Wednesday, February 04, 2026

February 4, 1939: Was Hattie's Abortion Really Self-Induced?

All the information I have about Hattie Scott Johnson comes from New York death records.

Hattie was a 26-year-old Black homemaker who died on February 4, 1939 in Harlem Hospital. Her cause of death was sepsis from an abortion "said to have been self induced." 

I can't rule out the possibility that Hattie's abortion was written off as self-induced because, since she was Black, nobody thought it was worth the bother to investigate any further. 

Watch Was Hattie's Abortion Really Self-Induced? on YouTube.

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Tuesday, February 03, 2026

February 3, 1929: Teen Spirited Away for Abortion Dies in Chicago Hospital

George Strugnall, a roofer and father of eight, told police the story of how his 16-year-old daughter Mary Strugnall lost her life:

[Twenty-two-year-old Vernon] Keyser met my daughter a year ago. She was only 15 then and just out of grammar school, so my wife and I did all we could to discourage his attentions. He worked in his father's machine shop a few doors from our house and used to stop and see Mary every night. Sometimes he took her out.
A week ago my youngest boy, Raymond, 9 years old, was run over by a truck and his leg broken. Last Tuesday [January 29] my wife and I went to the People's hospital to see him, leaving Mary alone. When we returned, Mary was gone.

Unbeknownst to her parents, Keyser had taken advantage of the situation to resolve his own problem. He told police:

About three months ago Mary said she was in trouble and asked me to help her. I didn't know what to do until a few weeks ago. I met Dr. [J. A.] Harter, who said he would take care of the case for $150 if I brought Mary to his office.
On Tuesday, when her parents were away, I took Mary to Dr. Harter's home. She was frightened and began to struggle, but the doctor's brother [Irving Harter] and I held her on a table while the operation was performed. Five hours later I took her to the home of a Mrs. Irma McMullen, 7037 Clarmont avenue.

Mary's condition deteriorated, so to avert any suspicion Keyser continued to stop at the Strugnell home daily asking after Mary.

On Friday, February 1, Harter told Keyser that he couldn't do anything more for Mary and suggested that he consult with Dr. J. A. Goodhart. Goodhart immediately ordered that Mary be admitted to the county hospital.

Per Harter's instructions as to "the simplest way out of it," Keyser persuaded Mary to lie and say that she had done the abortion herself. She died on February 3.

As Mary lay dying, her brother-in-law George Gherke, went to the hospital. Whatever she said to him was evidently profound. "She just lay there trying to tell me something. I knew what it was. When she died in a few minutes I was a new man."

George, who had been a troublesome drunk for ten years, stopped drinking and started taking care of his wife and their six children. The story of George's newfound sobriety actually got more press than Mary's death and the prosecution of the abortionist.

Dr. Harter was arrested after going on the run for three weeks. Vernon Keyser, age 22, and Dr. Harter's brother Irving, a medical student, were held as accessories. 

The only outcome of the case I can find is that the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database says that Dr. Harter was acquitted.

Watch Teen's Abortion Death Sobers Up Brother-in-Law on YouTube.
Watch Teen's Abortion Death Sobers Up Brother-in-Law on Rumble.

Sources:

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February 3, 2006: Death at the Good Kind of Fake Clinic

The Kind of Fake Clinic Pro-Choice Organizations Support

Like many abortion "clinics", Dr. Romeo Ferrer's private practice, Gynecare Center, presented was presented deceitfully to the public. A patient making an appointment there would likely believe she was in a licensed clinic, not a doctor's office. (Their website, in fact, described the facility as "a modern, clean clinic designed to provide quality healthcare for women and girls of all ages in the Maryland area," even though, as the medical board noted, the facility was only a private doctor's office and not licensed as a clinic.)

The Last Choice She Would Ever Make

Denise Crowe
Denise Crowe, a 21-year-old black woman, didn't go to work at the DMV with her mother, Stephanie White, on February 3, 2006. She told her mother that she had a cold so she was going to stay home. 

But that wasn't her plan. Instead, Denise dropped her 3-year-old developmentally disabled son, Latrell, off with a babysitter and drove to Ferrer's clinic-looking office at 877 Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard in Severna Park, Maryland.  for an abortion on February 3, 2006. She was 16 weeks pregnant and brought $800 to pay for the procedure. Her stated reason for the abortion was, "can't afford it right now."

Denise was healthy and had no medical history that would place her at high risk. Denise had required care in the past for a miscarriage, and had aborted two previous pregnancies. 

"She thought she'd just have it done and nobody would know," her mother, Stephanie White, later told the Baltimore Sun.

Further Dishonesty in the Policies

Not only was Ferrer deceitful in advertising his private practice as if it was a licensed and inspected clinic, he was deceitful in his written policies. They stated:

As ordered by the physician, the sedation will consist of but not limited to: 2.5 mg to 5 mg of Versed and 50 mg to 200 mg of Demerol combined together and diluted with 8 cc of sterile water. The dosage will be adjusted according to the patient's weight, response, and state of consciousness. The patient's blood pressure and pulse will be monitored every 5 minutes. The pulse oximeter will be used at all times. Oxygen will be given by mask if oxygen saturation is below 85%, at the rate of 3 - 4 liters per minute.

A Lengthy Process With Multiple Drugs

Romeo Ferrer
Ferrer started the abortion, a D&E, at about 1:00 p.m., using ultrasound to help him visualize the baby as he dismembered it. However, contrary to his written policy, he did not use a pulse oximeter, nor was Denise's blood pressure being checked every five minutes. 

Twenty-five minutes into the procedure, Ferrer was still pulling fetal parts out of his patient, and administered 20 units of Pitocin via diluted in 500 cc of IV solution. 

Five minutes later, he added 125 mg of Demerol and 5 mg of midazolam (Versed, a short-acting sedative and amnesia-producing medication). 

Because "pt. was still reacting to pain", Ferrer administered additional doses of Demerol and midazolam about five minutes later. It wasn't until 1:45 that Ferrer completed the abortion.

The First Sign of Trouble

Denise was moved to the recovery room, where at 1:47 a "surgical assistant" noticed signs of cyanosis (blue coloring) in Denise's fingernails. A nurse assistant was unable to get a blood pressure or pulse reading on Denise, and told Ferrer. He gave a verbal order for 0.4 mg Narcan, which was administered by the nurse assistant. Narcan is a drug to counteract narcotics.

Resuscitation Efforts Start

At 1:50, Ferrer began efforts to resuscitate Denise, including performing CPR, then having an assistant take over CPR while he administered intracardiac epinephrine. Five minutes after Denise was discovered to have no pulse, somebody finally called 911 while Ferrer continued resuscitation efforts, maintaining an open airway with the non-professional method of head tilt and chin lift. Ferrer did not use an airway or endotracheal tube, and did not provide Denise with supplemental oxygen, as is customary with professionally-administered CPR.

Skilled Professionals Step In to No Avail

The medics arrived at 2:00 to find Denise still unresponsive and without a pulse. The medics used an oxygen mask and additional drugs as they transported Denise to Anne Arundel Medical Center. There, emergency room staff continued the attempts to resuscitate her, to no avail. She was pronounced dead at 2:57 p.m.

The autopsy found no underlying physical reason for Denise's heart to have stopped. The cause of death was given as "Meperidine intoxication" (an overdose of Demerol).

His Peers Find Fault

The Maryland Medical Board investigated the case and found that Ferrer had failed to properly provide and monitor the anesthesia during the procedure. He "pushed" the risky medications quickly when he should have been slowly administering the subsequent doses and monitoring Denise's response. The second dose of medication was also deemed to be excessive. His resuscitative efforts were deemed inadequate. Due to these shortcomings, the Board stripped Ferrer of his license. Ferrer indicated to the board that he would not fight the move.

Defending a Fake Clinic

In spite of these findings, the National Abortion Federation defended Ferrer. NAF spokeswoman Melissa Fowler told the Annapolis Capital that abortion is safe due to "specialized quality care provided by clinics like Gynecare Center." This indicates that Gynecare, in spite of having a dangerous doctor and not actually being a clinic, was a National Abortion Federation member.

A Devastated Family

Denise's orphaned son
Denise's mother, who was going blind, did not share NAF's dismissive attitude towards abortion deaths. She took in little Latrell and told Catholic Review that the child was understandably devastated. "He cried for almost two years on the third of the month when his mother died. He slept with me. I would wake up and he would be seating. He'd be calling for her."

Watch Ferrer's Fake Clinic on YouTube.

Sources:
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February 3, 1924: Abortion Victim's Body Dumped in River

Grok AI illustration
On February 3, 1924, the nearly-nude body of a young woman was found in the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was identified as Adeline Podvansik, age 24.

An autopsy found that Adeline, a sales clerk, had died from acute endocarditis and puerperal (related to pregnancy) sepsis.

Two brothers, Maurice and David Rapport, were freed on $5,000 bail each in connection with the death. Maurice had been Adeline's employer. Dr. S. M. Black of Carnegie, PA, described by the Lancaster (PA) Intelligencer Journal as "a prominent surgeon," was at large. 

His attorney offered to have Black turn himself in if Black could be released on $10,000 bond. Mrs. C. B. Morgan, alleged custodian of the "hospital" where the abortion was perpetrated, was arrested.

Watch Woman's Body Found in River on YouTube.


Sources:


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Monday, February 02, 2026

February 2, 1916: Denver Doc's First Known Death

On February 2, 1916, Ruth Camp (follow link for more sources) died in Mercy Hospital in Denver from complications of an illegal abortion that had been perpetrated in the Panama Hotel on January 27. 

It's a mystery as to why Ruth was in Denver. She and her husband, Louis, lived in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, where Louis worked as a stockman.

Dr. Bennett Graff was arrested and charged with murder.

While out on bail awaiting trial in Ruth's death, another woman, Beulah Hatch, also died at Mercy Hospital, and blame was placed on Graff for that death as well. 

Graff was found guilty of murder in Ruth's death on June 16. It took the jury little time to deliberate. They were sent off to deliberate at 6 pm, when to supper, returned to deliberate, and returned the verdict in less than an hour. He was sentenced to 11 - 13 years in prison. At his sentencing he indicated that "other physicians caused the death and ... he was paying the penalty of their bunglesome work." 

Graff won a new trial when a witness came forward and placed the responsibility for the abortion on a lay practitioner, rather than another doctor, and asserted that Graff was merely attempting life-saving aftercare for Ruth.

I haven't been able to find out if he was prosecuted for Beulah's death, but he did lose his license. It was reinstated in February of 1919 due to the shortage of physicians during the Spanish flu outbreak. While practicing in De Beque, Colorado, that year he sued a woman named Lucile Myers and accused Judge Black of the district court of accepting a bribe for assessing a fine against him. Mrs. Myers had made statements that Graff was an abortionist, would willingly perpetrate abortions on unmarried women, and had "killed" her father. 

Sources:

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February 2, 1978: A Fatal Referral by Planned Parenthood

Elizabeth Tsuji, a 21-year-old Cal State student, underwent a safe and legal 8-week abortion at a local Planned Parenthood on November 11, 1977. She called the clinic in December to report that she was still not menstruating, but staff assured her that the abortion had been successful.

Inglewood Women's Hospital reopens as a clinic

On February 1, 1978, Elizabeth confirmed that she was indeed still pregnant, five months along. The Planned Parenthood clinic referred her to Inglewood General Hospital for a saline abortion.

In spite of its name and licensing status, Inglewood was actually an abortion hospital. And it already had problems. A young woman named Kathy Murphy had died in 1973 of sepsis from an abortion at Inglewood. Lynette Wallace died in 1975 after her doctor at Inglewood failed to diagnose her ectopic pregnancy and simply performed an abortion and discharged her. Still, this was only two dead women -- hardly enough to alarm anybody about a high-volume abortion facility. I don't know if the Planned Parenthood staff even knew about these deaths before they referred Elizabeth.

Trusting the referral, Elizabeth packed a nightgown and told her family she was going to spend the night at a friend's house. That was the last time they saw her alive.

Elizabeth underwent the abortion on February 2, and died that day. Two autopsies were performed, neither of which could find a definitive cause of the young woman's death.

Abortionist Morton Barke was somehow involved, although documents aren't clear what his role was in her death. Barke also worked at the unsavory San Vicente Hospital. He is known to have been a partner at Inglewood and to have been connected with the deaths of Yvonne Tanner and Lynette Wallace. His involvement might have been that he served in a supervisory role.

Elizabeth was the third woman to die after an abortion at Inglewood. It took two more deaths -- Cora Mae Lewis and Belinda Byrd -- for the state to finally take action and close the hospital down.

Watch Third of Five at Abortion Hospital on YouTube.
Watch Third of Five at Abortion Hospital on Rumble.

Sources: California Death Certificate 78-063811; Los Angeles County Autopsy Report No. 78-1763

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Sunday, February 01, 2026

February 1, 1995: Eleventh of Seventeen or More

When 24-year-old Ta Tanisha Wesson went to Family Planning Associates Medical Group on January 26, 1995 for a safe, legal abortion, she brought a friend with her, Ms. Mickey Gaton.

If Ta Tanisha and Mickey had been careful and done their research, they would have gone into the facility with great confidence: the clinic was a member of the prestigious National Abortion Federation.

Mickey had been sitting in the waiting room for several hours when she saw an ambulance approach. Though staff knew that Mickey had come with Ta Tanisha, she said, they didn't tell her anything about complications.

Somehow Mickey found out that it was her friend being loaded into the ambulance. She called Ta Tanisha's parents, Lin and Nicole Wesson, who rushed to the facility. There, Ta Tanisha's father said, they were unable to get any information about their daughter from the staff. "Everything was done in secrecy," he said.

Ta Tanisha was taken to the hospital, never regaining consciousness. She died on February 1, leaving behind a five-year-old son, David, motherless.

Her parents sued, saying that Ta Tanisha was given too much anesthetic. Their attorney said, "This death definitely could have been avoided. ... Ta Tanisha Wesson was given too much anesthesia, which caused her to vomit and choke. We are claiming negligence by the clinic staff who were not present when she began vomiting and ultimately delayed 20-25 minutes before calling for emergency help."

At a rally outside the clinic, a family spokesperson gestured to little David and said, "All my words could never speak as eloquently as the expression on this little boy's face who will never see his mother again."

I know of 16 other women who died from abortions perpetrated at Family Planning Associates:

Edward Allred
I believe that there are even more because I will sometimes stumble across a case years after the woman's death.

FPA founder Edward Campbell "Fast Eddie" Allred held that processing many abortion patients through as quickly as possible was his duty. "When a sullen black woman of 17 or 18 can decide to have a baby and get welfare and food stamps and become a burden to all of us, it's time to stop. In parts of South Los Angeles having babies for welfare is the only industry the people have." The supporters gathered for Ta Tanisha's family speculated that racism might have played a role in the substandard care the young woman received.

Family Planning Associates is a member of the National Abortion Federation.


Source:
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February 1, 1936: The Last of FIVE Deaths of Dr. Justin Mitchell

Dr. Justin L. Mitchell, age 57, of Palos Park, Illinois, had been identified as the abortionist responsible for the 1935 abortion death of 32-year-old Mary Nowalowski. For some reason, though, he was free in January of 1936. On a date I've yet to be able to determine, he performed the abortion that resulted in the February 1, 1936 abortion death of 20-year-old homemaker and mother-of-two Alice Haggin.

On February 12, just 11 days after Alice's death, Mitchell was convicted of manslaughter in Mary's death. 

It took until March 10 for the Grand Jury to indict him for Alice's death. 

Mary hadn't been the first abortion death attributed to Mitchell, either. As I was looking for more information about Alice's death I learned that Harold Vaughan signed a complaint against Mitchell in December of 1931 stating that Mitchell had perpetrated a fatal abortion on Harold's wife, Ethel.

I also learned Mitchell had also been arrested in 1933 after the abortion death of Florence Jordan. Mitchell was then implicated in the 1934 abortion death of Mary Schwartz. 

Thus we have Ethel, Florence, Mary Schwartz, and Mary Nowalowski all dead at his hands before the unfortunate Alice entrusted her life to Mitchell.

And stay tuned: I found other dirt on the illustrious Dr. Mitchell, including allegations that he killed live-born infants, groped a student nurse, and ran a slipshod facility. I'll write it all up for you when I get the chance.

Watch Abortion Doctor's Fifth Dead Patient on YouTube.

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February 1, 1977: Happy Birthday to Cecelia's Baby

Dr. Joseph Rucker launched straight into abortion practice after Roe vs. Wade was handed down in 1973. He set up an abortion clinic, Snowden Medical Associates, on W. McNichols Street in Detroit. His staff included an ex-convict, Eugene Ralph Marra, who has no medical training but called himself "Dr. Mike Morrison" and allegedly perpetrated abortions at the clinic. 

A Busy Year

The malpractice cases started rolling in. In 1974, Rucker performed an abortion on 21-year-old Corrine. He managed to shove the head of her five or six month fetus through a 4-inch hole in her uterus then sent his hemorrhaging patient to Garden City Osteopathic Hospital, 23 miles away, in spite of the presence of properly equipped hospitals less than a mile from the clinic. Corrine required an emergency hysterectomy.

The Detroit Free Press investigated Rucker. He examined a female reporter who had never been pregnant, diagnosed her as 12 weeks pregnant, and tried to sell her an abortion. When asked how he could be so sure about his diagnosis, Rucker told the reporter, "If I said you were 12 weeks pregnant, you were 12 weeks pregnant. My fingers never make a mistake."

Detroit Free Press reporters spoke to some of Rucker's patients. One had paid a referral agency $75 to provide Rucker's name and address. She paid $425 for a saline abortion performed by "Dr. Mike Morrison," actually Ralph Marra, the ex-con who had served prison time for breaking and entering, abortion, and conspiracy to commit abortion. A second woman told reporters that Marra had performed a D&C abortion on her. Rucker insisted that "Dr. Mike" only performed pelvic exams but never abortions, and that the women were too doped up on Valium and Demerol to know who was working on them. The Detroit Free Press also noted that Marra had an outstanding warrant in Texas for practicing medicine without a license by doing abortions at a Dallas clinic in September in 1973.

The Department of Health ordered Rucker to clean up his act. They noted that women undergoing saline abortions performed by "Dr. Mike" stayed overnight at the unlicensed clinic, in violation of state law prohibiting overnight medical stays outside of hospitals. The clinic was also cited for "minor plumbing and linen storage problems, overcrowding, and the absence of written medical policies." 

In October, 21-year-old Nancy went to Rucker's clinic after two other Chicago doctors said they could not perform an abortion outside a hospital because she was nearly six months pregnant. Rucker performed the abortion and left the fetal head lodged in a tear in Nancy's uterus. Rucker sent her to Garden City Osteopathic Hospital, 23 miles away, even though there was two large, fully-equipped hospital within a mile of his clinic. Surgeons removed the fetal head and repaired the tear.

The Authorities Take Notice

Marra was charged with practicing medicine without a license on February 5, 1975.  

In June of 1976, the medical board charged Rucker with having performed substandard medicine on Nancy, Corrinne, and three other women who were hospitalized after he had performed abortions on them. Later that month Marra was acquitted of practicing medicine without a license because all the prosecution had was the statements of the women; Rucker and his staff insisted that the women were too doped up to realize who had treated them and clinic documentation did not show Marra as the "doctor."

Into This Mess Steps Cecelia

14 vs 28 week fetus size comparison:
14.7 cm vs. 37.6 cm

Rucker reportedly examined 14-year-old Cecelia G., estimated her pregnancy as 14 weeks, and tried to perform a suction abortion on her on January 26, 1977 at Women's Counseling Center in Detroit. 

Cecelia began to hemorrhage. Rather than call an ambulance, Rucker, age 54, had her transported to Sinai Hospital by car. There, a doctor examined her, and discovered she was actually 7 months pregnant. 

After getting the bleeding under control, the doctor sent Cecelia home, but she returned days later in early labor. On February 1, Cecelia gave birth to a 2 pound, 11 ounce baby girl with a 2-inch piece of her scalp missing.

A spokesperson from the Women's Counseling Center told the Detroit Free Press that Rucker was immediately fired after the incident. Rucker was charged with performing an illegal abortion under a pre-Roe law forbidding elective abortions after three months. Rucker waived his right to a jury trial and had the case held before a judge. Rucker asserted that the law was unconstitutional, since Roe determined that abortion was an unfettered right and could only be regulated after 24 weeks. Rucker's defense also asserted that since he quit the procedure after determining that Cecelia was further advanced in her pregnancy than he'd originally thought, he did not actually perpetrate an abortion. This is an interesting assertion after Rucker had told a reporter that "my fingers never lie" and therefore he can never be wrong in diagnosing a pregnancy or determining gestational age.

The court agreed that the law had been struck down under Roe, and thus there was no need to determine whether or not Rucker had attempted an abortion since it would have been legal for him to have done so as long as he didn't think Cecelia's baby had passed the point of viability. She had certainly been very close, if not past, since she was born alive less than a week later.

 Cecelia attended the trial with her baby and told the Detroit Free Press that her little girl, then 9 months old, was still suffering ill effects from the attempted abortion. "She's going blind in one eye," Cecelia said, "and I have to take her for therapy once a week on her leg."

As for Rucker, he was disciplined by the medical board, ordered to take 50 hours of instruction in obstetrics and gynecology. The action related not just to Cecelia's abortion but to substandard care Rucker had provided to five other women in 1973 and 1974, causing infections and injuries. Rucker's attorney challenged the action, but in the mean time Rucker had continued to commit malpractice, leading the board to revoke his license. Rucker and the board went back and forth for years. He filed for bankruptcy in 1984 and vanished from the news.

As for Cecilia's baby, she vanished from the news in 1977. Today is her 49th birthday.

Watch His Fingers That Never Make a Mistake on YouTube.
Watch His Fingers That Never Make a Mistake on Rumble.

Sources:

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Saturday, January 31, 2026

January 31, 1972: Antiquated Abortion Method Kills Teen

Fifteen-year-old Gwendolyn Drummer was an honor roll student at Harry Ellis High in Richmond, California, when she was admitted to Doctor's Hospital of Pinole for a safe and legal abortion. At the time California permitted abortion legally as long as it was done in a hospital.

Grok AI illustration
The procedure was scheduled to be performed January 28, 1972. Her doctor chose the hypertonic saline method. These abortions are performed by replacing amniotic fluid with a strong salt solution. 

The saline abortion method was being abandoned in countries where abortion was legal.  Two Japanese doctors, Takahsi Wagatsuma and Yukio Manabe, warned western physicians about the high risk of serious injuries and maternal deaths. 

A British study published in 1966 found that the saline could enter the mother's bloodstream and cause brain damage. 

Swedish researchers noticed an unacceptably high rate of complications and deaths. Sweden and the Soviet Union followed Japan in abandoning saline abortion as too dangerous by the late 1960s.

But as laws loosened up in the US, American doctors adopted the saline abortion method. So in 1972, with over a decade of warning not to do so, Gwendolyn's doctor injected saline into her uterus. It got into her blood stream, just as British, Japanese, Soviet, and Swedish doctors had repeatedly warned it could do. 

Gwendolyn suffered organ damage. She subsequently developed pneumonia, and died on January 31.

Watch Antiquated Abortion Method Kills 15-Year-Old on YouTube.

Sources:

  • California Certificate of Death, File, 72-032193
  • Contra Costa County (CA) Coroner’s Report, Case, CR-72-122
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January 31, 1929: DId Faye Miscarry or Seek an Abortion

On January 30, 1929, at 9:46 a.m., 21-year-old Faye Etta Baker Underwood was admitted to Olney Sanitarium in Olney, Illinois. She reported pain and soreness in her abdomen which she attributed to a miscarriage she had experienced on January 28.

At some point, doctors told Faye that she was going to die. It was then that she told Dr. Bernard Weber, a surgeon at the sanitarium, and nurse Marie Bech that she had not suffered a miscarriage but that the loss of the unborn baby had been a result of a criminal abortion perpetrated by Dr. T. C. Webber of West Salem. She had paid him $24. The statement was written out for Faye, and she signed it.

She died on January 31. 

Dr. Bernard Weber performed an autopsy and attributed Faye's death to peritonitis "from causes unknown." Dr. Bernard Weber, Dr. F. J. weber, and Dr. H. D. Fehrenbacher agreed that there had been a septic abortion but did not agree that it had been induced. 

Webber was arrested.

Faye and her husband, Frank, had only married the previous August. Frank was held as a witness. He said that he had gone with Faye to Dr. Webber's office on Saturday, January 26. He sat behind a stove at Webber's office while Faye and the doctor went to the other side of the room. He denied any knowledge of what took place there, but said that Faye asked him for $5, which he gave her.

After they left Webbers's office, Frank said, Faye reported feeling unwell. They went home and Dr. Ralph King began caring for the ailing women until she was admitted to the sanitarium.

An Edwards County Grand Jury investigated the case and released Webber.

Sources:




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Friday, January 30, 2026

January 30, 1904: Fatal Doctor in Illinois

SUMMARY: Stella Murgatroyd, age 27, died on January 30, 1904 after an abortion perpetrated by Dr. C. W. Manley in Illinois.

In late January of 1904, 27-year-old Estella "Stella" Murgatroyd lay ailing at the home of her parents just outside Jacksonville, Illinois.

Grok AI illustration

Her father, F. E. Murgatroyd, said that Stella had left home on the afternoon of Thursday, January 21, and had returned home at around 5 p.m. She began to develop a fever the next day at around noon. After that she began to get chills and seemed seriously ill. Mr. Murgatroyd had asked several times if he could summon a doctor for her, but she refused. Finally he'd summoned Dr. J. A. Day without Stella's consent. Dr. Day consulted with Dr. Frank P. Norburg and Dr. F. J. Pitner. The two men were suspicious so they questioned Stella pointedly.

She made a declaration just before her death on January 30, witnessed by Dr. Norburg and Dr. Day:

"I, Miss Estella Murgatroyd, a single (unmarried) lady, 27 years of age, do hereby, and in the presence of witnesses, solemnly declare that I was [pregnant by John Pate] and on Jan. 2, 1904, about 2:30 o/clock p.m., Dr. W. C. Manley operated upon me at his office in Jacksonville. I furthermore declare that upon the morning of Jan. 24, 1904, Dr. J. A. Day was called to attend me and he afterwards on the same day called and consulted with Dr. L. P. Norburg over my condition. I declare furthermore that Dr. L. P. Lorburg and J. A. Day had no association whatever in the operation."

The three doctors who cared for Stella signed a death certificate giving her cause of death as "septic endocarditis and peritonitis." The post-mortem examination verified the cause of death as abortion complications.

Stella's father hadn't known about the abortion. In fact, the day after her death he had believed doctors who had told him they'd operated on Stella for appendicitis. The family gave out that Stella had died from pneumonia.

Dr. Day said that Pate -- who was married to Stella's sister Annie -- had spoken to him on January 31, telling him that Manley had done the abortion is his presence. He'd arranged the abortion, he said, after Stella threatened to kill herself if he wouldn't.

Manley was arrested at his home but refused to speak to Sheriff Rodgers. He consulted with an attorney and refused to say anything to the coroner's jury. He admitted to having been in Jacksonville on January 21, but denied having ever seen Stella or John. However, one of Manley's neighbors testified that Stella had greeted him then gone up the stairs to Manley's office just at about 2:00 on the afternoon on Thursday, January 21.

When the coroner's jury wanted John Pate to testify, he had disappeared. Stella's sister, Annie Pate, said that he'd left without telling her that he was going. Authorities learned that he had withdrawn $200 from the bank and was believed to have taken a southbound Alton train on Monday night.

"Pate is about thirty years of age, although rather younger looking, is heavily built, height about six feet, smooth face, and weighs about 180 pounds. He is not talkative but pleasant in his manner. He dresses very plain and would be easily taken for a farmer. Having been in the business, for a number of years, he will very likely turn to his occupation for work." Identifying marks were given as an injured eye and a patch of white in his dark brown hair.

Note, please, that with overall public issues such as doctors not using proper aseptic techniques, lack of access to blood transfusions and antibiotics, and overall poor health to begin with, there was likely little difference between the performance of a legal abortion and illegal practice, and the aftercare for either type of abortion was probably equally unlikely to do the woman much, if any, good. 

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see The Bad Old Days of Abortion

Sources:

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Thursday, January 29, 2026

January 29, 1936: Citizens' Calls Lead to Exhumation and Discovery

Rose Lipner, age 32, a homemaker and mother of 2, died at Riverdale Hospital on January 29, 1936. Rose was buried the next day at Mount Judah Cemetery in Cypress Hills, New York. Dr. Maxwell C. Katz, who owned and lived at Riverdale (maternity) Hospital, which he operated, signed a death certificate indicating that Rose had been operated on there for a tumor. 

After the funeral, several people, including an anonymous caller, notified police and the District Attorney's office that the death was suspicious, and Rose was exhumed for an autopsy. The medical examiner determined that Rose had died from caused by an abortion. 

Katz was arraigned for second-degree manslaughter. 

During his trial, his defense brought forth a large number of character witnesses testifying to his 25 years as a physician and his good reputation. There are many articles in local newspapers about Katz's work and travels, including taking his wife and daughters with him to Europe to study with various surgeons there.

Katz did admit to performing an abortion on Rose, but said that it was in an attempt to save her life. This is a dubious claim, since he could have checked Rose into a hospital and done the abortion openly if he had considered it essential to save her life. He insisted that he had only lied on the death certificate to protect Rose's reputation -- again, a step that would not have been necessary if she had died from surgery intended to save her life.

Dr. Maxwell C. Katz

In spite of his dubious claims, the defense was successful, and he was acquitted. 

Watch Dr. Katz's Dilemma on YouTube.

Sources:

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January 29, 1858: The Dreadful Telegram

Olive's Journey With Her Twin

Olive Ash worked for a farmer, Mr. Beckwith, in Vermont, in the summer and fall of 1857. She was 19 years old, and she lived with the family during her employment. In the autumn of that year, Olive returned to her family home in Sutton.

On December 28, 1857, Olive and her twin sister, Olivia, left their home and went by rail to the home of their cousin, Levi M. Aldrich, in Bradford, ostensibly to visit his widowed mother. During the visit, Olive seemed to her family to be in normal health.

The sisters remained at Aldrich's home about two weeks, then said that they were going to meet some friends at the Fairlee depot for an excursion into New York or Massachusetts. Instead, when they arrived at Fairlee depot they took a wagon to the home and office of Dr. William Howard, about six miles north of the depot and three miles south of Bradford.

The Dreadful Telegram

On Friday, January 29, 1858, Olive's mother, Mahitable, got a telegram telling her to come to Howard's home. She quickly complied, and was there when her daughter died at about 6 in the evening. Dr. Howard got a coffin for Olive, and the twins' mother took the body by train to Sutton.

The Investigation

On February 3, Olive's body was exhumed for an autopsy, which was performed by Dr. Frost and witnessed by Dr. Bliss, Dr. Carpenter, and others unnamed. Frost found evidence of recent pregnancy as well as signs of instrumentation and damage to the cervix. Dr. Frost believed that Olive had hemorrhaged due to the damage to her cervix. He removed and preserved her uterus. Another physician examined the uterus and concluded that the placenta had been retained for some time after the abortion, and that this retained placenta would also cause hemorrhage.

Olivia Testifies

In the trial of Dr. Howard, Olivia testified that she knew her sister was pregnant and had accompanied her on the journey knowing that Olive was planning to get an abortion. Olivia said that Daniel Beckwith, the grown son of the farmer Olive had worked for, met them at their cousin's house, and he gave them the information on where to go and who to see for the abortion.

From Olivia's testimony, the sisters arrived at Dr. Howard's house and informed him that Olive was about six months pregnant. He spoke to the sisters and indicated that he wanted to consult with Daniel Beckwith before deciding if he was going to proceed with an abortion. The sisters remained at Dr. Howard's house for a few days until Olive got a letter from Beckwith, and she read part of it to Dr. Howard. He then agreed to perform the abortion for a sum of $100. (Over $3,600 in 2023)

Dr. Howard told the sisters that the process would take three or four weeks. He gave Olive a concoction to drink two or three times. On the Friday the week after the sisters' arrival, Dr. Howard performed some sort of procedure on Olive as she lay on the bed in the room the twins shared. Olivia was permitted to remain with her sister during this procedure. She said that Dr. Howard used two or three of the three or four instruments he had at hand. Olive was in pain during the procedure, which took two or more hours, and resulted in a gush of fluid.

The following day, Dr. Howard performed another, similar, procedure on Olive, who clutched her sister's hand and reported great pain. Olive bled profusely. After this second operation, Olive kept to her bed.

That night, Dr. Howard performed yet another procedure, very painful for Olive to endure. This time he used instruments then reached in with his hand and pulled out a fetus, which Olivia reported as being about two-thirds the size of a newborn. Dr. Howard removed the fetus from the room, and Olivia never saw it again.

Olive bled after this, but not profusely. Afterward her behavior struck Olivia as violent and irrational. 

Other Testimony

A girl named Margaret Kelley, who lived at Dr. Howard's house, testified that Olivia had laundered her sister's bloody clothing while at the doctor's house. 

Bloody items were introduced into evidence, including two chemises and a small quilt or pad. The witness, Mrs. Wilson, who produced the evidence indicated that she'd found these things hidden in the rafters of the house when she was cleaning in the fall of 1858.

Mrs. Wilson also said that about two weeks after Dr. Howard's arrest, she saw one of Dr. Howard's dogs come out from underneath the office privy with something in its mouth. She made the dog drop what it was carrying and discovered it to be a fetus of about four or five months, in a state of decomposition. While she was looking at the fetus, another of the doctor's dogs snatched the fetus up and ran off with it. The dogs, she testified, had been digging at the privy for some time before retrieving the fetus. Mrs. Wilson's description of the fetus she'd seen the dogs with was similar in size to the fetus Olivia had described taken from her sister. Olivia had also testified to having seen a number of fetuses of various sizes preserved in containers in Dr. Howard's premises.

Defense Witness

The defense presented a witness named Susan Squires, who was staying at Dr. Howards from January 23 until after Olive's death. She said that the Thursday before Olive's death, she had spoken with Olive while Olivia was eating lunch. Susan said that Olive told her that she didn't expect to live, that she'd taken poisons before coming to Dr. Howard, that Dr. Howard was not to blame in her death but had done everything in his power to help her. Susan said that Olive seemed rational at the time, but that by Friday morning Olive seemed to have lost her reason.

On cross examination, Susan indicated that she had stayed at Dr. Howard's off and on for two years, to do sewing and to receive medications. She indicated that on Thursday afternoon, at about 4:00 Friday morning Olive managed to kick the footboard off the bed, prompting Olivia to summon Susan and a Mrs. Green into the room. Olive complained of being tired and continued to thrash and kick for a short time before settling down.

Mrs. Green was brought as a witness. She said that she had gone to Dr. Howard's on Tuesday afternoon and remained there a week visiting the doctor's wife. She first saw Olive on Wednesday morning, when Olivia had summoned her to help attend to Olive, who was trembling, delirious, and bleeding from the nose. Mrs. Green also went to Olive during the episode when she'd kicked the footboard off the bed. She'd helped the others restrain Olive. Mrs. Green testified that Olive never revived enough to speak after that.

Outcome

Dr. Howard's witnessed attempted to show that Howard was treating Olive for a miscarriage. Dr. Howard was nevertheless convicted.


Watch 19th Century Doctor's Fatal Work on YouTube.

Sources: 

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