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PERFORMING A MIDGET TO DEATH.

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rn. toh- appeared tn our Second A&itwn of Saturday last. PERFORMING A MIDGET TO DEATH. SHOCKING REVELATIONS. At Birmingham Mr. Weekes, deputy coroner, "II Thursday held an inquest respecting the death of Lily Evans, alias the 44 Lilliputian Wonder" and "Smallest Midget in the World." Tlie infant, which was stated to be nine inches l^ng and weighed only ten ounces, was perfectly formed. and six weeks of nge. The mother, Erumu Evans, wife of a mechanic living in Francis- street, said for the past two or three weeks she had let the child to Mr. Baker, a showman, who ex- hibited it at a room at the corner of Albert-street ,nd D-.tle-end, Birmingham, and for which she .-eceived 30s. a week. The Deputy Coroner: Who issued this pro- gramme:—'• The Midget. Every person from her Majesty down to the lowest subject should pay a visit to this wonderful being. Witness: Mr. Baker did. The Deputy Coroner: And then followed a challenge to the world to produce so small a child ? —Witness: He did challenge the world. Aud your bnby has beulen them all?—Witness- Oh. yes. Many persons ca-ne to see the child, but she could not say how much the showman earned. The child was exhibited from dinner time to nine or ten nt. night, but not often longer. On Sundav morning the child was seized with a convulsive fit, and medical assistance was called in, but death took place the following day, whilst being taken out for a drive in order to get better, as it was to rommence a tour at Nottingham with the show- man next day. Is it not a fact that you were drunk when the shild was being exhibited last Thursday after- noon ?—The Mother: No. Some woman said that [ was drunk. People have paid all sorts of things tbout me, but I never get drunk. In raply to further questions, the woman ad- mitted that the infant had been kept awake for jxhihition purposes, but denied that she was in the habit of taking more drink than a sup. Mrs. Whitfield, a woman who was engaged by tt.e showman as dressmaker and attendant on the -Midgut, said she had to make a new dress, silk, satin, and coloured, every day for the child. The m Jther of the Midgot had been drinking very freely while the child was performing, as she re- ceived a lot of money from Mr. Baker for letting him siiow it. The Deputy Coroner: Was she drunk nearly the whole of tile time ?—Witness: Yes, she was. flew did the child look'?—Witness Like a regu- lar show baby. It was exhibited every five minutes during the day, except when it had a rest at dinner and tea-time, when it was suckled by the mother when sober. When the mother was drunk the child was fed on scalded biscuits. But was she not nearly always drunk ?—Wit- ness: Yes. ^Sensation) Do you say that the child wag exhibited every five minutes?—Witness: Yes. And that the mother was drunk ?—Witness Yes. And that when she was too drunk to suckle the child it was fed on scalded biscuits I-Witness Yes. Dr. Alfred Naylor, Darlington, surgeon, testified to death ensuing from convulsions, accelerated by being exhibited, and aggravated by the mother hut spasmodically giving it proper The child was not in a fit state to be exhibited when he saw it. The mother, re-called, said, in answer to the Deputy Coroner, that she intended to burv the Dody because she was told it was too ftr gone. She spoke to the showman about it, who said he could Set £20 for the body. She should have sold it if she thought she was allowed to do so, but did not understand the law. The Deputy Coroner, in summing up, said the case was a most, extraordinary one. The mother. not satisfied with killing the child, was anxious to make money out of the dead body. The child being kept awake for exhibition purposes during lengthened hours and the mot tier's drunken habits had undoubtedly ttccfiprafed death. Owing, however, to the evidence of the surgeon that, he could not say that, death had been directly brought about by the mother, he did not thing the jury would be justified in returning a verdict of mansliuuhter against her, i though she might deserve it. The child being so weakly it was not likely that any doctor could say that it would have lived, although tliere was no doubt that the treatment it received had accelera- ted death, but. for how long a time he could not say. The woman's conduct, had been most brutal, but the coroner's officers would see that the body was not m'<de a market of for the profit of the mother, and was in no way tampered with, but that on the other hand it birl a proper burial. Tit.. jury f-)n,f that the Midget died from con- vulsions, brought about by the neglect of the mother, and accelerated by exhibition, and that she deserved censure for her cruel conduct. The mother, being recalled, received a severe censure, the deputy-coroner stating that she nar- rowly escaped being committed for trial for man- slaughter, and adrled that she might yetbepro- ceeded against by the police.

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