Wednesday, July 26, 2023

July 26, 1884: Packed in Ice and Sent Home

Big Words

Dr. Ira T. Richmond was a grandiose man. Born in New York City on March 7, 1838, he claimed to have graduated from the New York Medical College at the age of just 18. He was, however, unable to name any of the professors under which he had studied medicine.  But what did that matter? If you believed Richmond, he could cure smallpox in six hours, dropsy in one day, and cure a variety of other ailments in times ranging from a mere two minutes to about 12 hours. 

He also claimed to be extremely wealthy, saying that he did not consider his practice to be prospering unless it was bringing in $400 to $600 per day (c. $12,000 - $18,000 in 2023). He told people that after his first wife had died he had spent six years travelling through Canada and the US as a way of coping with his grief, carrying $40,000 to $50,000 with him ($1.25 million - $1.5 million in 2023) and staying in the best hotels. He also told his landlady, a widow named Carrie Lerch, that he had six children living in New York, each of whom he had gifted $15,000 (nearly half a million in 2023) to start them out in life.

He didn't do so well for himself when he moved to Lockport, New York, in 1883 at the age of 45. He set up a sanitarium which, as one newspaper put it, the place "died for want of patronage." This might be due to the fact that, as the Chicago Inter Ocean reported on July 30, 1884, Richmond "had a dubious character among physicians." 

Then he beguiled a young widow named Sarah Platts. The two married and lived at the sanitarium at the corner of High and Cottage. Evidently he took Sarah for her money before dumping her and moving on to other women he could milk for ready cash, marrying them if necessary without benefit of divorcing previous wives.

His character was indeed extremely dubious in many ways.

Lizzie

Some time in the summer of 1884, Lizzie Cook, a 25-year-old domestic servant, confided in her sister that she was pregnant. Either the sister or the sister's husband, William Bowen, took Lizzie to Richmond's practice, where she was examined. Richmond diagnosed her with dropsy and blood poisoning. Two days later, she was put to bed at her sister's house at about 11:00 at night, and remained there sick for nearly three weeks. Richmond attended to her on a daily basis, sometimes visiting more than once a day, during that time. She died suddenly on the afternoon of Saturday, July 26, 1884.

By that evening, her body had already been packed in ice and taken to her parents' home. She was buried on Monday morning after a large funeral. "The secrecy in getting her body removed to her home created suspicion," so her body was exhumed that afternoon for an autopsy.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Lizzie had died from abortion injuries. The coroner's jury summarized:

"That Lizzie Cook died at the residence of Wm. H. Bowen, of this city, between the hours of 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon of July 26, 1884, and that she came to her death from an abortion produced upon her, and from other causes unknown to the jury, and that the abortion was performed with the full knowledge of Mrs. Bowen, sister of the deceased."

Arrest and Trial

Richmond was charged with murder, a circumstance he dealt with calmly. Lizzie's sister, on the other hand, was held as an accomplice and collapsed in tears. "She was attended in court by her husband and father, and the parting between them as she was led away was very affecting."

Lizzie's sister was released on bail on August 18.

Richmond pleaded not guilty, insisting that Lizzie had not been pregnant when she died and had died of dropsy and blood poisoning. "The evidence is strong against him, however," said the July 30, 1884 Cincinnati Enquirer. Sentiment against Richmond was so strong there fears that he would be lynched.

During the trial, according to the September 5, 1884 St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat, "a well-dressed and modest appearing lady, named Mrs. Butler, and her daughter, the former aged about 50 and the latter 20years old," testified before the Grand Jury before returning to their home in Smith Falls, Ontario. Mrs. Butler testified that she was Richmond's wife, and that his name was Ira Richmond Butler. He had deserted her in Canada about ten years earlier, "and even then was engaged in reprehensible practices."

So evidently he had been an abortionist in Canada as well.

Conviction and Sentence

Richmond was convicted of first degree manslaughter on October 21, 1884. The jury recommended mercy. After requesting and being denied a new trial, Richmond/Butler was sentenced to six years of hard labor at Auburn Prison.

According to New York prison records, Richmond aka Butler entered prison on November 14, 1884 to serve a 6-year sentence. He earned a commutation of 22 months and was released on January 14, 1889, having served 4 years and 2 months.

Epilogue

Ira Richmond Butler won himself a profile in the November 17, 1891 Buffalo Morning Express after his arrest in Buffalo for counterfeiting. "The police here understand that in Buffalo, Rochester, Watertown and other cities he pursued the same means of livelihood as here, namely, criminal malpractice [abortion] and working the pocket-books of susceptible women whom he fascinated by his agreeable manners and unctuous professions of exalted piety."

Richmond -- rather, Butler -- reportedly was a pious church-goer on Sundays and an abortionist on other days in his dubious sanitariums. That is, when he wasn't committing bigamy, marrying women to bilk them of their money.

As the Inter-Ocean said, he was a dubious character.

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at 12:30 AM

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