Annie Robinson, a 28-year-old homemaker, died in her Chicago home at around 4:00 a.m. on August 18, 1901.
About ten days earlier she had confessed to her husband, George, and her mother, Mary Schroeder, that she was suffering from the effects of a criminal abortion and named midwife Teresa Muenster as the perpetrator. George told the family doctor, H. I. Hook, and Hook recommended that George notify the police. Hook himself notified authorities about Annie's death.
George spoke willingly to the police. "I had no idea that my wife had visited Mrs. Muenster," he said, "and until she knew that she was dying she kept the matter a secret from me. When she learned that she was about to die she called to her bedside her mother and myself. She declared that she had visited the Muenster woman three times, and that the midwife was responsible for her condition. She told us, moreover, that her brother's wife, Caroline Schroeder, who died two years ago, had been a patient of the Muenster woman, and that the second treatment by the midwife proved fatal to her. I am determined to see that justice is done and that somebody shall pay for the death of my wife."
Muenster, about 60 years old, had been a practicing Chicago midwife for 30 years. George, a cashier at a streetcar company, was left to care for their two small children.
Muenster was arrested the day of Annie's death, and she was held by the Coroner's Jury. I've been unable to determine the ultimate outcome of the case.
I am also perplexed about Annie's decisions about when to keep secrets and when to divulge them, and why she resorted to the abortionist who had already killed a family member.
- "Midwife is Held on Serious Charge," The Inter Ocean, August 19, 1901
- "Held for Woman's Death," Chicago Tribune, August 19, 1901
- "Midwife Held Without Bail," The Inter Ocean, August 20, 1901
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