July 31, 1918: Tetanus After Abortion in Pennsylvania

Dr. Herman Spangler of Easton, Pennsylvania was arrested in the summer of 1918 on two charges of abortion. One woman survived her ordeal, though her husband reported Spangler to the police. The other woman, 20-year-old silk worker Cecelia Dieber, was not so fortunate. She died on July 31 at Sacred Heart Hospital in Allentown 48 hours after being admitted. Fetal tissue had been left in her uterus and she had contracted tetanus from her injuries.

Police sought Spangler, who had quietly relocated from his business on Greenleaf Street in Allentown to Walnut Street in Easton. He couldn't lay low for long, though, because he had just been drafted. He was about to be shipped out for induction and arrested at Camp Lee and brought to the hospital shortly before Cecelia's death. There, both she and her mother identified him as the man who had perpetrated Cecelia's abortion on July 20. 

Cecelia's lover had been drafted and sent to France in the Army, which might have contributed to her decision to abort the pregnancy. She refused to name him to the police.

Spangler was also charged with practicing medicine without a license, though he claimed to be a graduate of the Metropolitan College of Chicago and was listen on prison intake records and on his death certificate as an osteopathic physician and his headstone identifies him as Dr. Herman D. Spangler. 

Spangler, age 27, pleaded guilty on all charges and was sentenced to serve ten years and six months in Eastern State Penitentiary and pay a fine of $1,500. 

I've been unable to determine if Spangler had never been licensed to practice medicine or had lost his license prior to hanging out his shingle as an abortionist. He died in prison on March 3, 1920 from pulmonary hemorrhage at the age of 29 after serving 1 year, 5 months, and 25 days of his sentence. 

Watch "Was Spangler a Doctor or Not?" on YouTube.

• "Dr. Spangler Charged With Malpractice," Allentown (PAO) Democrat, July 27, 1918
• "Malpractice Charged Against Departing Draftee," Allentown (PA) Morning Call, July 27, 1918
• Cecelia's death certificate
• "Second Charge Against Dr. Herman Spangler," Allentown (PA) Morning Call, August 1, 1918
• "Another Charge Made Against Dr. Spangler," Allentown (PA) Democrat, August 1, 1918
• "'Dr.' Spangler Held in Default of $3000 Bail," Allentown (PA) Democrat, August 18, 1918
• "'Dr.' Spangler Receives Heavy Sentence When He Pleads Guilty," Allentown Democrat, September 4, 1918
• "Allentown Doctor Gets 10-Year Sentence," Semi-Weekly New Era, September 7, 1918
• "Two En Route to Penitentiary This Morning," Allentown (PA) Morning Call, September 7, 1918
• Eastern State Penitentiary admission record, September 7, 1918
• Dr. Herman Spangler death certificate