RealChoice: February 18: Fiancé, Physician, and Abortionist

Thursday, February 18, 2021

February 18: Fiancé, Physician, and Abortionist

A Victorian-era portrait of a beautiful, elagant-looking young white woman with dark hair, pearl drop earrings, and a lace collar

Kittie O'Toole

At about 2:00 p.m. on February 18, 1883, 28-year-old Irish immigrant Kittie O'Toole died at the office of Dr. Charles H. Orton, her betrothed, in Milwaukee.

Dr. Orton, approximately 60 years of age widowed about six months earlier, had once been a reputable physician active in local politics but his reputation had deteriorated in later years. In 1876 he was indicted for selling liquor without a license. He was arrested later that year for counterfeiting and fled the city, forfeiting his $2,500 bail. He was located the next year in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was practicing medicine under the name C. C. Chambers. He was brought back to Milwaukee to stand trial. He was convicted and ended up spending a year in prison.

Kittie's body was removed to the home of her aunt, Mrs. Dolan, where her family wanted to prepare for her burial. They lay her out on a bed in the front room.

The authorities wen to Mrs. Dolan's house and didn't bother to separate people before talking to them. Dr. Orton said that Kittie had long suffered from epilepsy and had told him that if she were ever taken with a fit he was to throw water in her face. He said that she'd told him that she knew that eventually the epilepsy would kill her.

While the police were talking to Dr. Orton, Mrs. Dolan went and fetched Kittie's brother-in-law. He said that Kittie had been ailing for a long time. Some days she would be up and about while other days she was unable to get out of bed. Mrs. Dolan scolded him, saying that he should keep his mouth shut and let people find things out instead of telling them.

Over the protest of Kittie's aunt, Dr. Keston and Dr. Connell insisted upon an autopsy and removed Kittie's body from the home.

Dr. Orton testified before the Coroner's Jury:

"Hard to say how long I have known the girl, but probably for ten or fifteen years. She died at my office on Sunday afternoon, after 2 o'clock. .... I boarded at the Metropolitan hotel. Kittie waited on me and I learned to like her as a daughter. My wife lived at the hotel with me. I was sent for several times to attend her when she had epileptic fits. About two months ago she called at my office and said she had sleepless nights, saw balls of fire in the air and was afraid she would die. She said at St. Paul she was in a Catholic hospital and they treated her for vertigo. I prescribed medicine for her and we became intimate and engaged."

"She said her aunt on Prospect Avenue wanted her to live with her, but she was notable to work and was afraid she would die, as she would there be left alone considerable. She then went to live on the Lisbon Plank Road, about four miles from the city, with her brother, Mike O'Toole, who kept a tavern and saloon. They had no suitable room for her there, and I furnished rooms for her."

"She grew worse and I called to see her daily or as I thought her health required. One night I watched with her all night and she was delirious. At last they thought it looked bad for me to be keeping her in my rooms, so we decided to get married, although I told her my good wife had been dead but a short time."

"We talked over church matters, and I said I was willing to be married in the Catholic Church. The trouble of its being Lent then arose, but Mr. Olwell, of Oconomowoc, her brother-in-law, procured a special dispensation. I took Kittie to my office, with all her effects, because we were to go to Oconomowoc directly after being married."

Orton said that he'd left Kittie in good spirits while he ran an errand. He came back ten minutes later, he said, and found in in the throes of a severe convulsion, with her hands clenched and her eyes fixed. For some reason, although he said he'd known Kittie to be epileptic, he concluded that she was suffering from some sort of poisoning.

"I worked over the girl constantly until the arrival of Dr. Martin, would blow my breath into her body, which she would eject with a gurgling sound. When Dr. Martin came he said it was no use to do anything more as the poor girl was dead."

Dr. Senn, Dr. Kasten, and Dr. Connell eventually performed an autopsy. They arranged for a chemist to study her stomach for signs of poisoning. She had a disease affecting her heart valves, but the doctors did not think that this alone would have been enough to kill her. "One of the physicians says that a sensation would be caused when they reported," said the Iowa County Democrat. This is the first indicate that Kitty died from an abortion.

The postmortem examination had found that she had died from edema of the lungs, which the doctors believed had been brought about due to an abortion. Kittie's uterus showed signs of recent pregnancy and was damaged in ways that the news did not describe. The coroner's jury found Orton culpable for two murders -- of Kittie and of her unborn baby -- for having perpetrated a fatal abortion. Orton was finally charged with manslaughter in Kittie's death.

Orton had amassed a fortune of around $40,000 during the time he was involved in counterfeiting. He had put the money in his wife's name and it passed to his daughter when Mrs. Orton died. Thus his daughter was easily able to bail her father out.

After all of the investigation and media coverage, in late April a municipal court judge suddenly dismissed all of the charges against Orton, saying that there had been no testimony indicating that an abortion had been performed.

Whether for love or money, Orton was not alone for long. In early August he married Kate Martin in Chicago.

Watch The Mystery of Kittie O'Toole on YouTube.

Sources: