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Friday, July 14, 2023

July 14, 1921: Criminal or Self-Induced?

On July 14, 1921, 23-year-old homemaker Edna May Inman Rohner died at Illinois Masonic Hospital in Chicago, leaving behind her husband and a young son.

 from, according to her death certificate, "pyemia secondary to an abortion." According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, it was actually a criminal perpetrated by Dr. Otto Klemmick.

Klemmick was held by the coroner and tried, but acquitted on June 12, 1923. The source material is scanty, so it's unclear how much evidence there was against Klemick or why he was acquitted. Whether Klemmick was truly innocent, or whether he simply managed to escape punishment, Edna and her baby got no justice.

When I checked on Newspapers.com to see if there was any information from recently added newspapers, I found the following snippet in the July 15, 1921 Chicago Tribune:

This piece says that Edna died from a self-induced abortion.

So a search for more information about Edna's tragic death just led to more confusion.

Watch Edna's Mysterious Death on YouTube.

Sources:



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