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Monday, September 23, 2024

September 23, 1907: Abortion in Indiana, Death in Chicago

On September 23, 1907, 27-year-old homemaker Mabel Brock of Lake Station, Indiana, died in Chicago's John Streeter Hospital. The coroner's jury determined that she had died from an abortion perpetrated by midwife Mrs. Bertha Laube of Hobart, Indiana on September 5. 

Laube was originally charged with murder but the indictment was reduced to criminal abortion and she was released on house arrest pending trial.

During the case, there was squabbling before the judge by the defense and the prosecution about what testimony Dr. Clara Faulkner would be allowed to give concerning conversations she'd had with Mabel prior to her death regarding Laube having perpetrated the fatal abortion.

As the closing arguments were made, Laube sat beside her husband, expressionless. Mabel's father, Charles Seydel, sat weeping with his face in his hands. Laube's attorney closed his statement by saying, "Convict [Laube] and you accuse Mabel Brock of having abortion committed upon her, a charge that you would not make against one that is dead."

After 24 hours of deliberation the jury was deadlocked 6 to 6. Mabel's father pushed for a new trial.

Distraught over his wife's death and not wanting to face another trial, Mabel's widower, Frank, shot himself to death on her grave on March 26, 1908. I've been unable to determine if the second trial was pursued. 

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