On July 25, 1877, Mrs. Augusta Boschen left her home on Curtis Street in Chicago, telling her husband, John, that she was going to the drug store.
Instead, she went to the home and practice of Dr. Muleck at 224 Fulton Street.
At some point John, who worked as a cooper, learned that she had gone to Muleck's practice to procure an abortion. At around 4:00 on the morning of July 26 he went to Muleck's house.
Muleck was nowhere to be found, so John forced his way in and found his wife dead in a bed. He summoned the police.
Augusta's cause of death was indeed an abortion, as determined by the coroner.
Dr. Muleck had fled to avoid arrest. He had left a letter for his wife saying that he had not performed the abortion, but had just provided Augusta with the instruments, "she being so bashful and modest as not to allow him to do the work." He said that when Augusta went into convulsions, he'd concluded that she was going to die and skipped town.
"The scoundrel of a doctor has not yet been caught, and hence the evidence was meagre," noted the August 4, 1877 Chicago Tribune. I've been unable to find any further information.
Watch Doc Skips Town as Patient Dies on YouTube.
Sources:
- Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database
- ""Foolish, but Fatal," The Daily Inter-Ocean, July 27, 1877
- "Criminal," Chicago Tribune, July 28, 1877
- "The Coroner," Chicago Tribune, August 4, 1877
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