February 16, 1931: The Middle of Dr. Emil Gleitsmann's Trail of Death

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann

Dr. Emil Gleitsmann had a long criminal history of abortion starting in 1927 when he was implicated in the November 30 abortion death of 22-year-old homemaker Lucille van Iderstine. Gleitsman was indicted for felony murder in Lucille's death but for reasons I do not yet know why the case never came to fruition. 

He was prosecuted but acquitted in the December 12, 1930 death of Jeanette Reder.

After his acquittal for Jeanette's death he was indicted for the February 16, 1931 death of 25-year-old Mathilda Cornelius. According to census records, Mathilda and her husband, Joseph, had two young sons, ages 1 and 3.

Gleitsmann was arrested in February of 1933 after Rosalie Lewis died in a Chicago Hospital. He was convicted three times on a single charge of manslaughter by abortion for the March 25, 1933 death of Mary Colbert, but each time his lawyer got a reversal and eventually the prosecutors gave up.

He was implicated again in the June 8, 1934 death of 26-year-old Elsie Quall.

Gleitsman got in trouble again in 1937 for the death of 16-year-old Phyllis Brown. However, that death was eventually attributed to Dr. C. Harold Edmunds.

At last he was held accountable for his crimes and sentenced to 14 years for the December 10, 1941 death of Marie O'Malley.

Watch One of Emil Gleitsmann's Many Dead on YouTube.
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"Accused in Woman's Death," Chicago Tribune, February 18, 1931