On May 3, Mary died. Her death certificate indicates that the young Black woman died form severe septicemia due to generalized peritonitis due to a criminal abortion. An autopsy was performed. However, the autopsy alone was unable to determine when, where, and by whom the abortion was perpetrated.
The coroner held an inquest into Mary's death. Witnesses included Deputy Sheriff W. B. Connelly, Dr. L. S. Connor, Mary's husband, Gus, and Robert Curry, presumably Mary's brother-in-law.
Mary's husband, Gus, testified that she'd asked him and Robert to take her to "an aged, feeble and nearly blind colored woman, Ada Barnes," on April 24. Both of them denied knowing what Mary planned to do at the Barnes residence.
Deputy Sheriff Connelly indicated that witnesses, who were not named in the news coverage, had also seen Mary go into the Barnes home, Connelly also said that witnesses claimed that Ada Barnes admitted to using some instrument to perform an abortion.
The coroner's jury concluded "We find that Mary Ruth Curry came to her death by her own means which took place near Neeses, Orangeburg County, about April 24, 1961.
It's unclear how, if witnesses indicate that Ms. Barnes did an abortion, the coroner's jury concluded that Mary had died "by her own means." No charges were pressed against Ada Barnes.
According to public records, Mary had led a difficult life. Two of her five children had died, one at 8 months of age from pneumonia and the other at the age of three of burn injuries. The child had lingered for just under three weeks before he succumbed.
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Sources:
- South Carolina Certificate of Death #61 006250
- "Woman Died 'By Own Means,' Jury Returns," (Orangeburg, SC) Times and Democrat, August 24, 1961
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