January 11, 1912: The First Victim of Alma Dittman?

Blanche Grace Ainslie, age 25, died January 11, 1912, after undergoing a criminal abortion attributed to midwife Alma Dittman in Denver, Colorado. According to her obituary, she died in a Denver hospital.

According to genealogy information, Blanche was the second of nine children born to Burton and Idella Prentice. Idella died in 1908, when Blanche was 21, leaving her to help care for her siblings, the youngest of whom was 8 years old. 

Blanche married Allen Ainslie in 1909. There are no children mentioned in the genealogy sources. According to the 1910 census, Blanche was a dressmaker and Allen was a salesman in a general store. Allen's brother, a salesman in a novelty store, lived with the couple.

Blanche's obituary described her as "highly respected for her many virtues and excellent traits of character." 

Dittman's 1911 Denver directory listing

I've been unable to find any information about why Blanche decided to abort her baby or how she selected Dittman as her abortionist. Dittman was listed as a midwife in the Denver city directory, but I haven't found any evidence that she advertised in the Denver newspapers as either a midwife or an purveyor of solutions for "ladies' troubles."

The case against Alma Dittman was later dropped for reasons I've been unable to determine. Later it would become abundantly clear that Dittman was a practicing abortionist. She would go on to be implicated in the abortion deaths of  Mabelle Cannon in 1917, Carrie McDonald in 1922, Mabel Duncan in 1923, and Rose Savoren in 1927. When she was arrested for Rose's death, the District Attorney's office said that Dittman had perpetrated more than 1,000 abortions over a ten-year period. Her arrest was the fifth time she'd been charged with abortion. In all previous cases, they said, she'd been released on technicalities. 

On December 15, 1927, the day the defense was to start presenting its case, Dittman committed suicide in her home by turning on all the gas jets on her stove. Her body was discovered by a friend who had come by to drive her to the trial. Dittman had left a note on the table proclaiming her innocence but expressing fear that the jury would find her guilty. She left $500 of her $20,000 estate to her dogs. The remaining money went to her son and two grandsons.

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• "Midwife Acquitted," Santa Fe New Mexican, February 9, 1912
• Genealogy information