Child

The body of a female child was found beneath some floorboards at 9 Junction Road, South Acton on 17 May 1900.

The child's hands and feet were missing.

An open verdict was returned.

The body was found by a gasfitter in the service of the Brentford Gas Company.

He said that on 17 May 1900 that he had gone to 9 Junction Road to do a job and had been taking up the flooring of the first floor near the hearthstone about a foot or eighteen inches from the fireplace, when he saw the head of a person.

He said that at first he thought it had been a rats nest.

He said that he then called his mate over and then called for the police.

He said that the body was not lifted out until the doctor arrived and that from what he saw it looked like it was covered with lime, noting that it was crusty and looked like it had been there for years.

He later said that judging from the cut of the boards that the board had been taken up about two to three feet from the body and then the body slipped under.

The divisional police surgeon that was called out said that when he arrived he had the remains carefully removed and found that the body was in two or three cakes of lime and that the lime had destroyed all the integuments and affected the bone, noting that the hands and feet were not with the body.

He said that he thought that it had been a female child about two or three years of age, noting that he made that determination based on the condition of the head and the teeth. He added that the fact that the opening of the head was not ossified and the molar teeth were not cut, gave a fair indication of age.

He added that it would have been impossible to say what the cause of death was, but that in his opinion it had been dead for between two and three years.

He said that along with the body there had been a piece of rope, but that he didn't think that that had anything to do with its death, and that it had been wrapped up in a child's chemise that was about 30 inches long.

When he was asked about the effect of lime on the body, he said that it would have destroyed the body very quickly.

The police surgeon added that he made a search for the hands and feet but found nothing, stating that it was quite remarkable that they had gone.

The wife of the occupant of the room said that she had gone to 9 Junction Road in January 1900 and knew nothing of the matter.

The woman from below said that she had taken the downstairs flat, three rooms and a washhouse, three years earlier and had had four children, but lost two, one being seven and the other a year and eight months.

She said that she also had lodgers in the rooms above, a couple that had had two children and also a 22-year-old laundrywoman, but noted that the laundrywoman didn't occupy the room that the child's body was found in.

The woman also identified the couple that had been in shortly before she did, and identified them at the inquest, which they had attended, noting that they had been in the room about three years earlier.

She said that she never smelt anything odd.

A woman that had moved into 9 Junction Road in October 1898 and moved out at the end of 1899 said that there had been her husband and her two boys, who were both still alive and a daughter who was 23 years old.

She said that when she lived there that she smelt a bad smell in the room and complained to the landlady, the woman who had occupied the three rooms below, stating that it had been a nasty woody smell. She said that she later left because of the smell, noting that she only noticed the smell particularly after the floor was scrubbed. She added that she knew the floor had been cut because it 'went down' when they walked over it.

Another woman gave evidence at the inquest, stating that she had occupied the whole of the top of the house between 1896 and 1898 and had three children herself, all of whom were still alive, but didn't notice any smell.

A detective sergeant said that he had traced the whole of the children of tenants evicted in 1895 from 9 Junction Road as well as tracing the people for the previous six years, but that nothing could be gleaned as to the missing child.

When the Coroner summed up, he noted that the doctor had been able to estimate the age of the child from the space in the top of its head and the condition of its molar teeth, but noted that there was no doubt that the lime had altered the body over time and affected the post mortem examination. He added that the Criminal Investigation Department of the police had been satisfied that they had accounted in a satisfactory way for all persons that had lived in the house for the previous six years, noting that that was of course very satisfactory to the persons that had given evidence, and that to the others, there was no slur on their character.

As such, the Coroner stated that the matter would still occupy the attention of the police, who would do their best to solve the mystery.

The jury then returned an open verdict: