January 15, 1915: Mourning Interrupted

On January 15, 1915, 22-year-old Margaret Jennickes died in Chicago. Somebody tipped off the coroner that there was something fishy about Margaret's death. 

"Mourners over the girl's body were surprised by a visit from Coroner's Physician Springer. He performed an autopsy and changed the death report from dilation of the heart" to peritonitis due to an illegal abortion.

The coroner's office concluded that the abortion had been perpetrated by Dr. C.A. Erickson of South Green Street. Erickson was charged with murder. A man named Joseph Martin of Bishop Street was also held for manslaughter. 

Though Dr. Erickson was indicted on February 1, the case never went to trial because the men were exonerated by a Grand Jury. No other suspect in Margaret's death is mentioned in my sources. I've been unable to determine why Erickson was a suspect. According to the Cook County Deaths Index, Margaret was a telephone operator born in Chicago to German immigrant parents.

Watch Mourning Interrupted on YouTube.

Sources:

• "Doctor Held on Illegal Operation Charge," The Day Book, January 16, 1915
• "Two Held in Girl's Death," The Day Book, January 21, 1915
• "Doctor Held for Death," Chicago Tribune, January 21, 1915