Nellie Ryan was described by the Chicago Tribune as "a comely brunette, of petite form, and a very attractive face, ornamented with large hazel eyes. She was about 21 years of age. Being the younger daughter in the family she was caressed and petted, but the family was poor and she was obliged to shift for herself."
Nellie first worked with her friend Barbara Hahn at the St. Elmo Hotel in Turner's Junction, Illinois before moving to Chicago at some point.
On October 20, 1877, Nellie died in Chicago due to a criminal abortion perpetrated two weeks earlier. The autopsy report noted "The internal surface of the womb showed no marks of violence, but was inflamed and in the incipient state of gangrene." Dr. Amelia Spork was arrested for Nellie's death but released by the Coroner's Jury. A man named Dougherty was sought by police in connection with the case, which was considered a double homicide.
Dr. D. C. Stillians went to Chicago's Madison Street police station and asked to speak with Lieutenant Simmons. He had been called to attend to a patient whose case struck him as suspicious. Detectives Gallagher and Lansing went to 162 Sangamon Street, as directed by Dr. Stillians. The place was a tenement house owned by K. K. Forrest, who also lived there. The detectives found the body of 21-year-old Nellie Ryan.
According to the Chicago Tribune, "She lay just as she died, save that a damp cloth had been thrown carelessly over the face to keep the features moist. The bed-clothing was soiled, and a pill0w-slip at the foot of the bed was found filled with soiled clothing and other cotton cloths. After viewing this not very pleasing sight, the reporter sat down in an adjoining room to hear Mrs. Forrest's story.
The reporter summarized her story:
Nellie Ryan, the deceased, came to this house just three weeks ago yesterday. A young man accompanied her, and said he wished to procure a nice room for her, as she was his half-sister, and had been forced from the home through cruel treatment by her parents. Mr. Forrest had gone away for his health, and, having a spare room, Mrs. Forrest offered to rent it for $8 per month. He accepted, and Nellie came there that evening. Dougherty, for such the young man called himself, remained there off and on until the Saturday following, when he left to go to work, he being employed as a brakesman on the Northwestern Railroad, He was absent nine days, or until last Monday, when he returned looking quite pale, and saying he had been down sick....
In the meantime Nellie was also ill. The Sunday after Dougherty's departure, she managed to take care of herself pretty well. Monday, when Dougherty returned, she was quite ill. That afternoon Mrs. Forrest saw Doctress Spork visit the room; she did not stay long, and before going spoke to Mrs. Forrest, as they had known each other for some time. Nothing respecting the patient was said by either.
Mrs. Forrest says she did not know Mrs. Spork was a doctress until then. She made daily visits thereafter, but the patient seemed to grow worse. Friday morning her visit was a protracted one, and the patient never seemed to rally from whatever transpired during the visit.
At 7 o'clock she was very ill, and Mrs. Forrest sent for her family physician, Dr. Stillians. He came and prescribed, and at 9 o'clock he was again called. This time he reached the house just in time to see the girl expire. In all her conversations Mrs. Forrest says she told the same story of herself as did Dougherty. Never a word was spoken by the girl that would in any way tend to clear up the mystery.
Nellie's Friend Barbara
Police, and evidently the reporter as well, also spoke to Nellie's hometown friend Barbara Hahn, who worked at a nearby laundry. She reported that the village girls all "went with young Dougherty when they could." The meaning of "went with" is presumably understood by contemporary readers.
Barbara said that Nellie had told her she was going to get lodgings in Chicago, but hadn't said that Dougherty would accompany her. She said that on Friday evening Dougherty had rushed over to the rooming house where she stayed, telling her that Nellie was dying. As they hurried to Nellie's side, Barbara said, Dougherty told her that Nellie had undergone an abortion because her older sister had died in childbirth and she feared the same fate. According to Barbara, Dougherty said that he and Nellie had found a woman doctor to do the deed.
Barbara reported that when they arrived at the rooming house they were told that Nellie had just died. Barbara said that Dougherty had uttered invectives against both himself and the doctor. He then telegraphed Nellie's parents and sister.
Nellie's father was, the Chicago Tribune said, "a rough, uncouth-looking Irishman, but appears to be as large-hearted as an Irishman can be. He is greatly shocked over the story of his daughter's shame, downfall, and death, and when taken to the room where she was lying, spasmodically raised the covering from her face, and fainted dead away as he gazed on her deathly features."
Dr. Spork
The detectives then rushed to the home and office of 52-year-old "Doctress" Emelie Spork, who had been caring for Nellie until Dr. Stillians was summoned. Nobody was at the house at 218 Indiana Street, but at the office, at 381 West Madison Street, they found the woman in question. Police took Spork to the West Madison Street station and conducted a search.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Spork's office was "quite neatly furnished," and "the detective found a case of homeopathic medicines, and, in searching a small closet under the wash-bowl, he found secreted an abortionist's entire lay-out." Spork, a Norwegian immigrant, had graduated from the Central Institute of Stockholm, "an institution devoted to the study of the diseases of women and children." She had come to the United States eight years earlier with her husband and two adopted children. She also received a diploma in medicine and surgery from Hahnemann Medical College.
When the Chicago Tribune reporter spoke to Spork in her jail cell, "She talked freely, on being assured that word of her arrest would not be sent to her husband, who, she said, was suffering from heart-disease."
Dr. Spork told the reporter that on Monday afternoon when she'd arrived at her office there had been a note telling her to come to 162 North Sangamon Street. That was, Spork insisted, the first time she'd seen Nellie.
"When I arrived there I found her sitting in a rocking-chair, in a cold, clammy state. I at once ordered her to bed, and as she complained of pains in the chest, I concluded it was pleurisy. Accordingly I placed porous plasters on each side and ordered cloths wet with 'Groen Oile,' a Norwegian remedy, and Pond's Extract. She complained of nothing else until Wednesday, when she said there was a severe pain her her bowels."
Spork told the reporter that, being a homeopathic physician, she treated Nellie with aconite (an herb traditionally used to treat a variety of ailments), byronia alba (an herb used widely in homeopathic remedies), and cantharides (a blistering preparation made from dried beetles).
A reporter at the police station started investigating the case. Dr. Stillians said that Nellie had told him that she'd suffered a miscarriage, but Stillians saw evidence that an abortion had been perpetrated.
According to the Chicago City Directory and Census records, Spork, a Swedish immigrant, was a physician. The May 21, 1874 Inter-Ocean notes that she was accepted into the State homeopathic Society. The May 18, 1876 Chicago Tribune notes that "Miss Dr. Helen J. Underwood read Mrs. Dr. E. Spork's report on 'Moto-Therapeutics,' which recommended the movement cure for many of the diseases of women and children, and regarded it as the best extant," at the State Homeopathic Medical Society conference.- Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
- "Double Murder," Chicago Tribune, October 21, 1877
- "The Nellie Ryan Murder," Chicago Tribune, October 23, 1877
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