, and in full sight from
the road. Young Lennard had been at
the same place to drink the day before,
and there was nothing there The ap-
pearance of the body also was that it had
been in the water only few hours.
Coroner William j. Wheeler of South
Paris was notified, and with DR.. d. N.
Stewart went at once to the place, and
DIR. Stewart performed an autopsy on the
body. He pronounced it fully develop
ed child, but was satisfied that ii was
still-born.
Coroner Wheeler decided that under
the circumstances no inquest was nee
essary, and the body was removed from
Miss Thayer's undertaking rooms, where
it had been, to the receiving tomb at
Riverside Cemetery to await further de-
velopments
Although no inquest was considered
necessary, the authorities are endeavor-
ing to ascertain the parentage of the
child.
In any case it is peculiar affair.
Naturally the first thought which oc-
ours to the mind, on hearing of the find
ing of such a body, is not only that it
may have died violent death, but that
il may have been one of those unweicome
arrivals whose existence it is desired to
conceal. The physicians decision that
the child was dead when born negatives
the idea of violent death.
IL concealment was desired, it was
certainly attempted in peculiar man.
ner. From the place where the body
lay, ii was evident that it had not tioated
down the brook, but had been placed in
the water practically where it was found,
and this was near the road and in full
sight of it, Carrying it only few rods
down the brook would greatly have less
ened the chances of discovery, as the
brook below that point crosses only one
public road before it empties into the
| Little Androscoggin River, and much OF
its course is through the woods.
On the other hand, it is suggested that
the parents took this method Of dispos.
| ing of the infant on account OF the
trouble and expense of any other dispo
sition of it. This might be, though the
labor of burying child, when the
ground was frozen very slightly if at all
is hardly sufficient to justify the risk in
cident to such a disposition Of the bod,
as was made.
1t is probable that the body wa:
placed where it was found by some ont
| ignorant of the customs of the lant
and the laws of Maine. Thu
appearance of the child gives color t.
the theory that it may belong to some o
the colony of Firms in the northern par
of the town, and the ignorance OF 1T
parents regarding our customs and law!
may explain the peculiar disposition o