October 16, 1923: Second (or Third?) Dead Patient for Dr. Charles Klinetop

Based on the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, I'd previously posted that on October 30, 1923,  19-year-old  Mrs. Lydia Nelson died at Chicago's Englewood Hospital from an abortion performed there that day, evidently by Dr. Charles Klinetop. However, my follow up research found that Lydia had died on October 16.

However, a newspaper indicates that Klinetop was actually held to a grand jury on October 30, and that Lydia had died three weeks earlier. She had entered the hospital on October 14 when her husband had become alarmed at her condition. Prior to her death she had signed a statement that Klinetop had perpetrated the abortion at his office on October 8.

A woman named Emma Sales came to the inquest and smacked Klinetop in the face, saying that about a year earlier her daughter, Harriet Grimm, had died from an abortion perpetrated by Klinetop.

Klinetop maintained his innocence, saying that he had treated Lydia once, in her home, and had done nothing unethical.

On January 15, 1924, Klinetop was indicted by a grand jury for felony murder in Lydia's death. He had also been implicated in the 1917 death of Edna Lamb and the 1912 death of Minnie Miller.

According to census records, Klinetop decided to relocate to Pasadena, California.

Sources:

• "Arrest Doctor on Charge Made by Young Wife," Chicago Tribune, October 15, 1923
• "Woman Attacks Doctor Accused of Operations," Chicago Daily Tribune, November 1, 1923