Friday, January 17, 2025

January 17, 1912: Repeated Arrests for Dr. Klinetop

A coroner's jury concluded that on January 17, 1912, 38-year-old homemaker Minnie Miller died at Columbus Hospital in Chicago from septicemia caused by an abortion perpetrated on January 2 by Dr. Charles W. Klinetop. 

Klinetop was identified by Coroner's Verdict on January 26. Minnie's husband Julius named Klinetop as the guilty party. Minnie herself also identified Klinetop in a deathbed statement.

While Klinetop was awaiting trial in Minnie's death -- which was delayed due to a crowded docket -- a woman called the police from Lake Shore Hospital, reporting that there was a woman there "dying from an abortion." The police suspected that Klinetop was involved, but before they arrived at the hospital the woman, identified as Grace Smith, had been spirited away under mysterious circumstances. I have been unable to determine of she lived or died.

Klinetop was later implicated in the 1917 abortion death of Edna Lamb. During the inquest into Klinetop's role in the 1923 abortion death of Lydia Nelson, Emma Sales of South Morgan Street, Chicago, jumped to her feet and struck Klinetop in the face. Mrs. Sales said that the 1921 abortion death of her daughter, Harriet Grimm, was due to an abortion Klinetop had perpetrated.

He had already been arrested in 1909 when a young woman filed a complaint against him and her in-laws, reporting that they had forced her to undergo an abortion at Klinetop's hands.

According to census records, Klinetop decided to relocate to Pasadena, California.

Watch Dr. Klinetop's Bad Habit on YouTube.

Sources:
  • "Girl is Doctor's Accuser," The Inter Ocean, July 31, 1909
  • "Physician is Indicted," The Inter Ocean, February 20, 1912

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