RealChoice: June 3, 1884: A Mysterious Death

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

June 3, 1884: A Mysterious Death

Sick Woman on the Train

AI rendition of Mary arriving in Fort Wayne

On May 14, 1884, a woman in her late 30s arrived in Ft. Wayne, Indiana on the train from Quincy, Illinois. She was so terribly ill that the conductor of the train telegraphed ahead for authorities to have a carriage at the depot to take her to the hospital.

The woman was taken to Dr. Frederick Thayer's Private Lying-In Institute on Walton Avenue.

The hospital was fairly new. According to an advertisement in the Fort Wayne city directory, it had only just been established in 1881. The ad read "TO DOCTORS AND THE PUBLIC. -- Years of experience in the regular practice of medicine has convinced me of the necessity of a well-conducted Lying-in Home for the protection of unfortunate females during Pregnancy and Confinement. All wishing to avail themselves of such an institution will not be disappointed in patronizing me. I have superior accommodations, everything first-class, cosy, and home like; beautiful, healthful retreat in the environs of the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Board from $8 to $15 per week, according to the length of time they stay, and rooms occupied." The ad also encourages anybody wishing to adopt a baby to write to Thayer.

Thayer also circulated handbills, including one reading, "FOR THE PROTECTION OF UNFORTUNATE FEMALES DURING PREGNANCY & CONFINEMENT FROM THE REPROACH & CENSURE OF A CRUEL, RELENTLESS & UNSYMPATHIZING PUBLIC, TO ESCAPE WHICH, CRIMINAL ABORTION , WITH ALL ITS DIRE CONSEQUENCES OR SUICIDE, IT IS NOT INFREQUENTLY RESORTED TO, DEATH ITSELF BEING PREFERED TO EXPOSURE"

This was an interesting choice of facilities and raises a lot of questions that the news coverage doesn't answer.

What Happened at Dr. Thayer's Hospital

Dr. Thayer wrote an open letter to the June 6, 1884 Fort Wayne, Indiana, Daily Gazette describing what happened. The woman identifying herself as Cora Smiley arrived at about 10 pm. She needed help to climb the stairs to her room.

"After reaching her room she was so uncomfortable I feared she was in labor and made an examination and found she was as near as I could tell about fie months enciente and not in labor. The next night about 7 or 8 o'clock, I was hastily summoned to the hospital and found her almost in a complete state of asphyxia, caused as near as I could tell from congestion of the lungs, as she had violent spells of coughing and said she had been having a very severe cold, which had settled on her lungs, and there were good indications to cause me to believe her, as she was raising large quantities of stringy masses of blood, to the amount of one-half to one pint in twenty-four hours. After persistent and heroic treatment, I succeeded in removing the obstruction to her breathing to the extent which enabled her to rest easy, and she soon went to sleep, and from that on was able to be let around a little, but was very hysterical, extremely so."

Dr. Thayer said that during the woman's stay at his hospital, "she said a physician from her town had treated her in several ways to relieve her of her pregnancy." It was on her second night at the hospital that she told Dr. Thayer her real name, Mary Rice, that she was from Quincy, Indiana, and her bother's name was William C. Rice.

Dr. Thayer left for Chicago on business on May 24, ten days after Mary's admission. On the 25th, Mary went into labor and the deputy coroner, Dr. J. M. Dinnen, was summoned and arrived at about 1:00. Dr. Dinnen figured that Mary would continue in labor for several hours so he left. About five and a half hours later, roughly 6:00, he was summoned back to the hospital. By the time he got there, Mary had expelled a decomposing 5-month fetus. Dr. Dinnen estimated that the baby had been dead for at least several weeks. He continued to provide care to Mary in the absence of Dr. Thayer.

According to the June 4, 1884 Daily Gazette, Mary's aborted baby was a little boy.

Dr. Thayer indicated that he returned home on May 26 and resumed care of his patient, but her condition did not improve. On June 2nd he called in Dr. C. B. Stemen, who agreed with Thayer's course of treatment and believed that Mary was suffering from "a bad case of hysterics." The two men believed that the case wasn't hopeless and that Mary might recover.

Thayer went on to say that the next morning, June 3rd, Mary died suddenly between 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning.

After Mary's Death

"As soon as death had occurred I ordered the rom immediately closed, forbidding any of her effects being touched, by any one, until the coroner arrived. He was immediately notified and came and took charge of the body and her effects."

Mary reportedly told the other patients that she was suffering the effects of an abortion attempted on her in back in January in Quincy by a Dr. Pixley or Pittsley.

Mary wasn't destitute. According to Dr. Thayer, she paid him $25 for her care, just over $800 in 2025 money, and told Thayer that she had money in the bank and that a friend could send more money to pay her hospital bill. She said she owned land and sleep.

The post-mortem examination and investigation verified that she had died from a blood clot in her heart, attributed to a lingering effect of the abortion. Mary's body was transferred from the hospital to a funeral home. Her family were notified, and one of her brothers came to Ft. Wayne to take her home for burial. Dr. Thayer said he spoke with Mary's brother, who said that their parents were dead and Mary had left home years earlier. They'd had little contact. He didn't know of her owning land or sheep, but said she did have $300 (close to $10,000 in 2025) at the time she left home.

By the time William got Mary's body home, it "was in such horrible condition that it was not removed from the coffin, but was interred in the lead 'cooling box.'"

Mary likely sought the abortion because she was unmarried, though she took to her grave whether she chose not to marry her baby's father, he refused to marry her, or he was in no position to marry her because he already had a family.

Sources: