Illegal anniversary: Martha Kohnke

I learned about Katherine Cross‘s sad end while looking for memorials for the unborn at Find-a-Grave. Evidently Colby Weaver, who is interested in old headstones, was intrigued by the inscription on Katherine‘s headstone: "Murdered by Human Wolves." He gathered the following information.

The Seminole County News in Oklahoma reported that Katherine died October 10, 1917, from a "criminal operation" performed by Dr. A. H. Yates and his assistant, a schoolteacher named Frederick O‘Neal. Katherine, who had been born in August of 1899, was 18 years old.

Katherine was the second victim Yates was charged with murdering by abortion in as many months. Elise Stone had died in August.



For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

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