August 15, 1909: Failure of a Faked Death Certificate

Dr. Robert J. C. Hamilton

Due to errors and ambiguity in the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, I previously posted that on August 15, 1909, Lillian Swing, age 15, died in Chicago from an abortion performed on August 9, and that Dr. Hamilton Shaver and his wife were held by the coroner's jury. The source document doesn't indicate that the case went to trial.

I've since discovered that the girl's name was actually Lillian Schwinn and that the doctors involved were Dr. Robert J. C. Hamilton and Dr. Evangeline Shaver.

According to death records, Lillian was a factory worker. 

Lillian Schwinn, a 15-year-old factory worker, died in Chicago on August 15, 1909. The undertaker had obtained a burial permit based on a death certificate signed by Dr. Evangeline Shaver attributing the girl's death to acute yellow atrophy, an obsolete term that would now be identified as acute liver failure.

Two days later, an anonymous letter to Coroner Hoffman changed everything. The proceedings were halted, and police interviewed Lillian's mother, identified in the news as Mrs. John Kappes of 371 North Clark Street. She told police that Lillian had undergone an abortion at the hands of Dr. Hamilton of 176 Sedgwick Street, aided and abetted by Dr. Shaver of 46 Oak Street, who cared for Lillian as she was dying from complications.

Hamilton testified at the inquest that he truly believed that Lillian's death was due to acute yellow atrophy. Shaver testified that she had signed the death certificate based not on her own conclusions, but on what she'd been told by Hamilton. Hamilton and Shaver were released on bonds of $25,000 and $10,000 respectively.

Coverage of Hamilton's trial for the 1922 death of Frances Guest seems to indicate that Hamilton's trial for Lillian's death resulted in a hung jury. A January 28, 1910 article in the Inter Ocean indicated an expected verdict, but I've found no coverage that confirms this.

Watch "Silent Press on 1909 Death" on YouTube.

Sources: 

• "Girl Dies; Physicians Held," The Inter Ocean, August 18, 1909
• "Three Physicians Are Held; Serious Offenses Charged," Chicago Tribune, August 18, 1909
• "Doctors Held to Grand Jury for Death of Young Woman," Chicago Tribune, August 26, 1909
• "Death Case Verdict Today," The Inter Ocean, January 28, 1910

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Veteran pro-life investigator Kevin Sherlock asks people of good will to help him have Planned Parenthood prosecuted for profiteering from the rapes and incests of underage girls many thousands of times each year.

Sherlock has  pulled the police records of hundreds of cities and has pulled the child protective services records of multiple states to prove Planned Parenthood staffers are violating mandated reporting laws designed to protect girl victims.   But there is more to be done. Sherlock will make sure more and more evidence gets to federal and state prosecutors who care about protecting girls from abusers and profiteers.

If you would like to help, please click the following link:

https://www.givesendgo.com/stop-pp-from-profiteering-from-the-rapes

Sherlock has talked to many girls and young women who trust him. Their stories and the forensic evidence shows most of them undergo pill abortions or humiliating invasive surgical abortions due to fear or ignorance or pressure or coercion. He treats the girls or women carrying children or devastated from their abortions as friends and neighbors in his home town, not afterthoughts.

Thank you for doing what you can to help girls and fight sexual predators and rape profiteers.