Summary: Elsie Quaal is one of 7 abortion deaths attributed to Dr. Emil Gleitsmann in Chicago.
Dr. Emil Gleitsmann, age 68, had a long criminal history of abortion long before 26-year-old Elsie Quaal crossed paths with him.
Gleitsman's record of dead women began in 1927 when he was implicated in the November 30 abortion death of 22-year-old homemaker Lucille van Iderstine. Gleitsman was indicted for felony murder in Lucille's death but for reasons I do not yet know why the case never came to fruition.
He was prosecuted but acquitted in the December 12, 1930 death of Jeanette Reder.
After his acquittal for Jeanette's death he was indicted for the February 16, 1931 death of 25-year-old Mathilda Cornelius. According to census records, Mathilda and her husband, Joseph, had two young sons, ages 1 and 3.
Gleitsman was convicted three times on a single charge of manslaughter by abortion for the March 25, 1933 death of Mary Colbert, but each time his lawyer got a reversal and eventually the prosecutors gave up.
It was at this point that Elsie turned to Gleitsman -- described in several news stories as "partly blind -- to abort her unborn baby. She died June 8, 1934. A coroner's jury recommended that he be held over to a grand jury. Elsie's husband (Paul, according to news coverage, but Leroy according to Elsie's death record) testified that when he'd gone to Gleitsmann's office to look into his wife's death, he encountered Gleitsmann's attorney, William, McKinley. Coverage is vague but it seems that McKinley was trying to discourage Paul from reporting the abortion to the authorities.
During the inquest into Elsie's death, Mrs. Caroline Doney accused Gleitsmann in another abortion death.
Gleitsman got in trouble again in 1937 for the death of 16-year-old Phyllis Brown. However, that death was eventually attributed to Dr. C. Harold Edmunds.
At last he was held accountable for his crimes and sentenced to 14 years for the December 10, 1941 death of Marie O'Malley.
Watch One of Seven Blamed on Dr. Gleitsmann on YouTube.
Source: "Dr. Gleitsmann Held for Third Abortion Death," Chicago Daily Tribune, June 16, 1934
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