Child
Fatally Burned at County Home
Viola Travendar [sic],
a child of about two and a half years of age, met with a painful
death last Friday afternoon by burning.
The child was left alone
by her mother, Dora Tavendar [sic], about half-past
four in the women's dining room at the County Home, for a few
minutes.
Miss Minnie Spencer heard
a cry from the little one and ran to her, finding her clothes
blazing. The fire was extinguished and Dr. Grassett sent for, but
in spite of all that was done for her, she died about half-past
five.
At the request of
the Crown Attorney, an inquest was held on Saturday, Mr. Frank
Bowlby being the foreman of the jury. Evidence was taken from the
matron of the Home, Mrs. Spencer, her daughters, and several
inmates, among them being the mother.
There was no open fire in
the room in which the child was left, there were no matches that
she could get access to, and the only theory that was at all
plausible was that one of the old women inmates of the house who
smoked, might have dropped a match on the floor where the child
could pick it up.
After weighing the
evidence, the jury could find no opinion as to how the child got
on fire. No culpability was attached either to the management of
the Home or to the mother of the little one.
