The Mystery of Little Baby X Nelson Harris is a former mayor of Roanoke and author of a dozen books on the region's history. He is the minister at Heights Community Church in Roanoke and a past president of the Historical Society of Western Virginia. 10 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 I N LOT 101 OF SECTION 14 at Evergreen Burial Park is interred a mystery. About a dozen people gathered at that grave on an early September morning in 1942 and lay to rest a 24-day-old infant known only as "Little Baby X." The newborn female had been placed on the steps of the Roanoke Hospital during the night of August 10th that year wrapped in a flannel shirt and bath towel and placed in a small cardboard box. The unseen person had slipped away after making the drop, leaving not a single clue as to the child's identity or circumstances. By the time the infant was discovered, she was near death. Blue and pale from the night air, she was rushed inside and immediately given oxygen in an effort to alleviate her troubled breathing. Doctors quickly determined that she had been delivered by a physician, or at least someone with medical training and equipment. Roanoke detectives had little to go on to find the infant's mother. The infant's parents were white and, believing the birth was attended by a physician, investigators reached out to all hospitals in the area and surrounding counties. TheRoanoker.com COURTESY OF THE VIRGINIA ROOM On a late summer night in 1942, a newborn was left on the steps of Roanoke Hospital. She captured the hearts of those who cared for her, and local detectives tried in vain to determine her identity and who had abandoned her.http://www.TheRoanoker.com