A faint cry in a Washington alley drew Officer Burton toward an old tin tub sitting behind a row of homes on P Street.
Inside, he found a ten-day-old baby girl lying alone, kicking her feet and reaching into the cold night air.
Someone had abandoned her there, leaving her cries as the only signal that she needed help.
The officer wrapped the infant carefully and sent her to Children’s Hospital for treatment. Despite the circumstances in which she was found, doctors believed the baby would survive.
Ten-Day-Old Child Abandoned In Alley
WASHINGTON, D.C. — An S.O.S. sent out by the whining of a baby, attracted Officer Burton of No. 2 Precinct Police Station to an old tin tub sitting in the alley behind 434 P Street, Northwest, Saturday night.
In the tub was a ten-day-old baby, her little feet describing windmills in the air, and her hands outstretched as if pleading for help. She was alone, evidently unwanted, crying pitifully to the unknown world.
The child was wrapped carefully by Officer Burton and sent to the CHildren’s Hospital by George Hawkins and Henry Randolph. She was treated at the hospital. She will live.
Source: The Washington Tribune. Washington, D.C. January 28, 1927.
