March 1, 1937: The Chloroform Murder

Late on the chilly morning of March 2, 1937, two engineering students at the University of Virginia at Charlotte took time between classes to visit the grave of a friend who had recently been killed in a car crash. The cemetery was separated from the campus by a low stone wall. A stile offered an easy way over.

As they crossed the stile, the young men spotted something out-of-place on the campus side of the wall. A young woman lay in the leaves, her face covered with a cloth. The students thought that perhaps the woman was sleeping. They went on their way to pay their respects to their friend.

When the students crossed the stile again to return to campus, they saw that the woman was still lying there, utterly unmoving amid the leaves on the cold ground. They were disquieted. When they got to class they told the Dean of Engineering. The dean called the Albermarle County sheriff.

Sheriff J. Mason Smith had a good idea who the young woman was. The previous evening a frantic Lula Sprouse had reported that her 18-year-old daughter, Cleo, was missing. The high school junior had left home at 4:00 to take in a movie, promising to be home by 6:30. It wasn't like the quiet, studious honor student to stay out late. Cleo was always where she said she'd be when she said she'd be there. Something terrible must have happened to her.

Friends and neighbors had combed the area, looking for Cleo and speaking to anybody who might have seen her. A schoolmate said that he'd seen Cleo walking near the movie theater some time after 6 p.m.  One of Cleo's friends, Ethel Sealock, said that Cleo had pulled up outside her home at around 7:30 p.m. Cleo had been the passenger in a brown sedan driven by a man that Ethel couldn't see. Cleo, the young woman said, had asked Ethel to come driving with her but Ethel said she declined and didn't even get off the porch to approach the car because she didn't have shoes on. 

None of Cleo's other friends or acquaintances could remember having seen her after she'd gotten home from school.

Now Sheriff Smith had to go to the campus to see if the widow Sprouse's worst fears were realized.

He and his men had to shoo away the crowd of curious onlookers who had gathered. Fortunately, nobody had disturbed the body or the leaves that still partially covered it. Sheriff Smith carefully began moving aside the leaves. The young woman lay almost primly, her clothing in perfect order. A small cloth the size of a hand towel covered her head and some object that was propped on her face. 

Was this Cleo? The clothing matched the description given by her mother: green polka dot dress, brown cloth coat, brown stockings, and brown suede pumps Cleo's rings -- one gold and another costume jewelry -- were on the fingers. Sheriff Smith removed the towel. An empty chloroform can was upended over the woman's face. Her nose and mouth were stuffed with cotton. Her mouth and nose appeared swollen and burned. In spite of the injuries, Smith was certain that the auburn-haired young woman was indeed Cleo Sprouse.

As Sheriff Smith finished uncovering the body, five police officers combed the area for any other items that might be related to the grim find. Two looked for footprints. Two canvassed the neighborhood to find out what anybody might have seen or heard. Two others checked the railroad station and taxi stands.

A gas station owner said that Miller, with Cleo in the car, had stopped for gas at his business before heading north away from the city.

A bus driver told the police that he had seen a brown sedan parked near a railroad underpass at the university golf course, which was about 400 yards from the cemetery, between 1:30 and 1:45 on the morning Cleo's body had been discovered. The motor was running, both car doors were open and a bottle was lying on the road.

Meanwhile Sheriff Smith pondered the choice of dump sites. Had the killer placed the young woman's body on the cemetery side of the wall rather than the campus side, it might have gone undiscovered for quite a while. Why had he hidden her where she could be easily stumbled across?

Sheriff Smith carefully packaged the towel and chloroform can and handed them off for immediate transport to the FBI laboratories in Washington, DC. Police took plaster casts of tire tracks near the dump site and collected samples of the mud that might be found on the suspect's tires.

Sherriff Smith went to the Sprouse home and broke the news to the distraught widow. Mrs. Sprouse, prostrated by grief, managed to recount, between sobs, the last time she'd seen her daughter. Cleo's brothers and sister could add nothing of any use in the investigation and struggled to comfort their mother.

Sheriff Smith turned the body over to Dr. W. H. Weaver, University of Virginia pathologist, who took it to the mortuary for a postmortem examination.

The coroner's office bungled their handling of the autopsy. Rather than sending Cleo's organs to experts in Charlottesville, somebody sent them to Richmond, Virginia, where they had ended up in a laboratory at the Department of Agriculture rather than the laboratories of the Department of Health. Once they were located they were taken to the proper laboratory for analysis.

Dr. Weaver concluded that though there were traces of ether in her lungs, Cleo had died from an overdose of chloroform. The cotton that was found in her nose and mouth had been soaked in chloroform. She had also been about three months pregnant. There were no marks on the young woman's body to indicate that she had fought off an attacker. There was no evidence of rape. But the fact that her nose and mouth were stuffed with cotton and the position of the chloroform bottle -- and the fact that her underpants were missing -- led the coroner to rule out suicide. By that afternoon local papers reported, "NO CLUES IN CAMPUS CHLOROFORM MURDER."

The report arrived from the FBI: The corners of the towel showed marks of toothed clamps, similar to what a dentist would use to fasten a napkin to protect the clothing before examining a patient. The towel itself was the type that dentists used for this purpose. A technician had recovered a thumbprint on the bottom of the chloroform can. 

The type of chloroform was not intended for use as anesthesia but, according to a University of Virginia professor of pharmacology, was the type typically used for euthanizing animals. Anesthetic chloroform was dispensed in small bottles, while "technical" chloroform, which was not purified to remove elements such as hydrochloric acid and phosgene, was sold in cans like the one found on Cleo's face. 

Given the presence of a dental napkin with the tooth marks of clips, Sheriff Smith concluded that his suspect would be one of the sixteen dentists in the Charlottesville area. Sheriff Smith had prints made of the teeth of a recently discovered body that had nothing to do with the case and sent plainclothesmen out to visit the dentists, hand them the photos in order to get thumbprints, and bring them back. One of the prints collected this way matched the print that the FBI had recovered from the cloth: the print of 52-year-old Richard D. Miller DDS.

Miller had a very positive reputation in town, considered a pillar of the community. He told police that a can of chloroform had been missing from his office since February. He kept it in his office as a solvent to use in making fillings, not as an anesthetic. He said that he had been treating Cleo and had stepped out of the exam room to take a phone call. Upon returning to the exam room, he said, he had found Cleo closing the cabinet door.

According to Miller's clinic records, Cleo had indeed been a patient. He'd been treating her roughly twice a week for over a year.

That evening, after Miller had gone home, police entered his office with the help of a skeleton key. In a cabinet of the immaculate premises police found dental napkins that appeared to be identical to the one found on Cleo's face. Cleo's name was in Sprouse's appointment book for a 4 p.m. appointment on March 1.

This was considered sufficient to bring Dr. Miller in for questioning. The next day, police arrested Miller at his office, leaving a patient still in the dental chair. They walked him the six blocks to the police station through a growing crowd of people who wanted to see the Chloroform Murderer. As the evening wore on, so many people gathered that the porch collapsed under their weight.

Miller denied that he had been involved in Cleo's death. Then he got up and looked out the window. When the crowd of perhaps a thousand people outside saw him they started shouting in outrage. He begged police to keep him safe from the crowd. Police slipped him out the back door to the station and loaded him into a vehicle for transport to jail. During the ride he made a confession.

He said that he had known Cleo for about nine months and had been treating her for problems with her gums. She had come to him requesting an abortion, and when he had refused she threatened to claim that he was the father of her baby. Under this pressure, he said, he had agreed.

Rather than do the procedure in his office, he had driven her in a borrowed car to a place about six miles north of Charlottesville with the intention of doing the abortion in the vehicle. The place where Miller said he'd pulled the car over to do the abortion matched the location where a bus driver said that he'd seen a brown sedan parked, engine running and doors open, the night Cleo had died.

Miller told police that he had accidentally administered too much chloroform, resulting in the girl's death within about a minute.

He said that he had waited until dark then driven back to town, intending to bring Cleo's body to an undertaking establishment and confess to the police, but that he had panicked and decided to pose her body in hopes that her death would be deemed a suicide.

Miller spoke at greater length during a nearly five-hour questioning at the jail. He then wrote out a confession.

The police went to the site where Miller said that Cleo had died and took plaster casts of tire tracks there, as well as mud samples. They also searched for surgical instruments that Miller said he'd brought along then thrown away in panic. They were never able to locate them.

J. Hubert Carver, a car salesman, went to the police voluntarily and told them that Miller had expressed interest in buying a car and had borrowed a brown sedan to try it out. He had picked it up at around 4:00 pm and returned it about four hours later, "reeking of chloroform." Carver said that he also found fragments of absorbent cotton in the vehicle.

Once Cleo's body was released it became a bit of a tourist attraction as people streamed through the undertaking establishment to see it in an open casket. Perhaps 200 children made their way through the building between when school was dismissed at 2 pm and when Cleo's body was relocated to the family home. There, her distraught mother wept over the coffin as her surviving children struggled with their own grief.

Though some people had suggested that classmates from Lane High School serve as pall bearers, Cleo's family said that her classmates really didn't know her well and "she rarely went around with boys."

At the burial, Mrs. Sprouse collapsed as around 400 mourners and curious townspeople gathered around the grave. The pastor had to stop the ceremony to berate photographers.

Miller was indicted for first-degree murder because prosecutors believed that he had deliberately killed Cleo. They believed that his story about an intended abortion was concocted to allow a lesser charge. Wouldn't Miller have performed an abortion in his office, where he had safe and familiar anesthetics on hand, rather than in a borrowed car using chloroform that  he ordinarily used as a solvent? Why couldn't he lead police to the place where he said he'd ditched the instruments? 

His attorneys originally planned to plead insanity on the grounds that Miller had suffered brain damage when he'd accidentally shot himself while hunting seven weeks earlier, grazing his temple. Since the middle-aged father of two had been otherwise perfectly normal since the incident, this defense didn't fly. 

Miller eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Mrs. Sprouse had originally opposed a plea deal, wanting the man who had been not just the family dentist but a family friend to face trial for first-degree murder.

Watch The Chloroform Murder on YouTube.

Sources: 

• "Body of Schoolgirl, 18, Chloroformed, Found In University Grounds," Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 3, 1937
• "Dentist Tells of Death of Virginia Girl," Baltimore Sun, March 4, 1937
• "Autopsy Here In Girl's Death To Start Today," Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 4, 1937
• "Dentist Charged With Murder Of Cleo Sprouse at University; Rushed to Henrico County Jail," Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 4, 1937
• "Dentist is Held as Girl's Slayer," (Hanover, PA) Evening Sun, March 4, 1937
• "Prosecutor Says Chloroform Case is Plain Murder," Intelligencer Journal, March 5, 1937
• "Dentist Faces First Degree Murder Trial," (Uniontown, PA) Daily News Standard, March 5, 1937
• "Will Ask early Trial for Dentist Accused in Death," (Hanover, PA) Evening Sun, March 5, 1937
• "New Arrest Seen as Science Aids in Sprouse Case," Washington, DC Evening Star, March 6, 1937
• "Dentist Plea in Murder to Be Insanity," (Wilkes-Barre, PA) Evening News, March 6, 1937
• "Chloroform Can Seen As Type for Poison In Cleo Sprouse Death," Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 8, 1937
• "Poison Blamed in School Girl Death," The Shamrock Texan, March 8, 1937
• "Grand Jurors Indict Miller As Murderer Of Schoolgirl," Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 9, 1937
• "Jail to Hold Dr. Miller Until Trial," Richmond Times-Dispatch, March 11, 1937
• "Deliberate Murder Charged In Cleo Sprouse's Slaying," Bristol Herald Courier, March 17, 1937
• "Virginia Sportsman Faces Long Term in Girl's Death," Dayton Herald, April 7, 1937
• "Dentist Sentenced," Chicago Daily Tribune, April 9, 1937
• "Death on the Campus," Page 1, Page 2, Tampa Bay Times et al., October 6, 1940
• Original and amended death certificates

February 28, 1914: Unknown Perp in Chicago

On February 28, 1914, 23-year-old homemaker Martha Kwasek died at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Chicago from septicemia caused by an abortion performed by an unknown perpetrator, according to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database.

The Cook County Death Indicates indicates that Martha's maiden name was Sadowski and she was a native Chicagoan born to German immigrants.

February 28, 1918: Midwife or Lay Abortionist in Chicago?

On February 28, 1918, 27-year-old Mrs. Catherine Lurandowski died at Chicago's County Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by Katerine Eichenberg on November 20 of 1917. 

Eichenberg, whose profession is given only as "abortion provider" in the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, was also noted as "known to police" and operating sometimes under the alias of Ekowski. 

She might have been a midwife, since they were very common abortionists in Chicago at the time, though she might also have been a lay abortionist with or without a doctor providing training, instruments, medications, and back-up.

February 28, 1992: Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico?

Diane Adams died February 28, 1992 in Pureto Rico after an abortion most likely performed by Angel Acevado Montalvo in the US Virgin Islands. Public records indicate that Diane was black, which placed her at higher risk both of being sold an abortion and of dying once she climbed on the table.

The only information I've been able to gather on Diane  comes from pro-life web sites. Human Life International mentions that abortionist Angel Acevado Montalvo was charged with  manslaughter in two cases of maternal deaths from safe and legal abortion. HLI also notes that after his conviction, Montalvo went right back to business doing abortions. 

Priests for Life posts a list of women who have died from legal abortions, including Diane Adams, whose date of death they give as February 28, 1992. They cite a March 5, 1992 article in the Virgin Islands Daily News. 

They cite one other death, that of Rosael Rodriguez, from that article. Rosael Rodriguez and Diane Adams are most likely the two women referred to by HLI. 

February 28, 1993: Gas Gangrene Kills Abortion Patient

Andrea Marie Corey, a 31-year-old bookkeeper was referred by nearby Planned Parenthood to Southern Tier Women's Services in New York for a safe and legal abortion. 

Andrea  was sent home after her abortion, but she had retained tissue that caused clostridium perfringens septicemia ("gas gangrene"). She died in the emergency room of Rutland Regional Medical Center in Rutland, Vermont on February 28, 1993.

Sources:

• “Informed Consent,” The Rutland (VT) Tribune, February 23, 1996
• Death certificate

February 28, 2002: Planned Parenthood's Fatal Haste

 

Diana Lopez and her children

Diana Lopez, age 25, was 19 weeks pregnant when she went to a Planned Parenthood for a safe and legal abortion on February 28, 2002. Before the day was over, Diana had bled to death. She left two sons, 4-year-old Frankie and 2-year-old Fabian, motherless. The taxpayers of California paid for the fatal abortion, courtesy of Medi-Cal.

Diana‘s husband, David, filed suit, alleging that the abortionist‘s haste caused severe lacerations that killed his wife. The suit says that Diana‘s abortion was rushed through in only six minutes, although Planned Parenthood‘s own web site says such a procedure should take 10 to 20 minutes. The lawsuit also blames Planned Parenthood for proceeding with an abortion even though her hemoglobin levels were abnormally low prior to the procedure.

 Dr. Mark Maltzer

After the abortion, Diana had been rushed by ambulance to County Women‘s Hospital. Dr. Mark Maltzer, who performed the abortion, neither accompanied his patient to the hospital nor spoke to the physicians who were taking over her care. Those doctors performed a hysterectomy was performed and gave Diana five units of whole blood in a futile attempt to save her life. She was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m. Diana‘s autopsy noted that she had hemorrhaged from a perforation of her cervix.

The family‘s attorney also noted that in 2000, the same Planned Parenthood rushed another woman though a similar 6-minute abortion, lacerating the patient‘s cervix, rupturing her uterus, perforating her sigmoid colon and causing the loss of 2 liters of blood. Planned Parenthood also delayed three hours before transferring the patient to a hospital. Fortunately, this patient survived her ordeal.

A review of Los Angeles County civil cases indicates that this patient was probably Kimberly Thomas, who sued on April 19, 2002, after her abortion by Joseph Marmet. Kimberly‘s suit was one of roughly 50 filed against the Los Angeles Planned Parenthood from 1983 to 2002. The medical board took no action against Marmet.

The medical board took no action against Diana‘s abortionist, Maltzer, either. However, after being pestered by prolifers the California Department of Health Services investigated the facility and cited Planned Parenthood for:

• Failing to institute a necessary change in medical protocol relating to the use of laminaria (used to expand the cervix) in the dilation and evacuation procedure.
• Lacking the evidence to show a completed assessment of the competency and credentials of the physician who carried out the abortion.
• Inadequately advising against a potentially dangerous second-trimester D&E procedure based on low hemoglobin levels which made Diana a high-risk patient.
• Failing to follow proper surgical abortion policy and procedure by administering Cytotec to Diana on day one of the two-day abortion procedure, when policy requires it to be administered 90 minutes before the abortion procedure.
• Having a "reproductive health specialist" rather than a physician do the informed consent on this high-risk patient.
• Failing to inform Planned Parenthood‘s governing body of any adverse outcome related to patient care within the facility.
• Failing to notify the Health Department of a patient's death within 24 hours of the occurrence.
• Keeping incomplete records describing the services provided to Diana.

The fact that the Planned Parenthood has made "corrections" to satisfy the state does not satisfy Diana‘s family. "It was wrong. It was wrong," said Judy Lopez, Diana‘s older sister. "She was healthy. She was fine."

     

I also have some skepticism about how the "corrections" were made, since five years later, at another Southern California Planned Parenthood, a nurse placed laminaria in the cervix of patient Edrica Goode in spite of obvious signs of a vaginal infection. Since laminaria absorb whatever moisture is in the area so that they will expand and dilate the cervix, it's no surprise that the laminaria inserted into Edrica's cervix pulled the infection into her uterus and killed her.

The failure to assess the competency and credentials of a staff member also seems to me to be a Planned Parenthood failure of long standing and large geographic span, since in 1981 abortion patient Elise Kalat suffered a severe asthma attack after her abortion at a Massachusetts Planned Parenthood. When the medics arrived to take over Elise's care they found that nobody on site evidently knew how to perform even layman-quality CPR, much less the type of advanced CPR that would be expected of medical professionals. 

Far too many other women have died from screw-ups and bad judgement at Planned Parenthood. 

Alexis "Lexi" Arguello was only 18 years of age when she died from an amniotic fluid embolism in March of 2025. She had gone to the Fort Collins, Colorado Planned Parenthood for an abortion, but Planned Parenthood delayed seeking the emergency medical care that might have saved Lexie's life.

"Luanne" had no pre-existing conditions when she went to the Planned Parenthood in Bloomington, Indiana for an abortion on November 8, 2022. Dr. Rhiannon Amodea performed a suction abortion. Something went wrong and Luanne ended up dead.

Alyona Dixon got abortion pills at a Nevada Planned Parenthood in September of 2022. Although research had shown that vaginal administration of misoprostol puts women at risk of sudden onset fatal toxic shock syndrome, Planned Parenthood instructed Alyona to take this risk. She ended up going septic and dying.

"Lucy" was 29 years old on April 5, 2022 when she went to a Planned Parenthood in Indiana to get abortion pills, which were dispensed by Dr. Amy Caldwell. Lucy died from unspecified complications later that month.

Cree Erwin-Shephard, age 24, suffered internal injuries during an abortion at Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Her mother found her cold and stiff in the guest bedroom on the 4th of July, 2016. 

Tonya Reaves, age 24, left a one-year-old child motherless when she bled to death in July of 2012 after an abortion at a Chicago Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood staff had delayed for four hours before transporting Tonya to a properly equipped hospital.

"Ella" got abortion pills from a Planned Parenthood in 2009 or 2010. Planned Parenthood staff failed to diagnose that Ella's embryo was in her fallopian tube, not in her uterus. The tube ruptured, killing her. 

In 2009, 17-year-old Roselle Owens died from apparent anesthesia complications after an abortion at Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Center in New York. Her family said that the staff had failed to monitor her properly and delayed transport to a properly equipped hospital. 

Bonnie Hunt left three children behind when she died after an abortion at an Illinois Planned Parenthood. The facility settled out-of-court with Bonnie's mother.

Holly Patterson, age 18, died in mid-September of 2003 from sepsis caused by abortion drugs she got at a Planned Parenthood in Hayward, California. Instead of instructing Holly to place the second dose inside her cheek and letting it dissolve, as the FDA instructed, Planned Parenthood told her that she could insert it vaginally. Researchers believe that the vaginal insertion of this second drug makes otherwise healthy young women particularly vulnerable to sudden death from toxic shock syndrome.

Vivian Tran, age 22, and died in late December of 2003, six days into a medical abortion process started at another California Planned Parenthood. Like Holly Patterson, she had been told to use the second drug vaginally instead of placing it in her cheek in keeping with FDA recommendations.

Irene Stevenson died after an abortion at a Chicago Planned Parenthood in 2002. Planned Parenthood settled out-of-court with her bereaved husband.

Planned Parenthood doesn't seem to be upholding the standards they want everybody to believe they're upholding.

Watch Fatal Haste on YouTube.

Sources: 

• "State faults clinic in death," Sacramento Bee, June 19, 2003
• "Clinic, Doctor Faulted in Abortion Death," Los Angeles Times, June 25, 2003

February 27, 1926: Lethal Chicago Midwife

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chicago had an underground abortion culture populated primarily by doctors and midwives. 

In February of 1926, 36-year-old Anna Barg Wilger, or somebody else who wanted to keep her pregnancy from ending in the birth of a living baby, sought out one of those midwives, Theresa Struhala. 

On February 27, Struhala perpetrated the abortion on Anna in the Wilger home. Anna died there that day. 

Struhala was indicted for felony murder in Anna's death. I don't know the outcome of the case, but do know that Struhala went on to be implicated in the 1934 abortion death of Evelyn Yazitt (possibly Vavitt).

Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database

February 27, 1971: Yet Another Safe and Legal Abortion Death in New York

"Roseanne" is one of the women Life Dynamics identifies on their "Blackmun Wall" as having been killed by a safe and legal abortion.

Roseanne was in the second trimester of pregnancy when she chose safe and legal abortion, permissible under New York's liberalized abortion law, in 1971. She was 37 years old, had had four children.

Roseanne's doctor chose the saline abortion method, which is performed by injecting a strong, sterile salt solution into the amniotic fluid. The fetus swallows and inhales the salty fluid, which causes massive internal bleeding and death. The woman then goes into labor.

Roseanne was infused with saline for the abortion. Two days later, she began vomiting and having seizures. She aspirated some of the vomit and developed pneumonia.

The pneumonia took its toll. Roseanne died on February 27 from the pneumonia and anoxic brain damage.

The 1970 liberalization of abortion had made New York an abortion mecca until the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling that abortionists could legally set up shop in any state of the union. In addition to "Danielle," these are the women I know of who had the dubious benefit of dying from the newfangled safe-and-legal kind of abortion in pre-Roe New York:

• Pearl Schwier, July, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
• Carmen Rodriguez, July, 1970, salt solution intended to kill the fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
• Barbara Riley, July, 1970, sickle-cell crisis triggered by abortion recommended by doctor due to her sickle cell disease
• "Amanda" Roe, September, 1970, sent back to her home in Indiana with an untreated hole poked in her uterus
• Maria Ortega, October, 1970, fetus shoved through her uterus into her pelvic cavity then left there
• "Kimberly" Roe, December, 1970, cardiac arrest during abortion
• "Amy" Roe, January, 1971, massive pulmonary embolism
• "Andrea" Roe, January, 1971, overwhelming infection
• "Sandra" Roe, April, 1971, committed suicide due to post-abortion remorse
• "Anita" Roe, May, 1971, bled to death in her home during process of outpatient saline abortion
• Margaret Smith, June 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
• "Annie" Roe, June, 1971, cardiac arrest during anesthesia
• "Audrey" Roe, July, 1971, cardiac arrest during abortion
• "Vicki" Roe, August, 1971, post-abortion infection
• "April" Roe, August, 1971, death after saline abortion
• "Barbara" Roe, September, 1971, cardiac arrest after saline injection for abortion
• Carole Schaner, October, 1971, hemorrhage from multiple lacerations during outpatient hysterotomy abortion
• "Tammy" Roe, October 1971, sent home to Ohio to die from sepsis
• "Beth" Roe, December, 1971, saline injection meant to kill fetus accidentally injected into her bloodstream
• "Connie" Roe, March, 1972, cardiac arrest during abortion
• "Julie" Roe, April, 1972, holes torn in her uterus and bowel
• "Roxanne," May, 1972, convulsions and death at start of abortion
• "Robin" Roe, May, 1972, lingering abortion complications
• Pamela Modugno, May, 1972, air in her bloodstream

Source: "Maternal Mortality Associated With Legal Abortion in New York State: July 1, 1970 - June 30, 1972," Berger, Tietze, Pakter, Katz, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 43:3, March 1974, 321

February 26, 1929: Precursor to Carnage

Dr. J. W. Eisiminger

Marie Epperson, a 19-year-old telephone operator for Bell Telephone, died February 26, 1929 after an abortion in Oklahoma City. 

Two physicians were suspected: Richard Thacker and John W. Eisiminger. There wasn't even news coverage of the case and everything seemed to just blow over. 

Three years later all hell broke lose.

The spring of 1932 brought a sudden string of criminal abortion deaths to Oklahoma City, attributed to Thacker and Eisiminger either singly or as a pair:

• 

  Dr. Richard Thacker

  March 18: Margaret Ann Kuenkel  (Thacker)
• March 19: Geraldine Easley (undetermined)
• April 3:  Ethel Hestand (Thacker)
• April 14:  Isobel Ferguson (Eisiminger and Thacker)
• April 15: Ruth Hall (Eisiminger and Thacker)
• April 20:  Robbie Lou Thompson (Thacker)
• April 23: Virginia Lee Wyckoff  (Eisiminger)
• April 23: Lennis May Roach (Eisiminger and Thacker)
• April 24: Nancy Joe Lee (Thacker)

A little bit more attention from the authorities after Marie's death could have prevented the deaths of as many as nine other women.

Watch Fatal Foot-Dragging on YouTube.

Watch Precursor to Carnage on YouTube.
Watch Precursor to Carnage on Rumble.

February 26, 1943: Woman's Death Gets One Sentence of News Coverage

Dr. Henry Gross, age 56, had a reputable medical practice at 843 Belmont Avenue in Chicago in the 1940s. However, after a Dr. Ira Willits died, Gross purchased the dead man's office and set up an abortion practice there under Willits's name.

On January 28, 1943, 22-year-old Lavern Perez died in her Chicago home. Gross was convicted in her death but won a new trial.

Buried in the coverage of Lavern's death is a mention of the February 26, 1943 abortion death of 20-year-old waitress Dorothy Weber.

After Gross was granted a new trial, he and both the women vanish from the records except for death notices for Gross. He died on September 30, 1945 near Milwaukee.

Sources:

• "Jurors Convict Physician of Abortion Death," Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1943
• "Dr. Gross Wins New Trial in Abortion Case," Chicago Tribune, October 23, 1943
• Death notice, Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1945
• Death notice, Chicago Tribune, October 2, 1945

February 25, 1980: Troubled Doctor and Trash-Bag Aftercare

 At around 9 a.m. on February 22, 1980, 26-year-old Betty Jane Damato's sister, Mary Zellers, dropped her off at Abortion Clinic of Denver where Dr. James Franklin was to perform a safe, legal abortion.

Grok AI illustration

That afternoon, Mary called the clinic and talked to her sister, who said that she'd had complications during the abortion. Mary went to pick Betty up and found her pale, weak, and in pain, clutching her stomach.

When she helped Betty get out of the car at her apartment, Mary notice a blood stain on the seat where Betty had been sitting. She decided to take Betty to spend the night with her at the Zellers home.

The morning of February 25, Betty was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Porter Memorial Hospital, where she was found to have gone into total cardio-respiratory arrest. She was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. 

An autopsy revealed that Betty had died from massive infection originating from "a partially truncated and macerated fetus." Franklin had removed little more than the arms. 

According to Betty's family, Franklin knew that he had not removed all of the fetus. He instead had given Betty a trash bag, and instructions to collect whatever she expelled in the bag and bring it to him.

Franklin, an osteopath, told a grand jury that he did not perform the fatal abortion. He claimed that he had examined Betty, found the decomposing foot and ankle of the fetus protruding, and sent her to the hospital. However, when Betty was examined at the hospital, the fetus was protruding head first, making it impossible for Franklin to have observed its ankle since, as an expert witness testified, it's impossible for a dead fetus to turn around in the vagina and emerge head first.

A jury convicted him of manslaughter in Betty's death on October 19, 1981, and he was sentenced to prison for three years. 

Franklin already had a history of malpractice including causing an 11-year-old boy to be left paralyzed after a botched appendectomy and a man who died while hospitalized under Franklin's care. Those cases took place in New Mexico, where Franklin had been director of a hospital that went out of business. He was recruited by the Kiowa County Hospital in Eads, Colorado, after the doctor they'd hired turned out to be on the run after being caught practicing without a license in Kansas.

Watch Trash Bag Aftercare on YouTube.

Sources:

• "New doctor in small town lost two malpractice suites in N.M.," Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, February 23, 1975
• "Denver Doctor Found Guilty of Manslaughter," Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, October 20, 1981
• "Ex-City Doctor Found Guilty Of Slaying," Albuquerque Journal, November 5, 1981
• "Doctor Gets 3 Years in Fatal Abortion Case," Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, December 4, 1981

February 25, 1916: Bride Dies at the Hands of Doctor Husband

Helen Marie Turner

Helen Marie Turner, 25-year-old daughter of Circuit Judge Chester Myers Turner and Emma (Follett) Turner of Cambridge, Illinois, married Wesley Hospital intern Dr. Lester Lemuel Long on December 21, 1915. 

Helen was a 1912 graduate of Knox College with a degree in arts and sciences. Her studies were supplemented with travel abroad. Her yearbook identifies her as "The hope and pride of the Pi Phis." She had been vice president of her sophomore class,  winner of first prize in the D.A.R. essay contest and had president of the Knox chapter of Pi Beta Phi. She worked for two years teaching English in a public high school school in Cambridge. 

Lester was a 1915 graduate of Northwestern Medical College.

The couple moved into an apartment at 6123 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago so Lester could continue his medical studies at the hospital. 

But it wasn't long before Helen was showing a premature baby bump. Neighbors were starting to gossip. The newlyweds decided that the impending baby had to be headed off before it brought too much shame on the pair.

Lester made three attempts to abort the baby. It's not clear if he succeeded in his efforts, but one thing is clear: he caused his bride to fall ill and lapse into delirium.

On Thursday, February 24, Lester summoned Dr. Mark T. Goldstine to help him save his wife. To avoid being blamed for the criminal activity, Goldstine insisted that both Helen and Lester sign documents admitting to what they had done before bringing him into the case.

On the 25th, Goldstein and a colleague, Dr. P. Nusbaum, notified the coroner that they were going to the Long home to treat a woman suffering abortion complications. As they struggled to save the young woman, the bridegroom wandered through the home, sometimes staggering into the bedroom, clutching Goldstine's arm and asking, "Is there a chance? Is there just a little chance?"

Goldstine would just shake his head.

Finally, at 9:00 on the evening of February 26, Goldstine called the Woodlawn police station. "Mrs. Long is dead," he said. "Her husband is waiting for you."

Detective Sergeant Patrick Higgins arrived at the apartment to find Lester Long slumped in a chair in the kitchen. He had tracked blood from the bedroom into the kitchen as he had tried to prepare food for Helen. The young man was so woebegone that it took the sergeant five minutes to bring himself to arrest him. Lester sobbed and cried out questions about Helen as he was walked out of the apartment building into the police car. It hadn't sunk in that his wife was dead.

At the police statement, Lester gave a full statement. News coverage painted a pathetic picture of the young man, distraught at his wife's death, pacing his cell, tearing at his hair, weeping and crying out, "Can she live? Can she live?" 

Lester was held by the Coroner and indicted by a Grand Jury on March 15, but the case never went to trial.

As for Helen's father, he placed no blame. He sent a telegram to Lester's father, a physician in Toulon, Illinois just saying, "Come to Chicago at once. Lester is in trouble."

He then visited his son-in-law in the jail, reaching through the bars to grasp his shoulders and say, "I have nothing but sympathy for you, Lester. You and she thought it was for the best. We all make mistakes. This was a very sad one for both of us."

Sources:

• "Illegal Operations Cause of Three Deaths," The (Chicago) Day Book, February 26, 1916
• "Knox Girl Dies Very Suddenly," Galesburg Evening Mail, February 26, 1916 as quoted on Find-a-Grave
• "Doctor Kills Wife by Effort to Avoid Shame," Chicago Daily Tribune, February 26, 1916
• "Operates on Wife to Keep Gossip Down," Grand Forks (ND) Daily Herald,, February 26, 1916
• "Helen Turner Long Buried on Sunday," Galesburg Evening Mail, February 28, 1916 as quoted on Find-a-Grave
• "Mrs. Lester Long Buried as Townspeople Mourn," Chicago Daily Tribune, February 28, 1916
• "News of a Week," Henry (IL) Republican, March 2, 1916
• "Young Doctor Seized When His Wife Dies," (Princeton, IL) Bureau County Tribune, March 3, 1916
• Genealogy records

February 25, 1916: Just One Victim of Dr. Lillian Hobbs

 SUMARY: Alda Christopherson, age 21, died on February 25, 1916 after an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Lillilan Hobbs in Chicago.

Dr. Lillian Hobbs (pictured) was convicted of murder in the 1916 abortion death of 21-year-old Alda Christopherson. The testimony of John K. McDonald, who was granted immunity in exchange, was crucial in the case. He was the father of Alda's aborted baby.

Depending on whose testimony you believe, the whole sordid story began either on February 21, or six weeks earlier.

All the testimony agreed that Alda's lover, John McDonald, had visited Hobbs' Chicago office on Monday, February 21, asking if Alda had been there. Testimony agreed that Hobbs denied having seen Alda, even though the girl had indeed been there. Testimony agreed that McDonald had made arrangements for an abortion for Alda, after first inquiring if the procedure would be safe. He had been planning to marry the girl, and although the pregnancy was "an inconvenience" he wasn't willing to pursue an abortion if it would endanger Alda. All the testimony agreed that Hobbs had assured McDonald that as long as Alda followed instructions, an abortion would be perfectly safe.

It was there that the agreement ended.

Hobbs and Allies Blame Alda

Hobbs, along with her son, William Heyward, and her nurse, Ada Kanter, testified that upon her arrival on the 21st, Alda was very ill, walking slowly and as if in great pain. They all also testified that Alda had spoken of taking dope and trying to self-abort with a buttonhook, and that Hobbs had advised Alda to go to a hospital.

When Alda had demurred, Hobbs testified that she'd instructed Alda to go home, take some quinine and a hot bath, and return the next day.

A five-and-dime clerk, Lillian Thompson, testified that Alda had come to the store at about 10 a.m. on the 21st to buy sanitary napkins. Thompson testified that when she'd asked Alda what her trouble was -- because Alda seemed to be very ill and in great pain -- Alda ha pointed to a buttonhook on the counter and said she'd used a buttonhook and a crochet hook on herself and was going to see a doctor about it. However, Thompson's employer testified that the clerk's "reputation for truth and veracity was bad." (I would add as a side note that a buttonhook would be a bizarre thing to have sitting on a pharmacy counter.)

The Day of the Scheduled Abortion

Whatever Alda's condition on the 21st -- and whatever Hobbs' reason for concealing from McDonald that his lover was supposedly deathly ill and in need of hospitalization when he'd arrived on Tuesday, the 22nd, to arrange an abortion -- McDonald met Alda at about 1:30 that afternoon and brought her to Hobbs' office.

McDonald testified that Alda had been in good health when he'd brought her for the abortion, and that though both he and Alda had been worried, Hobbs had reassured the couple that the girl would be fine as long as she followed instructions.

Here, again, the testimony all agrees: The couple arrived shortly before 2 p.m., entering through the first floor reception area. Alda was sent by the front way down to the basement, while Hobbs herself went down the back way.

Hobbs testified that during the time she'd been in the basement with Alda, she'd merely examined her to determine how much damage the girl had done with the buttonhook. She said she'd found some oozing blood and signs of great inflammation. She said that she swabbed Alda with antiseptic on a bit of gauze, using small dressing forceps.

Hobbs' daughter-in-law and husband, George, both testified that Alda seemed very sick and miserable. Mr. Hobbs said that Alda was moaning and crying. The daughter-in-law said that Alda was pale and walking slowly, as if in great pain, and asked Hobbs to see how much damage the buttonhook had done.

The daughter-in-law also testified that Hobbs called her in to the exam room. Alda was hysterical, weeping and crying aloud, "Oh, my! If I hadn't used the buttonhook I would not have to be here!" (Again, this seems to be an odd assertion. Alda would have been at Hobbs' practice to obtain an abortion, regardless of whether or not she had tried to self-induce earlier.)

All testimony agreed that Hobbs had returned within about 15 minutes to the reception area to speak with McDonald, and that the result of the consultation was McDonald giving her $50.

McDonald said that Hobbs had come to get her fee for the abortion. Hobbs said she'd collected money to admit Alda to the hospital. She said she phoned American Theatrical Hospital and arranged to admit her sick patient. Nobody testified about whether or not American Theatrical Hospital ever got a call from Hobbs to admit a patient.

Later That Evening

Everybody aggreed that McDonald and Alda left Hobbs' office, with Hobbs insisting that Alda was wretchedly ill, and McDonald testifying that she seemed fine.

McDonald sent Alda by streetcar to the home of Mrs. G.E. Holmes, where Alda was the live-in housekeeper. Later that evening he went to pick her up for a date. He testified that she seemed well. Her sister, Kitty, noted that Alda seemed to be in good health when McDonald picked her up, as well as later when Kitty joined the couple at the picture show. Their other sister, Nellie, also testified that Alda seemed to be in good health late on the 22nd.

The Ensuing Days

But at about 2:30 on the morning of Wednesday, the 23rd, Alda took ill, with vomiting, cramps, and chills. She improved somewhat over the course of the day, but kept to her bed. Hobbs claimed that McDonald came to her practice at about 2 p.m that day to tell her that Alda was well, prompting her to cancel plans to admit the girl to the hospital.

On Thursday, February 24, somebody summoned Dr. Barnsbach at around 9 a.m. He found Alda collapsed, and, based on what little information he'd been given, he diagnosed ptomaine poisoning and had her removed to Lakeside Hospital. As she was being taken from the house, Hobbs arrived and inquired after the girl. When told that Alda was being taken to the hospital for ptomaine poisoning, she did not mention anything to the attending physician about any abortion, or abortion infection -- a grave omission, regardless of whether she or Alda had performed the abortion in question, and showing little regard for her patient's well-being.

It was Alda's sister Kitty who told told physicians at the hospital the true cause of Alda's sickness. She had learned the truth when she'd called McDonald to tell him of Alda's collapse.

Dr. A. R. Johnson performed surgery on Alda. He found her abdomen full of blood and blood clots, an enlarged uterus consistent with 2 to 2 1/2 months of pregnancy, and placental tissue protruding through a large hole in the top of her uterus. He cleaned up the mess in Alda's abdominal cavity and sutured the hole in her uterus. Johnson later testified that a buttonhook can not have done that much damage. The hole, Johnson insisted, must have been made by a much larger instrument, capable of being spread open. This would be consistent with, say, surgical forceps.

Despite Dr. Johnson's efforts, and no thanks to Dr. Hobbs, Alda died on the 25th.

Post-Mortem and Aftermath

During the post-mortem, Alda's uterus was removed and preserved, to be presented as evidence in the trial. Three other doctors, called as expert witnesses, had examined the uterus after Alda's death and said that a buttonhook could possibly have caused the damage, and estimated that the way the edges of the hole were soughing, the injury had to have occurred prior to Alda's visit to Hobbs' practice to have caused such extensive infection.

The jury evidently decided that Hobbs' story didn't hold together well, for they voted to convict her of murder in Alda's death. Hobbs was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Between the death and the trial, Hobbs had been indicted for the abortion death of Ellen Matson. Ellen died in early November of 1917.

A Successful Appeal

Hobbs made a first appeal of the Christopherson conviction in 1920 but her conviction was upheld. Hobbs tried again in 1921, when she appealed on multiple grounds including the fairly feeble one that only on court documents, she was referred to once as "Lillian Hobbs otherwise Lillian Seymour", but elsewhere on court documents only as "the said Lillian Hobbs". (Hobbs used her maiden name in her medical practice; she was married to an attorney named E. M. Seymour.) She also protested that it was inappropriate to bring up the death of Ellen Matson as evidence of her practice as a criminal abortionist, since Ellen died nearly two years after Alda's death and thus her abortion wasn't evidence of prior criminal behavior. She also protested that it would have been sufficient to show evidence that she had performed an abortion Ellen, that introducing the reality of Ellen's death was prejudicial.

The appeal succeeded. The conviction was overturned and a new trial ordered. However, Hobbs' conviction and sentencing for Ellen Matson's death rendered this rather a moot point.

Hobbs was also implicated, but never tried, for the 1917 abortion death of Ruth Lemaire.

Sources:

• "Woman Doctor Convicted as Girl's Slayer"
• "Woman Doctor Begins 14 Year Term in Prison"
• "Lawyer's Wife Accused of Murder By Abortion"
• "Dr. Lillian Hobbs Wins New Trial in Murder Case," Chicago Tribune, Apr. 22, 1921
• "Court Upholds Sentence for Dr. Lillian Hobbs," Chicago Tribune, Oct. 24, 1920
• "Dr. Lillian Hobbs Taken to Prison; Plea Pending, Chicago Tribune, Apr. 22, 1920
• "Illegal Operations Cause of Three Deaths," //The Day Book// (Chicago, IL), Feb. 26, 1916
• "Lawyer's Wife Accused of Murder by Abortion," The Chicago Tribune, Apr. 14, 1916
• "Woman Doctor Convicted as Girl's Slayer," Chicago Tribune, Dec. 17, 1919
• "Woman Doctor Begins 14 Year Term in Prison," Chicago Tribune, Nov. 13, 1920
•  297 Ill. 399, 130 N.E. 779 Supreme Court of Illinois, People vs. Hobbs No. 13390 Apr. 21, 1921, appeal on behalf of Lillian Hobbs; 
• Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
• Death certificate