From the Richmond Dispatch, 8/18/1864, p.1, c. 5

Inquest. – In the absence of the Coroner, who is sick, an inquest was held yesterday by Justice James T. Williams of the body of a little girl about four years old, who died on Tuesday afternoon at the house of Jacob Hoeflich, on Cary street, between Ninth and Tenth, under mysterious circumstances. It having been rumored that the child came to its death by cruel treatment at the hands of Hoeflich and his wife, several of the neighbors were summoned to testify in the case. Their evidence proved that for months past the Hoeflichs had been in the habit of repeatedly whipping it in a most unmerciful manner, and only a few days before its death it was punished very severely. A physician was called in to examine it, and after doing so he stated that there was nothing in its appearance which indicated that it died from the immediate effects of a whipping. The jury thereupon rendered as their verdict, that the deceased came to her death from natural causes; but expressed as their opinion that it had been precipitated by cruel treatment inflicted by Jacob Hoeflich and his wife. Hoeflich was committed to jail by the Mayor on Tuesday (before its death) of the charge of cruelly beating the child. – At that time it was thought to be in a critical condition, and to await the issue of the case his Honor examination till Friday.

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