I think now that the Phoebe Morse referred to in the newspaper article could be Phoebe Lavinia Morse daughter of Frederick Archer Morse and Ann Price. She was born in 1879 so would have been about the right age. She married Ben Hale in 1899 and the first child of this marriage was Kate Hale born 1900. There is no mention of a child born around 1898 but I suppose the child in question could have died.