June 5: Scanty Information from the 1910s

On June 5, 1914, 28-year-old Mary Schloendorn of Astoria, New York, died at her home "under peculiar circumstances." The coroner investigated and discovered that Mary had died from septicemia and blood poisoning due to an incomplete abortion. By questioning Mary's family and friends, the coroner concluded that the abortion had been perpetrated by a midwife. (Source: New York Index to Death Certificates)

On June 5, 1915, 25-year-old homemaker Mary Balcznska died at Chicago's St. Bernard's Hospital from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Veronika Rypczyski who was arrested and held by the Coroner on June 10. The case never went to trial. (Source: Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database)

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