August 14, 1908: Abortion Death Blamed on Green Apples

On August 14, 1908, 23-year-old homemaker Bertha Isserstedt, a Jewish immigrant from Austria, died at Chicago's Evangelical Deconesses' Hospital from complications of an abortion perpetrated on August 5. 

A woman named Margaret Wiedman, age 39, was held by the coroner. Weidman insisted that she had been summoned to Bertha's home on June 13 and asked to perform an abortion but she had refused. Bertha's death, she said, was caused by eating green apples.

Census records show a midwife named Margaret Wiedeman living in Chicago. She was a German immigrant.

Dr. Albert Schopmann testified that he was called in on July 13 to attend to Bertha, realized that she was suffering from abortion complications, and hospitalized her. Wiedman was arrested based on statements from Schopmann and others at the hospital.

I have been unable to determine the outcome of the case.

Watch Was Anybody Held Responsible? on YouTube.

Sources: 

• "Held for Illegal Operation," Chicago Tribune, August 20, 1908
• "Woman Held to Grand Jury," The Inter Ocean, August 20, 1908