Tuesday, May 03, 2011

The Creepy Family Abortion

Here's one for the Creepy Family Files.

Florence, Maud, and Walter Tabor were the children of a wealthy attorney and his wife, Sarah.

In May of 1916, Maud vanished.

Her sister found her three years later -- dismembered and stuffed into her own hope chest in the cellar of their mother's home. (Florence later committed suicide by poison.)

Both Walter and their mother were arrested, but only Sarah was tried, but not convicted. An examination reportedly showed that Maud had died from a botched abortion. Sarah said that the abortion had been either performed or arranged by Joseph Virgo, who, she said, had married Maud then taken her away to a deserted farmhouse for three days, then brought her home. Maud then died.

Sarah said she'd kept Maud's body in the cellar because, "Maud did not want to be separated from me, even in death."

Sources: "Hope Chest", Time, April 13, 1931; "Tabor Sister Kills Herself", The Detroit News, March 7, 1931; "Mrs. Tabor Accuses Virgo", The New York Times, December 24, 1919

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