Now! Then! Edwin Wild (6 months) of Sheffield is attacked for his milk by a ratting ferret while being cared for by his grandparents

27 April 1888: Edwin Wild (6 months) of Sheffield is attacked for his milk by a ratting ferret while being cared for by his grandparents

Sheffield Independent. 1888/05/08. Fatal ferret bite in Sheffield. Sheffield. Get it:

Excerpt

It appears that his father, William Wild, a striker, lives at 4, Jessop Lane, off Sheffield moor, but on the 27th April the child was at the house of its grandmother, Mrs. Haslam, of 10 Court, Burgess Street, she having taken charge of it in consequence of the illness of its mother. About nine that morning Mrs. Haslam left the little fellow asleep in the bedroom, but about ten minutes later her husband, John Haslam, saw-maker, on going up to fetch it downstairs, found that it had been attacked by a tame ferret, which he had borrowed to catch rats. The ferret, which was kept in a box in the bedroom, had got out, and attracted probably by the smell of the milk which the child had been sucking from a bottle, began biting the left side of its face. The child’s forehead, left eye, and cheek were one mangled mess, and presented a shocking sight. The child had not been heard to cry by its grandmother, and this is probably due to hoarseness, consequent on a cold from which it was suffering. The ferret was at once killed and the child removed to the hospital, where it has since been. Although the wound was a serious one, it was not anticipated that it would terminate fatally, but during the latter part of last week the child got worse and died on Sunday night. A sad feature of the affair is that since the accident the mother’s illness has increased, and she is now an inmate of the hospital.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.
Abbreviations:

ER: East Riding
GM: Greater Manchester
NR: North Riding
NY: North Yorkshire
SY: South Yorkshire
WR: West Riding
WY: West Yorkshire

Comment

A striker in metalworking is the assistant operator who wields the heavy sledgehammer.

Burgess Street is where it was – just round the corner from Sheffield town hall – but I can’t find Jessop Lane.

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Original

On Sunday night, a child, Edwin Wild, aged six months, died at the Hospital under very singular and painful circumstances. It appears that his father, William Wild, a striker, lives at 4, Jessop lane, off Sheffield moor, but on the 27th April the child was at the house of its grandmother, Mrs. Haslam, of 10 court, Burgess street, she having taken charge of it in consequence of the illness of its mother. About nine that morning Mrs. Haslam left the little fellow asleep in the bedroom, but about ten minutes later her husband, John Haslam, sawmaker, on going up to fetch it down stairs, found that it had been attacked by a tame ferret, which he had borrowed to catch rats. The ferret, which was kept in a box in the bedroom, had got out, and attracted probably by the smell of the milk which the child had been sucking from a bottle, began biting the left side of its face. The child’s forehead, left eye, and cheek were one mangled mess, and presented a shocking sight. The child had not been heard to cry by its grandmother, and this is probably due to hoarseness, consequent on a cold from which it was suffering. The ferret was at once killed and the child removed to the Hospital, where it has since been. Although the wound was a serious one, it was not anticipated that it would terminate fatally, but during the latter part of last week the child got worse and died on Sunday night. A sad feature of the affair is that since the accident the mother’s illness has increased, and she is now an inmate of the Hospital. The coroner has been communicated with, but the date of the inquest has not yet been fixed.

299 words.