Birth Registration
36046/1893
KENDALL
ANASTASIA
JOSEPH
EMMA
WAGGA WAGGA  

Sad Death of Three Children

A PATHETIC STORY

The search at Crainbob village, about 14 miles from Wagga New South Wales, for three missing children who had strayed away, and for whom large search parties, comprising in all about 100 horsemen and footmen, had been seeking for several days resulted in the discovery of their lifeless bodies on September 2. These three little ones were aged respectively five, four, and three. Daisy Pearl, and Elsie Margaret and Anastasia were the daughters of two poor selectors named Edward and Joseph Kendall. The eldest and the youngest were Edward’s daughters. It appears that the children, on Saturday, August 28, started from home about ten o’clock, and went towards Kyeamba Creek, where they found an opossum in a log. Daisy, the eldest, decided to return home for an axe to chop the opossum out, and told her companions to wait until she came back. It is evident that before Daisy’s return the younger children get tired of waiting and had proceeded elsewhere in the scrub. Daisy subsequently joined the other children, and they were seen passing through the gate which led into a lane proceeding from the creek. As far as is known the stump in which the opossum was is quite a short distance from their home, in scrubby bush land belonging to their parents. It was not until after nightfall that the Kendall families became anxious. The alarm was raised among the neighbours at ten o’clock. The whole country side turned out with lanterns in search of the missing children and their efforts were principally directed towards the creek. It was a cold, stormy night, with rain. The search was conducted with energy for many hours without success. The police conducted the search from Alfredtown, and the residents from Wagga proceeded in contingents of volunteers daily. A ceaseless rain fell each day, making the search for the tracks difficult. On September 2 a party was sent out to make inquiries, and to more carefully examine the land over which they had previously searched. A report was brought in that Mary Jones, wife of a selector living near Kendall’s, had discovered the children lying dead on a stony ridge on Walsh’s farm. She was accompanied by her daughter Emily, and her attention being attracted by the crows hovering over the ridge, her suspicions were aroused. She found the crows were over a lamb, which was lying a little distance away. This led her right on to the bodies of the little children. They were lying on the ground, faces downward, at a distance of four or five yards from each other, and looking towards their home. They had apparently laid down and died from exposure. This spot was about three-quarters of a mile from Mrs Jones’s house. Death, it was evident, had come to their relief, and there were no signs of any struggle. The bodies were thinly clad in light garments, no hats or boots being worn, and they lay two yards from the fence. Dr Thane, who viewed the remains, was of opinion that death occurred between four and five days ago, and was due to exposure. He found no marks of violence.