On June 5, 1914, 28-year-old homemaker Mary Kenny Schloendorn of 208 8th Avenue, Astoria, New York, died at her home "under peculiar circumstances."
During the investigation, Dr. Mencken, also of Astoria, reported that he'd been called in several days earlier to treat Mary for an incomplete abortion. He was summoned back and found that Mary was suffering from blood poisoning and septicemia. He spoke with Mary and she indicated that the abortion in question had been perpetrated by a midwife. 
AI rendition of Mary's deathbed
Mary's husband, Harry, whom she had married in 1906, also said that she'd undergone an abortion at the hands of a midwife.
According to public records, Mary left behind not only her husband, whom census records identify as an iron worker, but also a 6-year-old daughter and two sons, both 4 years of age.
The coroner investigated and discovered that Mary had indeed died from septicemia and general peritonitis from a ruptured uterus during an abortion.
Sources:
- New York Index to Death Certificates
- New York Extracted Marriage Index
- "Young Woman Died as the Result of a Criminal Operation," The New York Daily Star, June 8, 1914
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