Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1876 — A Living- Child Shipped in a Soap- Box. [ARTICLE]

A Living- Child Shipped in a SoapBox.

Yesierdav evening, a little after eight o’clock, a discovery of a very extraordinary character was made at the Tithebarn Street railway station. When the parcels "were being taken out of the goods van of the train from Preston, which arrived at S:10, one of the porters heard the cry of a child proceeding apparently from a dseap of luggage, and he drew the attention of some of the other men to the fact. Their suspicions were, of course, aroused, and a soap-box, which was among the rest of the oarcels, was opened. Very much to the 'astonishment of the officials and othera who gathered around, it was found to contain a fine, healthy-looking female child, apparently about a month or six weeks old. A police constable was at once “called in,” and the little

stranger who had so opportunely made its presence known was given into his charge. The constable took the child and the box to the detective office in Dale street The assistance of some of the wsmen living in the neighborhood was obtained, and the child was washed and fed. Subsequently it was sent to the work-house; and, instead of suffering any ill effects from its long and dose ■confinement, it is at present tn the most Shealthy and thriving condition. The d»x in which it was “ booked” for Liverpool is an ordinary soap-box, about ‘twelve or fourteen inches long, by six "C** 6 * wide, and about eight or ten inches « pore a glaring label having ref«re®«e ? Hndsotfs dry soap” on the ,J, °* “« and a similar one on one y/”* 8 Bld< ?’ *£ ile °n the top of the lid nn °., 1 * rtl ' n £P*P er , loosely . y„* couple of pins, and T™, „- direction, writ &&

Liverpool To b Left Till Called For." At tiie bottom of the box there wee a small ilece of old carpet doubled up, but the ough wood of the sides was uncovered. The train had left Preston at 6:45 p. m an hour and a half previously—but it Is believed that the “ parcel" was booked at Preston station, and had been lying in the parcels office a considerable time before that. The child was dressed in a white chemise, some white flannel and a white cotton napkin, and it was wrapped in an old blue flannel petticoat. There were no holes in the box. and the only vent for air was the chink between the lids and the sides. It is, therefore, marvelous that the infant should have lived long, and the inhuman mother, or whoever the sender may have been, must have anticipated that it would be smothered on the Journey. There is no trace, beyond such as may arise from the bare circumstances which have been stated, as to the persons concerned, but there is no doubt the greatest exertions will be made by the police to follow up their discovery of the intended murder by something further.— Liverpool (Eng.) Fost.