“JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON”
There came a deadlock and finally some one suggested that the decision be left to Mayor Napoleon Drouin of Quebec. The mayor was called and each father presented what he considered proof that the child belonged to him. The mayor, however, after a study of the features of Mrs. Archer and those of the child, decided that the baby was not the Archer child, and he finally awarded the baby to Cullen.
While the controversy between Cullen and Archer was going on a woman attired in clothes of coarse texture wandered past the bodies of the children, stopping to lift up the coffin lids and gaze tenderly on the little faces. She was a survivor and was looking for the baby that had been torn from her arms.
One child with dark hair and features of a cherub, bearing many bruises, attracted her attention. She believed the baby was hers, but she was not sure. “My child,” she said, “has one tooth on the right side.” Bending over she reverently opened the mouth of the tot and then a moan escaped her. “It’s mine,” she whispered, and untied a black baby ribbon that ran around the neck. Weeping she was helped to the office of the coroner, where she obtained a burial certificate and received permission to have the body shipped to her home.