On Wednesday, August 18, 1926, 22-year-old Myrtle Schall's friends and her fiancé, Bruce Armstrong, brought her to West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh. She had been feverish and in pain for the past three weeks, and now she was in shock.
Bruce, who said he'd known Myrtle for six or seven years, knew only that his fiancée was terribly ill but didn't know why. Her mother, Alice Phillips, on the other hand, was able to tell the doctor more. Myrtle, she said, had attempted a self-induced abortion when her period had been two weeks later. At first her vaginal bleeding was a welcome sign that the abortion had worked, but when it continued for three weeks, accompanied by fever and pain, her family and friends had become concerned.
Myrtle had been perfectly well prior to inducing the abortion. Now she was vomiting and the doctors found her to be weak and anemic, with a rapid pulse and respiration and an alarming blood pressure of 136/100. In spite of all of the doctors' best efforts, Myrtle died from peritonitis at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday, August 29.
Myrtle's death certificate indicates that she was married to John Schall at the time of her death. Since Bruce was listened as the source of the information, and Myrtle was buried under her maiden name, it's likely that she and her husband were estranged and that she was awaiting a divorce so that she and Bruce could marry.
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