A St. Louis grand jury indicted Charles Emerich in the 1878 abortion death of 19-year-old Maggie Gibbons.
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When she told him she was pregnant in December of 1877, Emerich went to Dr. Thomas F. Smith, who provided abortifacient powders which failed to produce the desired effect.
It was then that instruments were resorted to. It is unclear whether Smith perpetrated the fatal abortion on Maggie or if he just provided the instruments. The abortion in question was performed on December 30.
Maggie took sick afterward and was relocated to her mother's house. Dr. W. D. Hinckley was called in to care for her. It was then that Maggie's mother learned about the abortion, though Maggie refused to name the father. Dr. Hinckley called in Dr. J. O'Reilly for a second opinion. Both doctors agreed that she was suffering from a severe case of peritonitis and that there was no hope for her.
Maggie languished, finally dying on January 2 of 1878.
Emerich was found guilty of first-degree manslaughter in Maggie's death, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Maggie was buried at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, in a grave marked only with the numeral 8.
Sources:
- 87 Mo. 110, 1885 WL 165 (Mo.) Supreme Court of Missouri. THE STATE, Appellant, v. EMERICH. October Term, 1885.
- "Death By an Abortion," Cincinnati Enquirer, Jan. 3, 1878
- "One More Unfortunate," Daily Commonwealth, Jan. 5, 1878
- "An Old Case Settled," St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, November 17, 1885
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