Madge Nancy Morton, age 21, was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Francis Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina on July 19, 1960. The young bookkeeper was a native of Kingsport, Tennessee.
Madge Morton
Strangely, her death certificate listed her cause of death as "undetermined by gross microscopic and analytical studies." No manner of death was indicated at all.
Clearly, though, the death was due to an abortion. Two men -- Larry Darr Meeks, age 27, and William David Hellams, age 29 -- were each sentenced to prison. Hellams was evidently Madge's romantic interest, since his attorney described hi mas "very much devoted to the girl." He had reached out to Meeks, who reportedly had what the Greenville News called "some familiarity with the procedure for performing an abortion."
The motive for the abortion might well have been that Hellams was a husband and father.
Madge got off work at 1 pm on that July day, met up with Meeks and Hellams, and went to the house of a naturopathic physician. This physician refused to participate in an abortion, so Hellams went to a hospital supply company to purchase some sort of instrument and to a drugstore for several other items.
The three then went to an apartment where one of Madge's co-workers lived and the men made some attempts to abort Madge's two or three month unborn baby.
Marge lost consciousness. Meeks and Hellams tried for a while to revive her. when their efforts failed, they returned to the naturopath, who instructed them to take Madge to a hospital.
Which led to Madge being pronounced dead on arrival at 5:50 pm.
An autopsy found that Madge had a high level of barbiturates in her blood. It seems to have been the drugs, rather than any physical trauma, that caused Madge's death.
Sources:
- South Carolina Death Certificate 60-012167
- "2 Men Get 10 Years Each In Girl's Death," Greenville (SC) News, November 1, 1960
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