COX, Jessie May 1906 - 1908

COX

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 5/25/2021 at 20:23:27

"The Fairfield Journal"
Friday, January 17, 1908
Page 2, Column 2

TOOK DEADLY PILLS
Infant Daughter of William COX Dies From Eating Dozen sugar Caated (sic) Pills.

Jessie Mae COX, the sixteen month old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Will COX died very suddenly yesterday afternoon shortly after three o'clock, after swallowing twelve strychnine pills which she had obtained while the mother had seated her on the dresser to comb her hair.

Mrs. COX has been on the sick list for some time and had been taking medicine for several days past. The physician had proscribed (sic) these pills for her Wednesday and they had been placed on the dresser out of reach of the baby, so the parents thought.

They had been repeatedly cautioned both by the physician and relatives about leaving medicine of any kind where the baby could reach it

Yesterday afternoon Mrs. COX had given the baby some candy and afterward had seated her on the dresser while combing her hair When she had finished she placed the child on the floor and went to the other room for a minute. When she returned the baby was in spasms and a glance at the dresser showed the sugar coated strychnine pills gone

Help was summoned at once and a phycisian called for but by the time a doctor reached the home the little child was beyond all earthly help and died in a few minutes. It is positively stated that had a physician been on the scene at the time the accident was discovered he could not have saved the child, so great and so deadly was the amount of poison taken.

This was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. COX, who are young people, and they are nearly crazed with grief over the accident.

Yesterdays accident is the first of the kind which has happened in Fairfield for several years and the sudden death of this helpless little child will bring to the minds of every mother and father in the city the idea of what a little extra precaution and care in a home where there are small children to be looked after, might mean.

One of those pills three times a day was the physicians proscription for the mother and yet when the baby found them they were sweet and tasted nice and she ate them all in her innocence.

The funeral of the little one was held this afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the home. Rev. Louis Mendenhall of the Free Methodist church conducted the last services.

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"The Fairfield Ledger"
Wednesday, January 15, 1908
(Believe this should be January 22nd, 1908)
Page 6, Column 4

Died From Accidental Poisoning.

Jessie May, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. F. COX, died in this city Thursday afternoon from accidental poisoning. She was seized with convulsions about 3:30 and was dead in half an hour. An examination of the house showed that the child had found a box of tablets, probably containing strychnine, on the top of a dresser and had eaten a dozen or more of them. A physician was called as soon as she showed symptoms of illness said he could not have saved her life had he been on the spot when the tablets were taken. The little girl was born in Fairfield August 22d, 1906. The body was buried Friday afternoon, funeral services being conducted by Rev. Lewis Mendehnall.

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"Jefferson County Republican"
Friday, January 24, 1908
Page 5, Column 1

... The sixteen months old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Will COX died Thursday night of last week at their home in the southeast part of this city, from the effects of some strichnine pills which it got hold of and ate. ...

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*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.

Note: Buried in Evergreen Cemetery, in the Public Grounds section, in Row 3, Space 25.