Baby

The body of a newly-born female child was found in the canal at Castleton on the morning of Wednesday 14 February 1917.

It was found by a 14-year-old lad employed at the Ensor Mill when he was on the towing path.

He said that he saw in the water what he thought to be a celluloid doll. He said that he then got it to the side and discovered to his amazement that the object was the naked body of a little child.

He said that he then informed the manager of the mill who telephoned for the police who arrived quickly and took the body to the mortuary.

The policeman said that when he arrived he found the child on the edge of the canal on the opposite side of the towing path. He said that from its appearance that he thought it had been placed into the canal several hours before.

A doctor that examined the child said that it was the body of a newly-born female child and was fully developed.

He said there were no marks of violence externally, and that internally he found the throat and air passages clear, with no signs of haemorrhage or fracture of the head, and that all the organs had been quite healthy and normal.

He said that there had been complete inflation of the lungs, but found that the stomach was empty.

He added that he thought the child had lived for about an hour and that he thought it had been dead when put into the water and that its cause of death was lack of attention at birth. He added that it had been a healthy child and if it had been properly attended to it ought to have lived.