Lucille Conlin Horn, a 1920s ‘incubator baby,’ dies at 96

MINEOLA, N.Y. – A 96-year-old woman, whose life was saved as in infant in 1920 when she was placed in a Coney Island sideshow incubator, has died.

Lucille Conlin Horn, who lived in Long Beach, New York, died Feb. 11, according to the Hungerford & Clark Funeral Home. She had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Horn was among thousands of premature babies who were treated in the early 20th century by Dr. Martin Couney. He was a pioneer in the use of incubators who sought acceptance for the technology by showing it off on carnival midways, fairs and other public venues. He never accepted money from their parents, but instead charged oglers admission to see the tiny infants struggling for life.

Horn was a twin born prematurely in 1920 in Brooklyn. She told the Associated Press in a 2015 interview that when her sister died, doctors told her father to hold off on a funeral because Lucille would not survive the day.

“He said, ‘Well that’s impossible, she’s alive now. We have to do something for her,’ ”she said. “My father wrapped me in a towel and took me in a cab to the incubator; I went to Dr. Couney. I stayed with him quite a few days; almost five months.”

Couney died in 1950 and is viewed today as a pioneer in neonatology.

Horn worked as a crossing guard and then as a legal secretary for her husband. She is survived by three daughters and two sons.

After a funeral Tuesday, she was buried at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, next to her twin sister.