According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, on April 13, 1909, Stella Kelly, a 28-year-old waitress, died of septicemia at a hospital in Chicago, from an abortion that had been perpetrated around March 5. Through an online search I learned that Stella was divorced from her husband, Nathan Lowry, and had resumed using her maiden name.
Louise Achtenberg, age 59, sometimes identified as a doctor and sometimes as a midwife, was charged with murder by abortion by a coroner's jury.
Stella wasn't the first woman to die at Achtenberg's hands, nor was she the last. Achtenberg was also implicated in the 1907 abortion death of Dora Swan, the 1909 abortion death of Florence Wright, the 1920 abortion death of Violet McCormick, and the 1924 death of Madelyn Anderson.
I can find no record that she was ever incarcerated, which is hardly surprising, given how hospitable Chicago has typically been to the many doctors and midwives who perpetrated abortions in the city.
Unfortunately, when the Cemetery of Choice wiki was closed down, I lost access to my original source documents for Stella's death.
Watch One of Six Dead of Louise Achtenberg on YouTube.
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