Florence, grand-niece of Andrew Carnegie and heiress to a Pittsburgh steel fortune, had eloped with Richard H. Schnoor, sergeant-at-arms of the New York State Assembly, nine days earlier.
Her husband reported that he had taken her to White Plains so she could catch a train to New York for a day's shopping. Later that morning, she called and asked him to pick her up at the station. He found her obviously ill and asking for a doctor. He took her straight to the hospital, where she died three hours later.
Doctors reported that Florence refused to discuss her case at all, much less implicate the abortionist, despite pleas from her husband. (I've always found it bewildering that dying women would refuse to help police put away the people who had fatally injured them -- thus leaving other women vulnerable to the same grim fate. Is it related to the way post-legalization prochoice groups will refuse to report dangerous practitioners?)
Investigators contacted all 200 people whose names were in Florence's address book, but were unable to gain any clues as to who performed the fatal abortion. All they were able to piece together is that Florence evidently paid $40 for the abortion.
Florence's husband was not implicated in her death; police belived that he had not even known Florence was pregnant.
Source: New York Times 2-15-42, 2-16-42, 2-17-42
No comments:
Post a Comment