Tuesday, February 18, 2025

February 18, 1916: The Second Victim of Dr. Bennet Graff?

Mercy Hospital, Denver
In late January and early February of 1916, 24-year-old Beulah Sutphen Hatch lay gravely ill in Denver's Mercy Hospital. She and her husband, George, had eloped from his home in Longmont, Colorado to Boulder to be married December 16, 1915. She had been receiving care from Dr. Bennett Graff, who admitted another patient, Ruth Camp.

Did the two ailing women ever meet? 

Ruth died on February 2. Her death was attributed to a criminal abortion, purportedly perpetrated by Graff in a Denver hotel on January 27.

Graff was arrested but released on bail. 

Meanwhile, on February 18, Beulah died, less than three months after her wedding. Her death was also attributed to an abortion perpetrated by Dr. Graff.

The Longmont Call reported that Beulah had died "after an illness of several week's duration." However, it was only on the Friday before her death that anybody notified her family. Her widowed father, Riley Sutphen, hurried to Denver along with her brother, Earl, and her elder sister. I've been unable to determine if they reached her bedside in time.

Graff was found guilty of murder in Ruth's death on June 16. Graff won a new trial when a witness came forward and placed the responsibility for the abortion on a lay practitioner, rather than another doctor, and asserted that Graff was merely attempting life-saving aftercare for Ruth.

George was a musician in an art theater. Beulah had attended college in Fort Collins in 1914.

I've been unable to find any other information about Beulah or the case.

Watch One Doctor. One Hospital. Two Dead Women. on YouTube.
Watch One Doctor. One Hospital. Two Dead Womenon Rumble.

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