The Topeka state journal., 1919-10-10
IN A GRIM BATTLE
Little Michigan Girls, Poisoned
by Mother, Fighting Bravely.
Chances 100 to 1 Against
Them, Doctor Says.
PITIFUL SCENE IN SICK ROOM
Noted Specialist Cries as His
Science Seems Futile.
Mother Says "Flash From Help
Prompted Her Act.

Chicago. Oct. 1O.-One hundred to
one.
Those are the odds. according to
and Edna Lulkart little Michigan
girls poisoned by their mother. in
their fight against death Shirley is
and Edna Z years of age.
Making a Brave Fight.
Despite their small chance OF re-
covery they refused to yield to the
paroxysms which racked their small
bodies. Nurses and physicians. con-
stantly at the bedsides. urged them on
in their painful fight.
unchanged" Doctor Carter. the man
who volunteered his services to fight
the slow poison death, announced la
conically at noon. He gulped a small
lunch and hurried back to his little
patients.
Two or three days will bring the
crisis, it was said at the hospital.
The mother. now in the Pontiac
county. Michigan, jail. confessed, ac-
cording to Mr.. Luikart and officers,
that she administered the poison ''as
a result of a flash from hell"
Chicago's Heart Out To Them.
That the innocent victims of n
mothers crime had the heart of Chi
cago with them was shown ty the
fiOnuTeQS OIL OlleTS Oh anu ny lAic
scores of presents, including toys,
candy and flowers sent to the hospital.
But the little girls lacked the
strength to play with the toys; they
had no appetite for sweets and even
the flowers failed to appeal to them.
With 7-year-old Shirley. it was
merely a question of a few hours, Doc
tor Carter stated this morning. She
was unconscious when brought to the
hospital and aroused from the stu
por only long enough to ask:
"Whcre Is Mamma?"
where is mamma?"
| Her father, standing by her bed
side, told white lie" when he re-
piled:
she will be here in a minute"
TRANSMISSION of blood was attempted
by Doctor Carter as a last resort aft
! er use of combination of phosphorus
acid. aeetic acid ard sodium biear-
Donate to counteract the poison.
When Doctor Carter called for vol
| unteers for the blood TRANSMISSION, the
father and five reporters offered theii
blood. Thomas Wren. reporter. was
selected for the operation. He plead
ed with the nurses to take more than
a pint of his blood II it would help.
The blood TRANSMISSION for Shirley
was completed under favorable cir
cumstances. A similar TRANSMISSION foI
Edna was to be performed today.
.
today and Doctor Carter said she had
| "a fighting chance"
Tears Down Doctors Face.
'If could only do something more,
said Doctor Carter last night. This
is the most heart rending death vlgi
it has ever been my misfortune to wit
ness
Tears streamed down his face as ht
watched the little mouths under thS
frame of golden curls gasp for air. this
baby fingers twitch the coverlets II
the agony of their sufferings.
"They are too weak and the polsor
has gone too far for me TO operate
the physician said.
AS he spoke a strangled little CRY
came from the fevered pillow.
nurse bent over Baby Shirley.
81 Want My Nice Mamma"
IT want my mamma" she gasped
my nice mamma.
! Mamma will come very soon,'
| choked the nurse.
Mamma is fixing Shirley's new
dress-the little dress with all tn
pretty ribbons"
In the ether bed. the white coun
! terpane was twisted and crumpled a
the tortured little body under 1t wa
, racked by a paroXysm Of coughing
The human wisp, hanging to life by ;
thread that may soon part, wa
| irawn into a knot of agony. Thei
5 the baby legs and arms relaxed Thei
, bloodless face was calm. The big blu
/ eyes closed A sigh, almost inaudible
r escaped the baby mouth.
rs she--is it over?" a nurse whis
pered.
Not yet" replied the doctor
, huskiIy. II wish for her sake it was.
n In an outer room sat the father dis
) tractedly fondling his children's toy
$ toys they had insisted Gomez wit
/ them.
r Cant Watch My Babies Die"
, "I can't stand it in there" h
r sobbed. II can't watch my babies di'
e Why must this be?"
-Four hours he paced the floor, NUT
= tering to himself, half deliriously. q
= tho the days that will not come bac
\ were running thru his mind.
d From Detroit came reports that tn
conscience stricken mother. craze
with grief over her act, was beatin
7 the bars of her cell. shrieking that tn
ba bies would live.