Criminal Abortions in 1936, 1883, and 1857

1936: An Anonymous Tip

Rose Lipner, age 32, mother of 2, died at Riverdale Hospital on January 29, 1936. Rose was buried the next day at Mount Judah Cemetery in Cypress Hills, New York. After the funeral, several people, including an anonymous caller, notified police and the District Attorney's office that the death was suspicious, and Rose was exhumed for an autopsy. The medical examiner determined that Rose had died from an abortion. Katz was arraigned for second-degree manslaughter.

Dr. Maxwell C. Katz, who owned and lived at Riverdale (maternity) Hospital, which he operated, signed a death certificate indicating that Rose had been operated on there for a tumor.

During his trial, his defense brought forth a large number of character witnesses testifying to Katz's 25 years as a physician and his good reputation. Katz did admit to performing an abortion on Rose, but said that it was in an attempt to save her life. This defense was successful, and he was acquitted.

1883: A Chicago Midwife

On January 29, 1883, a Chicago widow named Adeline Savroch died in a carriage on the way home from having a criminal abortion performed by midwife Bertha Twachaus, who was held without bail for murder in Adeline's death. A saloon keeper named Julius Grosse, and his housekeeper, Celia Arlep or Ortlepp, were held as accessories.


1857: At the Doctor's House

Olive Ash worked for a farmer, Mr. Beckwith, in Vermont, in the summer and fall of 1857. She was about 19 years old, and she lived with the family during her employment. In the autumn of that year, Olive returned to her family home in Sutton. On December 28, 1857, Olive and her twin sister, Olivia, left their home and went by rail to the home of their cousin, Levi M. Aldrich, in Bradford, ostensibly to visit his widowed mother. 

The sisters remained at Aldrich's home about two weeks, then said that they were going to meet some friends at the Fairlee depot for an excursion into New York or Massachusetts. Instead, when they arrived at Fairlee depot they took a wagon to the home and office of Dr. William Howard. On Friday, January 29, 1858, Olive's mother, Mahitable, got a telegram telling her to come to Howard's home. She quickly complied, and was there when her daughter died at about 6 in the evening. Dr. Howard got a coffin for Olive, and the twins' mother took her daughter's body by train to Sutton.

On February 3, Olive's body was exhumed for an autopsy, which was performed the following day. The cause of Olive's death was obvious. There was a quantity of pus and the cervix was nearly ragged with injuries. Dr. Frost believed that Olive had hemorrhaged due to the damage to her cervix. 

A February 19, 1858 article in the Orleans Independent Standard of Irasburgh, VT notes that, "Before the examination of Howard, information was brought from Stanstead that the body of a Miss Young of Stanstead, who had died at Howard's house in Bradford, on the 17th of January, had been examined by the physicians of Stanstead, who were satisfied that her death was also caused in the same manner as that of Miss Ashe. Other evidence also corroborated their opinion."

Howard was released on bail of $600 for each woman's death.

During Howard's trial, Olivia testified about how her sister had come to such a sad end. 

Dr. Howard told the sisters that the abortion process would take three or four weeks. He gave Olive a concoction to drink two or three times. On the Friday the week after the sisters' arrival, Dr. Howard performed some sort of procedure on Olive as she lay on the bed in the room the twins shared. The following day, Dr. Howard performed another, similar, procedure on Olive, who clutched her sister's hand and reported great pain. Olive bled profusely. After this second operation, Olive kept to her bed.

That night, Dr. Howard performed yet another procedure, very painful for Olive to endure. This time he used instruments then reached in with his hand and pulled out a fetus, which Olivia reported as being about two-thirds the size of a newborn. Dr. Howard removed the fetus from the room, and Olivia never saw it again. Another witness testified that about two weeks after Dr. Howard's arrest, she saw one of Dr. Howard's dogs come out from underneath the office privy with something in its mouth. She made the dog drop what it was carrying and discovered it to be a fetus of about four or five months, in a state of decomposition. While she was looking at the fetus, another of the doctor's dogs snatched the fetus up and ran off with it. 

The jury found Howard guilty of abortion, but, inexplicably, not guilty of manslaughter.

Medical Practitioners' Dead Patients: 1858, 1883, and 1936

Death at the Doctor's House

On Friday, January 29, 1858, Mahitable Ash got a telegram telling her to come to the Bradford, Vermont home of Dr. William Howard. Her daughter, Olive, was terribly ill. Mahitable quickly complied, and was there when her daughter died at about 6 in the evening. Dr. Howard got a coffin for Olive, and her mother and twin sister, Olive, took her body by train to Sutton. On February 3, Olive's body was exhumed for an autopsy, which was performed the following day. The cause of Olive's death was obvious. There was a quantity of pus and her cervix was nearly ragged with injuries. Dr. Frost believed that Olive had hemorrhageddue to the damage to her cervix. Another physician examined the uterus and concluded that the placenta had been retained for some time after the abortion, perhaps as long as seven to ten days. Howard was charged with abortion and manslaughter for Olive's death -- as well as for the abortion death of another patient, Miss Young, two days before Olive had died.

Olivia testified that she had traveled with her sister to Howard's home for the express purpose of the abortion. She had sat on the bed and held Olive's hand, day after day, through the three agonizing abortion attempts Howard made using instruments of some kind. Olive passed fluid at first, then blood, and finally a dead fetus approximately two-thirds the size of a normal newborn, Olivia said. Others at the house gave corroborating testimony, including one young woman who had caught one of the household dogs with a fetus of around 4 or 5 months of gestation that it had dug up from under the outhouse. Another dog grabbed the fetus and ran off with it, so it was never recovered.

Howard's defense relied upon a couple of expert witnesses giving other theories to explain the condition of Olive's uterus and cervix other than efforts to abort a living fetus. The jury convicted him of the abortion but found him not guilty of Olive's resulting death from the abortion.

On the Way Home

On January 29, 1883, a Chicago widow named Adeline Savroch died in a carriage on the way home from having a criminal abortion performed by midwife Bertha Twachaus, who was held without bail for murder in Adeline's death. A saloon keeper named Julius Grosse, and his housekeeper, Celia Arlep, were held as accessories.

To Save Her Life?

Rose Lipner, age 32, mother of 2, died at Riverdale Hospital on January 29, 1936. Rose was buried the next day at Mount Judah Cemetery in Cypress Hills, New York. After the funeral, several people, including an anonymous caller, notified police and the District Attorney's office that the death was suspicious, and Rose was exhumed for an autopsy. The medical examiner determined that Rose had died from an abortion. 

Dr. Maxwell C. Katz, who owned and lived at Riverdale (maternity) Hospital, which he operated, signed a death certificate indicating that Rose had been operated on there for a tumor. Katz was arraigned for second-degree manslaughter. During his trial, his defense brought forth a large number of character witnesses testifying to Katz's 25 years as a physician and his good reputation. Katz did admit to performing an abortion on Rose, but said that it was in an attempt to save her life. The defense was successful, and he was acquitted.