August 22: When the Information is Scanty or False

According to the Homicide in Chicago Interactive Database, on August 22, 1929, 34-year-old Marjorie Johnson died in her home from complications of a criminal abortion performed that day. The guilty party was never identified or apprehended.

According to abortion-rights sources, Pauline Shirley died on August 22, 1940 from a criminal abortion. Actually, she died on August 23 from effects of a miscarriage. I'll blog about it tomorrow.

"April" is one of the women mentioned in medical journal articles about the first years of legal abortion in New York. April was 17 years old when she underwent a saline abortion in New York City on August 20, 1971. The next day she was admitted to the hospital. She was in shock, with a high fever. She was treated there until her death on August 22. 

Carol C. was 21 years old when she underwent an abortion in the late summer of 1986. On August 22, she shut herself up in her garage at her home in Albuquerque, and started her car. She died from breathing the exhaust fumes. Her body was discovered on August 25, 1986. Life Dynamics cites her death certificate as their source.

August 21: A Councilman's Scandal and an Abortion-Rights Poster Child

A Huge Scandal in Denver

On August 21, 1923, 32-year-old Catherine Stange died in Denver of septicemia due to an abortion blamed on Dr. Daniel R. Lucy. This was quite the scandal, since in addition to being a doctor, Lucy was a city councilman. His high position also meant that he was given warning of his pending arrest for second degree murder, to give him time to arrange bail. Lucy's only comment to the press after being told of the charge against him was to note that he was not surprised, that this was what he had expected from the coroner's jury. He was later acquitted of the charges.

An Anniversary Claimed for "Choice"

According to the National Organization for Women, Ruth Friedl was a married, 27-year-old mother of two living in Denver. NOW's site said that pregnancy was life-threatening for Ruth, but they don't specify why, nor do they say why she was denied an abortion, since there were always exceptions made for abortions deemed necessary to save the mother's life. NOW says that Ruth drank ergot apiol, an herbal abortifacient, on August 21, 1929. That night, according to NOW, Ruth collapsed at the dinner table in front of her husband and children, and died on the spot. The only verification I can find of Ruth's death is a Find-a-Grave memorial for Ruth I. Freidl, 1901-1929, buried in Colorado, and a FaceBook post that has a bit more information and some photos: 

Ruth Irene Friedl (Aug. 24, 1901 - Aug. 21, 1929) After having her daughter, Ruth Friedl was told that another pregnancy would be medically dangerous. When she became pregnant, her uncle, a doctor, said he would not perform an abortion, since he could lose his license and be imprisoned. She did not tell her husband she was pregnant and attempted to self-abort by drinking a plant poison, ergot apiol. She died that night in front of her husband and two small children.

In 1967, Colorado legalized abortion for rape, incest, suspected fetal anomaly, and threat to the mother's health. However, even before then, doctors were allowed to take steps they thought were necessary to save the mother's life. There's no clarification of what risks there were to Ruth, but whatever the risks were, they weren't serious enough that Ruth's physician uncle thought he could do the abortion legally or legally refer her for an abortion. I'd welcome any verifying information on Ruth's death. After all, NOW also claims that Becky Bell died from complications of an illegal abortion, when in fact she died of pneumonia concurrent with a miscarriage, and they claim that Pauline Shirley died from an illegal abortion when her death certificate indicates a miscarriage. Their claim that Clara Duvall died from a self-induced abortion is based on what she purportedly told her 12-year-old daughter shortly before her death, which was attributed to pneumonia. It's therefore hardly surprising that I can't find anything to verify that Ruth died from an abortion.

August 20: A Serial Killer's Abortion Entanglement

Dr. Thomas Neill Cream

There's a lot of he-said-she-said regarding this abortion death. Rather than try to sort out which people were telling the truth, I'll just tell you what's known for sure and then provide different people's sides of the story, taken from news coverage, primarily of the coroner's inquest and subsequent trial. 

The case involves Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, a dapper and very vain man, who, while in prison awaiting the outcome of his trial, kept copies of his documents to show off to reporters who came to interview him: his medical school diploma from McGill College in Montreal, his Canadian physician's license, his diploma and license of midwifery (obstetrics) from the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, an award he'd received as an Intern at St. Thomas Hospital in London, and his Illinois physician's license.

What we know for sure: Late in the evening of Saturday, August 21, 1880 a woman named Elizabeth Green approached Lieutenant Steele at the West Lake Street police station in Chicago to report a terrible smell coming from the home of her upstairs neighbor, Mrs. Hattie Mack aka Hattie Mackey.  Elizabeth said that she'd knocked on the door and gotten no response. It was close to midnight when Steele broke in the door of the flat and found the decomposing remains of a young woman lying on a bed. The overwhelming odor sent Lt. Steel outside for air.

A search of the premises found her belongings. Her name was Mary Ann Matilda Faulkner of Ottawa, Canada.

"A recipe of vile character" was found in Mary Ann's trunk. Two stilettos were found in Hattie Mack's home.

The police questioned Mack's neighbors and got a description from the doctor they had seen coming and going. Cream slept behind White Brothers' drug store at the corner of Hoyne and Madison and kept offices at 434 West Madison Street. When police came to arrest Cream, the druggist, George White, had at first denied that anybody was in the back bedroom, justifying this lie by saying, "Dr. Cream said to let nobody in." The police arrested Cream and searched the premises, finding a note from Hattie Mack reading, "Dr. Cream: I'll not be home to-night. I've tried to see you. I got the key. I can't take the children home till she is moved. I not told any one. Please let me see you as quick as you can. I under great strain. I am at my sister's." It was signed "H.M." and included the post-script, "The window is up; be careful of the woman upstairs."

Dr. Cream had been implicated in another abortion case which, according to the August 22, 1880 Tribune Sun, "he managed to elude by leaving town until the excitement had blown over."

The case raised so much public interest that police had to clear spectators away from the inquest.

What witnesses had to say: Two young women, Mrs. Annie Beam and Mrs. Sarah Cook, of East Fourteenth Street, said that they'd known Mary Ann for about four years. She had lived in the same house with them for a while when working for a family named Gransfield. She moved out in the middle of May, going to live with the Fairman family in Woodlawn. At that time she was keeping company with a young man named Tommy Burns. Mary Ann had a good reputation. About six weeks prior to her death, Annie and Sarah said, Mary Ann had moved out of the Fairman home, telling her employers that she was going to get married. That was the last they'd heard of her until her death.

County Physician Bluthard certified that an autopsy had shown that Mary Ann had certainly been about three months into pregnancy and had likely died from an abortion perpetrated with pointed instruments. In his opinion, an unskilled person had wielded the instruments. 

Dr. M. Fitch and Dr. D. Frazer said that the care Cream had provided to Mary Ann after the abortion was appropriate given her injuries.

Elizabeth Green, who lived with her husband and children downstairs of Hattie Mack, testified that Cream had visited the dwelling upstairs from her two or three times a day for the previous week. She'd asked Cream who was sick and he's told her that one of the children was ill. She heard groans from upstairs early Friday morning, ending at around 4:00. Curious about the goings-on, she looked out and saw Hattie Mack and her children leaving. She found it a bit fishy that a dainty-looking, pretty young white woman was staying at Hattie Mack's home and that Dr. Cream was coming by so often, sometimes with parcels. 

Ellen Hackley, an elderly Black woman who lived in the loft apartment above Mack, said that the odor on Friday evening was dreadful. She identified Cream as the man she had seen coming and going from Mack's place. Ellen had heard groaning on early Friday the 20th before she'd left for work. Mack had not taken in boarders previously as far as Ellen knew. She suspected that something untoward was afoot with the white woman staying with Hattie Mack and Dr. Cream's frequent comings and goings.

Thomas Brady testified that he knew Mack very well and had often boarded with her. He described Mack as "one of the best women that ever lived." He said that once in a while he saw a sick woman there but not often since Mack had stopped letting him stay at her home due to his drunkenness.

Dr. Donald Fraser, who had known Cream from Montreal, said that he had spoken to Cream on the phone and given him advice the Wednesday before Mary Ann's death. Cream had told him that the patient was improving. On Thursday, at Cream's request, he had accompanied Cream to Mack's home, where he found Mary Ann in a lot of pain. He had treated her for inflammation then left. Cream later called him to tell him that Mary Ann was dead.

Hattie Mack's version of the story: Hattie was a Black woman that Dr. Cream referred to as a midwife. Mack gave the police the impression that she was illiterate, unable to even sign her name, but it came out later that she was able to read and write. Mack and her three children lived on the second floor of a two-story, multi-family dwelling. A native of Kentucky, she had lived in Missouri before moving to Chicago.

Some time around the end of February, Cream told her to expect a married woman whose husband had abandoned her. Mack was not told the woman's name. Cream said that he was going to "treat" the woman and pay Mack to care for her during the process and the woman's convalescence. He would Mack $12.50 for providing care to the woman and would pay for the woman's room and board: $5 for the first week and $4 for each subsequent week. Since she owed Cream $15 for previous medical care, this gave her an opportunity to work off her debt.

Cream reassured Mack that all would go well, that he had done more than 500 cases at St. John's or St. Thomas' hospital. The young woman arrived on August 11, and Cream performed some sort of operation on her. Mack had seen the instruments and could describe them clearly enough to convince doctors reviewing the case that they were abortion instruments. She didn't go into the room with Cream and his patient, but heard the young woman moaning.

The woman told Mack that she had been deserted by her husband and had gone to work to earn her living. When she'd learned that she was pregnant she sought out an abortionist and had been given the card of a Dr. Geer. Geer advised her to visit Dr. Cream, who was in that line of work. The young woman hadn't had the $5 to pay Geer for the consult so she gave him her gold watch to hold as security until she could pay him. She had followed Geer's advice and visited Cream, who said that he always had comfortable and safe places to keep his patients because he could pressure patients who owed him money to provide lodging.

Cream came by several times a day to check on his patient, who had expelled the baby but was becoming very ill. He told Mack to keep everything "secret as death," never to call any other doctor in to attend to the woman, and to just keep administering the medicine he provided. Mack begged Cream to remove the woman from her premises so that she'd not be implicated, reminding him that she'd only gotten involved to pay off her debt. Cream refused, but did supply Mack with whiskey, which made her enable to continue caring for the patient whose deteriorating condition was causing a foul odor.

Lieutenant Steele produced a pocketbook belonging to Mary Ann that had been found in Cream's office. Mack was shown the jewelry that had been in the pocketbook. She said that the jewelry had not been there when she'd given the pocketbook to Cream. She said that the young woman had told her that she'd pawned some jewelry over to Cream to cover the $25 fee for his services.

On the evening of August 19, Cream brought in another doctor, unfamiliar to Mack, to try to save the ailing woman. 

During her stay, the patient often bewailed her fate. The woman had moaned piteously the last day of her life and at this point told Hattie Mack her name and the name and address of her mother in Ottawa. Mary Ann fell into unconsciousness some hours before she died at around 6:00 in the morning on Friday, August 20. 

Once the young woman was dead, Mack went to tell Cream what had happened. Cream told her to take her children with her to her sister's home, leaving the house locked up. He offered to buy the furniture from her for $30. Cream's plan was to throw tar over the contents and "burn the whole damned place." Mack said she wanted no part of an arson plan and threatened to contact the police. Cream then told Mack to stay at the house in order to avoid causing suspicion, and he'd he'd get a wagon and come by at 2:00 Saturday morning in his stocking feet to take away the body and would "shoot anyone" who tried to interfere.

Mack told Cream that there was no way anybody would be able to remain at the home due to the terrible smell, which was sure to gain the attention of the neighbors.

Dr. Thomas Cream's version of events: Cream had graduated from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Edinburgh, Scotland and was licensed to practice in Illinois. He first met Hattie Mack in April of 1880, when he'd treated one of her children.

Cream had testified, "A week ago last night (Friday, August 12), after 12:00 at night, the colored woman Mackey came to the drug-store where I was sleeping, and was let in by the druggist. She asked for me, and the druggist called me. I got up, and the woman wanted me to go to her house, where she said she had a very sick woman. I dressed and went with her. I found the young woman in bed. She had just been confined, and I found a 3-months child lying on the bed. Knowing the character of the negress to be that of an abortionist, she having confessed to me before that she was such, and had committed abortions upon herself and other women, I saw that something wrong had been done. They were both unwilling to speak on the subject at first, but I pressed them, and finally they admitted that the sick woman had been taking oil of cotton-root and ergot. I told them I knew of no medicine that could be relied upon for such a thing, and said that something else had been done. They denied this for some time, but afterwards the negress told me that she had operated upon the woman with an instrument, which she produced."

Cream testified in detail about the care he had provided to Mary Ann. He said that on Thursday, August 19, he found Mary Ann desperately ill, which he attributed to concoctions that Mack had administered on her own initiative. Cream testified that the records of the prescriptions he'd ordered from the drug store would show that he had provided appropriate care to his patient.

Cream said that he'd never performed an abortion in his life, but had assisted in "necessary cases" when a medical student. 

When Mary Ann died, he'd told Mack, "You have killed the woman, and the best thing you can do is throw yourself on the mercy of the police" He denied offering to buy Mack's possessions and torch the building, instead saying that he'd not even been willing to complete a death certificate because he didn't think that Mary Ann should be buried until the police cleared the case.

The outcome: The Coroner's Jury returned the following verdict: Mary A. M. Faulkner came to her death on the 20th day of August, 1880, by reason of peritonitis and metritis follow on an abortion, committed with her knowledge, and assistance of Dr. Thomas N. Cream and Mrs. Hattie Mackey." Both Cream and Hattie were held without bail pending a Grand Jury hearing. 

Mack and Cream originally had been slated to be tried together but Cream managed to get the cases severed. On November 20, 1880 Cream's jury was sent to deliberate at 3:30 p.m. They returned at 4:30 p.m. with a verdict of "Not Guilty." The Inter Ocean reported that Cream, "who had been sitting in court in very apparent suspense and anxiety during the absence of the jury, when the foreman announced the verdict, jumped to his feet and shook Counsellor Trude violently by the hand, and then went through the same process with each member of the jury in rotation. Judge Gary informed Dr. Cream that it would be necessary for him to go through the jail and be discharged in the usual manner."

As for Hattie Mack, the charges against her were dismissed the day after Cream's trial ended, evidently because she had turned state's evidence against Cream.

Guilty or not, it's really a shame that Cream was acquitted and released. He was later sentenced to life in prison for the death of his lover's husband, who died after taking poison Cream provided. A letter writing campaign -- and a promise to leave the country -- got him released. He moved to London and gained infamy as a serial murderer, killing young women with poison. He was hanged in Newgate Prison in 1892.

Sources: 

• "Double Murder," Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1880
• "The Faulkner Inquest," The Daily Inter Ocean, August 24, 1880
• "The Cream abortion case," Montreal Gazette, November 17, 1880
• "Earle and Cream," Chicago Tribune, November 17, 1880
• "'Dr.' Cream," The Inter Ocean, November 17, 1880
• "Cream's Crime," The Inter Ocean, November 18, 1880
• "Dr. Cream," Chicago Tribune, November 19, 1880
• "Who Did It?" The Inter Ocean, November 20, 1880
• "The Turf," Chicago Tribune, November 21, 1880

August 20: Sketchy Info and the Mysterious Journey

Sketchy Information Links to a Physician

On August 20, 1913, 20-year-old Emma Witte, a clerk, died in Chicago from an abortion perpetrated that day at the office of Dr. Otis M. Walker. Emma reportedly went to Walker's office early Wednesday morning. Dr. Charles L. West was summoned there to administer chloroform. He didn't linger, but returned late that afternoon he found Emma evidently lifeless, with Walker desperately attempting to revive her. She was rushed to St. Anthony's Hospital but declared dead on arrival. Walker was indicted by a Grand Jury that day, but to my knowledge the case never went to trial.

Why Was Alma Dead in Chicago, Not Vacationing in Milwaukee?

The phone call came as a terrible shock. John Heidenway of Forest Park, Illinois, and his wife had seen their 25-year-old daughter, Alma Heidenway, off on Sunday, August 18, 1918. Mrs. Heidenway had helped her to pack her bags for a two-week vacation in Milwaukee with a friend. She had seemed happy about the trip. So why was Dr. James A. Stough of Chicago calling in the evening of August 20, telling them that Alma had just died in his office? Mr. and Mrs. Heidenway contacted the police.

A police ambulance surgeon, Dr. Isaac H. Holloway, went to pick up Alma's body at Stough's office  at 329 South Ashland Avenue. He noted slight discolorations of Alma's head, face, arms, and legs but didn't think they necessarily were the result of violence.

Police questioned Stough, who told Lieutenant Ira McDowell that Alma had come to his office on the afternoon of Monday, August 19, very ill and in a lot of pain. He'd diagnosed her with neuralgia, given her an injection of morphine, and put her to bed. He said that she'd been in pain again on the afternoon of Tuesday the 20th so he'd given her another quarter grain of morphine. He gave her another 8 grains at 4:00. He said that when he'd gone to check on her at 6:00 he'd been alarmed at how close to death she'd seemed so he sent for Dr. J. J. Stoll, at 1103 Ashland Avenue. Alma was dead by the time Dr. Stoll arrived, Stough said. She had died at 6:30 p.m., Stough told police, likely due to morphine poisoning and high blood pressure.

Stough said that before dying, Alma had whispered her phone number to him so that he could notify her parents.

Alma's mother said, "Alma had $68 when she left home last Sunday. She had received her two weeks' vacation pay in advance. When I found her purse in Dr. Stough's office it contained only 75 cents," Alma's mother told reporters. "I know she didn't spent the balance. Alma was a good girl."

An autopsy indicated that Alma had died of a post-abortion infection. Two detectives arrested Stough, then released him on bond pending an inquest. Alma's mother said that though Alma had been treated in the past for high blood pressure, she had been otherwise healthy.

Alma had worked as a private secretary for Albert G. Hodge, Jr., who headed the restaurant department of Sears, Roebuck & Co.. She had worked at Sears for 13 years. Another Sears employee, Fred Courdroy, was at some point identified as the man responsible for Alma's pregnancy. Fred, who worked at the express department, was identified in one source as around 24 years old and as 38 years old in another. He was also a married man. Alma's brother, Walter, testified that Alma and Fred had been romantically involved and that Fred had visited Alma at home and had taken her out on the town. Evidently Alma's parents hadn't known about the relationship, for they said that she'd had no sweetheart.

Alice J. Kennedy and Eunice Magill were also questioned in Alma's death. Stough, Cordray, and Kennedy went to trial but were acquitted on May 29, 1919. 

Newly Added Sources:

• "Girl's Death in Doctor's Office Starts Inquiry," The Chicago Daily Tribune, August 21, 1918
• "Physician Held After Probe of Girl's Death," Chicago Tribune, August 22, 1918
• "Married Man Arrested in Girl's Death Case," Chicago Tribune, August 23, 1918
• "Doctor Held On Death of Pretty Girl In Offices," Buffalo Times, September 1, 1918 
• "Doctor And Two Acquitted," Chicago Tribune, May 30, 1919

August 19: Exhumation and Insanity in Denver, 1917

Mary Park, a 24-year-old schoolteacher of Greeley, Colorado, died August 19, 1917. Authorities believed that she died from a criminal abortion, but Mary signed a statement exonerating the two Denver physicians who were suspected.

For some reason, in September of 1921, Mary's body was exhumed. It was "in excellent state of preservation, but that one of the abdominal organs had been removed and a plaster of paris [sic] cast inserted in its place." A medical criminologist concluded that Mary had died from an abortion. 

Dr. E.L. Willis and Dr. Nicholas J. Phelan were arrested. During the trial Phelan was acquitted by reason of insanity and sent to a mental hospital. Willis was convicted. He had been party to the abortion, performed on August 8, at the Colonia Hotel in Denver. Willis was sentenced to 10 - 15 years in prison for Mary's death. He appealed his conviction but it was upheld.

See newly added sources below.

****

Mark Park additional sources:

• "Examination of Body Indicates Illegal Operation," Fort Collins Courier, September 16, 1921
• "Doctors Plead Not Guilty to Murder Charge," Daily Sentinel, September 20, 1921
• "Greeley Girls' Body Exhumed," Windsor Beacon, September 22, 1921
• "Colorado State News," Cheyenne Wells Record, April 6, 1922
• "Supreme Court Upholds Murder Case Decisions," Fort Collins Courier, May 8, 1923
• "Denver Osteopath Must Go To Pen Sentence Upheld," Fort Collins Courier, May 8, 1923

August 18: A Deadly Secret and a Victim of "Human Wolves"

 A Deathbed Accusation, 1901

Annie Robinson, a 28-year-old homemaker, died in her Chicago home at around 4:00 a.m. on August 18, 1901. About ten days earlier she confessed to her husband, George, and her mother, Mary Schroeder, that she was suffering from the effects of a criminal abortion and named midwife Teresa Muenster as the perpetrator. 

George told the family doctor, H. I. Hook, and Hook recommended that George notify the police. Hook notified authorities about Annie's death.

George spoke willingly to the police. "I had no idea that my wife had visited Mrs. Muenster," he said, "and until she knew that she was dying she kept the matter a secret from me. When she learned that she was about to die she called to her bedside her mother and myself. She declared that she had visited the Muenster woman three times, and that the midwife was responsible for her condition. She told us, moreover, that her brother's wife, Caroline Schroeder, who died two years ago, had been a patient of the Muenster woman, and that the second treatment by the midwife proved fatal to her. I am determined to see that justice is done and that somebody shall pay for the death of my wife."

Muenster, about 60 years old, had been a practicing Chicago midwife for 30 years. George, a cashier at a streetcar company, was left to care for their two small children. Muenster was arrested that day, and she was held by the Coroner's Jury. I've been  unable to determine the ultimate outcome of the case.

Mrs. Robinson's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was performed by a physician.

Source: "Midwife is Held on Serious Charge," The Inter Ocean, August 19, 1901

The First Victim of "Human Wolves," Oklahoma, 1917

I learned about 18-year-old Elsie Stone‘s sad end while looking for memorials for the unborn at Find-a-Grave. Evidently Colby Weaver, who is interested in old graves, was intrigued by the inscription on another woman‘s headstone. Underneath the dates on the marker of Katherine Cross are the words: "Murdered by Human Wolves." Weaver tracked down a newspaper article on Katherine‘s death by criminal abortion, and there learned of this earlier victim.

The Seminole County News in Oklahoma reported that 18-year-old school teacher Elsie Stone went to the Konowa , Oklahoma practice of Dr. A. H. Yates on August 15, 1917. Elsie remained there for three or four days before being moved to Yate's home, where she died.

Miss Powel, Elsie's aunt, testified that Yates had summoned her to Konowa after Elsie's death. Yates' original claim was that Elsie had taken ill while passing through Konowa on a train and had been brought to his practice for care.

On her death certificate, Yates attributed Elsie's death to "congestive chill." However, concerned citizens complained to the County Attorney, A.G. Nichols. Nichols ordered Elsie's body exhumed and an autopsy performed at the cemetery; thus the real cause of her death was discovered. Dr. M. M. Turlington, the Seminole County health officer, believed that the abortion had been perpetrated about 24 hours prior to Elsie's death.

Yates was arrested, along with Fred O'Neil, who had served the principal of the school where Elsie had worked. The men waived arraignment. O'Neil, a married man with three children, was accused of arranging the abortion. He reportedly brought meals to Elsie while she was at Yate's practice. 

Two of the state's witnesses, Beulah Whooten and Mrs. S. M. Thompson said that Elsie had cried and told them about how O'Neil had ruined her life. Beulah said that she'd seen O'Neill hand Elsie a package that contained a letter and some medicine. 

Mrs. Thompson testified, "Elsie told me in June that she had been wronged. She showed me letters from Fred O'Neil which told her to take medicine and that was all he could do for her, that he was a married man and couldn't afford to let it become public on him. She told me about how she was led off by this party and she told me she was going to meet Yates and O'Neil and they were going to take care of her condition."

Yates and O'Neil were originally charged with murder, but because of legal technicalities the charges were reduced to manslaughter. Yates was arrested for Katherine Cross's fatal abortion while awaiting trial. Yates and O'Neil were subsequently acquitted even though the initial ballot for the jury was 11 to 1 for conviction.

Sources:

• "Teacher's Death is Being Probed," Tulsa Daily World, August 30, 1917
• "Konowa Men Are in Trouble," The Star Democrat, August 31, 1917
• "Congestion Not Cause of Death of Girl," Blackwell Daily World, September 5, 1917
• "Seminole Men Held for Trial," Ada Weekly News, September 6, 1917
• "Exonerate Physician in Death of Young Teacher," Drumright Evening Derrick, February 25, 1918

August 17: Warnings Not Heeded in New York and a Habitual Criminal Abortionist in Florida

"Vicki" was 23 years old when she underwent an abortion in New York state, taking advantage of the liberalized abortion law. She was 20 weeks pregnant. The doctor decided to use the saline abortion method, which involved injecting a strong salt solution into the amniotic fluid. The fetus would swallow and inhale the fluid, which caused massive internal bleeding. The fetus would die, triggering labor. Saline was injected into Vicki's uterus to begin the abortion. The next day, she began to show signs of infection. She expelled her dead fetus but her condition did not improve. On August 17, 1971, she died of sepsis. 

Marina Deschapell, age 34, went to the Miami abortion facility at 620 SW 1st Street for a safe and legal six to eight week abortion on August 17, 1978. She reportedly chose abortion because she feared that her health problems had harmed the unborn baby. Marina, a newlywed, was pregnant for the first time.

Dr. Eduardo F. Elias, age 69, administered Valium and Xylocaine for the abortion. He was being assisted by Anna West Barquet, age 53, wife of the clinic's owner, Luis Barquet. Mrs. Barquet had been arrested along with her future husband in the 1960s for helping him run a criminal abortion ring.

Sixty to 90 seconds after the procedure, Elias noticed that Marina was not breathing. He initiated CPR and Anne West called Dr. Jose Suarez, the doctor who had referred Marina for the abortion. Marina's husband, Fernando, was waiting at Suarez's office. Somebody summoned the Miami Fire Department rescue squad. The ambulance crew found Marina with no signs of life. They attempted to resuscitate her, but, Miami Homicide Sergeant Gerald Green said, "When they got there she was too far gone." They transported Marina to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Fernando, a construction worker, was "extremely upset and overcome by shock and disbelief," police told The Miami Herald.

The medical examiner did not attribute Marina's death directly to the abortion, but rather to "an idiosyncratic reaction" to the drugs administered. Sgt. Green said, "The office was clean, and it was well-equipped for an abortion that goes according to plan. But, other than an air bag, there was really no equipment if an emergency occurred."

At the time of Marina's death, Luis Barquet, age 58, was serving a year's sentence for 10 counts of unlawful practice of medicine, grand larceny, and illegal abortion. This was related to his arrest in 1976 for operating an abortion clinic illegally. Barquet was performing abortions without a medical license. He was charged with four counts of involuntary sexual battery for examinations he performed on women under the pretense that he was a doctor. Those charges carried a possible sentence of life in prison. Barquet's attorneys countered that he should have only been charged with practicing medicine without a license. Barquet's son continued to operate the clinic, with Elias performing the abortions. 

Barquet had originally moved to Miami from Cuba in 1961 and was promptly arrested for running a criminal abortion mill. The International Association of Chiefs of Police released a study describing Barquet as "a butcher" who ran a protected abortion syndicate. He was ordered to leave the United States in 1963, which he did only to return a few days later. He was indicted in a bribery case in New York in 1965 and fled the state. He was captured in Miami Springs in 1966 while perpetrating illegal abortions in a motel. Barquet used this arrest to challenge Florida's 104-year-old abortion law, and got a ruling in his favor in 1972. Barquet, a long-time back-alley abortionist who had no women's deaths that I have learned of in his criminal practice, thus paved the way for the Florida abortion free-for-all that has led to so many women's deaths from the presumably safe, legal kind of abortion.

Sources:

• "Abortion suspects win bond despite prosecutor's protests," Miami News, March 11, 1976
• "Woman Dies After Abortion at Clinic," Miami Herald, August 18, 1978
• "Police Seek Cause Of Abortion Death," Miami Herald, August 19, 1978

August 16: Ugly Rumors in 1858 and Other Cases

Ugly Rumors in Boston, 1858

On Monday, August 16, 1858, Dr. David R. Brown went to an undertaker asking for the removal from is home of a body he said was that of his 37-year-old servant, Emily A. Thompson. He said that she had died from cholera.  She had died at 5:00 in the morning and buried at 3 p.m. that same day.

Somebody found this fishy and contacted the District Attorney. The body was exhumed and examined. The dead woman didn't look any older than age 20. An autopsy also showed that the death had not been due do cholera but rather due to abortion complications.

"Her body was lacerated and torn to a frightful extent, and her sufferings must have been agonizing in the extreme," the New England Farmer noted. “She was of good form, tall and slim, and appeared to be unused to labor. When the body was disinterred a gold ring was found on one finger and an ear-ring in one ear. She has light-brown hair and blue or hazel eyes, and is said to have been a very beautiful and intelligent girl.”

Her name was Susan Webster.

Rumors also swarmed that she had been sent to Boston the abortion by a "near relative" who had gotten her pregnant. The "near relative" turned out to be her uncle, Philip Ulmer.

Brown, described as "keeper of an establishment of a questionable character," was arrested and charged with manslaughter on August 24, 1858, and Ulmer was charged as an accessory, as were two women who had been present in Brown's house. A trial in March resulted in a hung jury, with 11 voting for conviction and one for acquittal after 44 hours of deliberation. In a subsequent trial in April, 1859, Brown was convicted and faced a sentence of seven to 21 years.

Chicago, 1899

On August 16, 1899, 35-year-old Antonie Vacicek, a married woman, died in her Chicago home from complications of an illegal abortion performed there that day. Mary Koupal was arrested and held by Coroner's Jury in the death, but was discharged in the September term. Koupal's profession is not listed.

Safe and Legal in California, 1969

Cheryl Vosseler was 17 years old when she was admitted to Fresno General Hospital on July 31, 1969, to undergo a legal abortion. California allowed abortions to be performed in hospitals at that time. After she was discharged, Cheryl suffered from complications, and was readmitted two weeks later. Surgery was performed August 14, 1969, to try to save her life. Cheryl's condition continued to deteriorate. She finally died August 16, 1969.

One of Three Deaths at a Chicago Clinic, 1974

Dorothy Brown, age 37, underwent a safe and legal abortion at Friendship Medical Clinic in Chicago on August 16, 1974. Within hours, she was dead at a nearby hospital. Her death was attributed to "shock related to hemorrhagic necrosis of uterus." That means that blood from her uterus was unable to get back into her circulatory system, overwhelming the tissues and causing them to die. Julia Rogers and Evelyn Dudley also died after abortions at Friendship Medical Center.

*****

New sources for Susan Webster death:

• "Sad Death of a Young Woman," New England Farmer, August 28, 1858
• "Dr. David R. Brown Indicted for Murder," New England Farmer, September 25, 1858

August 16: Unwanted Abortion Kills Mother and Healthy Baby

Deborah and Marla, shortly before the abortion

Deborah Cardamone has raised her grandson since he was one year old. She had to. The child's mother, Deborah's daughter Marla Anne, died at the age of 18. 

Pregnant after a date rape, Marla had planned to put her baby up for adoption, since she already had a toddler to take care of, but a medical-social worker at Magee Women's Hospital in Pittsburgh strongly urged Marla to have an abortion.

The social worker insisted that Marla had harmed her unborn baby because of Tegretal and Elavil she'd been taking for depression. No family would adopt a disabled baby, Marla was told. The social worker pointed out to Marla how difficult it would be to continue to assist in caring for her quadriplegic father if she also had to care for a disabled child that nobody would adopt. Statistics gave a 92% chance that the baby was fine, but Marla had a sonogram to be sure. After the sonogram, the social worker kept pressuring Marla. Finally, she gave in. She was admitted to the hospital for the abortion August 15, 1989.

Although the urea induction technique -- which involved injecting a chemical into the uterus -- was contraindicated due to Marla's medical history, Michael W. Weinberger injected urea into his patient's uterus anyway. Either an error during this injection or some other mishap caused the tissue of Marla's uterus to start dying. The laminaria used to dilate Marla's cervix had also been inserted by Weinberger in a manner resulting in massive infection. Her kidneys shut down.

Marla became obviously ill during the night, with nausea, vomiting, urinary incontinence, and dried blood on her teeth. Her pulse and temperature were severely elevated. At 6:30 AM the charge nurse contacted a the first of several doctors to treat Marla, but no were cultures taken.

By 7 AM Marla was "increasingly disoriented and speaking inappropriately." By 7:15, her blood pressure had fallen to 80/40, her pulse had shot up to 144, and she was "unresponsive, grunting loudly, and having seizures." At 10 AM, intravenous antibiotics were administered, but of course they would do nothing to address the kidney failure or rotting tissue. Marla was dead from septicemia at 12:15 PM.

The suit filed by Marla's family noted failure to notify them of her deteriorating condition. They never got to come and see her one last time before she died. Marla's parents adopted her orphaned son. To add further insult to injury, the coroner's office lost the body of Marla's baby, Christopher Michael. (To see the coroner's photos of Marla and her baby, click here.)

Marla's family faulted the doctor and hospital with performance of an abortion that they should have known would only make Marla's existing depression worse, failure to remove the dead fetus, administering an overdose of Pitocin, and failure to consult qualified doctors.

Marla's mother adds bitterly:

I had to file a lawsuit to get any answers. Marla had died of septicemia--a massive infection from the abortion. I also learned that the social worker had never seen Marla's sonogram or discussed the results with her. Marla never saw the words on the sonogram report that would have changed everything: No abnormalities detected. My daughter was pressured to have an abortion, and there had been no reason for it, no reason at all.

I've often wondered why pro-choice women's groups have never expressed any sympathy or concern over Marla's death. Why aren't they demanding justice? Why aren't they concerned that Marla was lied to about the condition of her baby and wasn't shown the sonogram results? Why aren't they concerned that proper treatment was delayed because Marla was misdiagnosed by a resident who was only two months out of medical school? Why are they so quiet?

I believe it's because pro-choice groups don't want women to read or hear about abortion injuries and deaths. Bad publicity hurts their cause. That's why they prefer that Marla and her baby remain hidden statistics.

"The last two weeks of her life, all she did was cry," Deborah Cardamone told me.

Deborah still cries.

Click to view the Life Dynamics interview with Deborah and the autopsy photos of Marla and Christopher.

Corrections on the August 15 Anniversary

Dr. Robert J. Hamilton

I found information on today's anniversary that necessitates a correction. 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 discovered that the girl's name was actually Lillian Schwinn and that the doctors involved were Dr. Robert C. Hamilton and Dr. Evangeline Shaver.

Hamilton testified at the inquest that he believed that Lillian's death was due to acute yellow atrophy, which was the cause of death on the death certificate. 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.

New source: "Doctors Held to Grand Jury for Death of Young Woman," Chicago Tribune, August 26, 1909

August 14: Green Apples, Multiple Deaths, and a Misguided "Natural" Approach to Abortion

Blamed on Green Apples, Chicago, 1908

On August 14, 1908, 23-year-old homemaker Bertha Isserstadt, a Jewish immigrant from Austria, died at Chicago's Evangelical Deconesses' Hospital from complications of an abortion perpetrated on August 5. A woman named Margaret Wiedman, age 39, was held by the coroner. Weidman insisted that she had been summoned to Bertha's home on June 13 and asked to perform an abortion but she had refused. Bertha's death, she said, was caused by eating green apples.

Dr. Albert Schopmann testified that he was called in on July 13 to attend to Bertha, realized that she was suffering from abortion complications, and hospitalized her. Wiedman was arrested based on statements from Schopmann and others at the hospital.

I have been unable to determine the outcome of the case.

New source: "Held for Illegal Operation," Chicago Tribune, August 20, 1908

Safe and Legal in Los Angeles, 1984

Yvonne Tanner, a 22-year-old  mother of a young daughter, had a safe and legal abortion performed by Stephen Pine and/or Morton Barke July 10, 1984 at Inglewood Women's Hospital. Yvonne went into a coma immediately after the abortion, and died August 14, 1984. Her death certificate indicates coma, hypertension, and urinary tract infection. The suit by her survivors alleged that Yvonne was not adequately advised of the risks prior to undergoing the fatal abortion. 

Yvonne was the fifth woman I know of to die after abortions at Inglewood Women's Hospital. Those who died before her were Kathy Murphy (1973), Lynette Wallace (1975), Elizabeth Tsuji (1978), and Cora Lewis (1983). The last death there that I know of is Belinda Byrd (1987).

"Natural" Abortion, California, 1994

Kris Humphrey

Kris Humphrey placed a high value on "self-determination" and doing things "naturally." She viewed modern medicine suspiciously, since her stepbrother had died from an allergic reaction to a medication. When she had gone to Planned Parenthood to abort a previous pregnancy, she had felt that they were trying to shame her. So after a positive pregnancy test in 1994, Kris didn't follow up on the referral to Planned Parenthood that her university health office had offered her. Instead, she consulted a friend who had reported success twice with a "natural" home abortion brew using pennyroyal and black cohosh root. On August 5, Kris began using the tea. Her friends thought all was well as Kris began to experience some vaginal bleeding over the succeeding days. 

Kris's mother, Embee, however, was worried and urged Kris to get an ultrasound to make sure she didn't have an ectopic pregnancy. Kris grew ill and suffered pelvic pain and her friends grew concerned as well. Finally on Friday, August 12, Kris agreed to take a friend up on the offer of a loan and to go to Planned Parenthood for a clinic abortion on the 13th. Kris never made it. She collapsed overnight and began having seizures. Her friends called 911 and brought the abortion tea ingredients to the hospital with their friend. Kris had developed severe clotting problems and was bleeding from every orifice as well as all of her piercing sites. In a desperate attempt to save their patient's life, doctors did exploratory surgery and discovered that Kris had been trying to abort an embryo that had lodged in her fallopian tube. The embryo had died and become a site for infection. Removing the tube and the pregnancy, however, couldn't undo the damage Kris had done to her liver by continuing to take the pennyroyal concoction. She was taken off life support and declared dead on August 14. 

Another abortion death due to pennyroyal ingestion is Sharran Parks, who died on Colorado on November 22, 1978.

August 13: Doctors, a Preacher, and a Load of Lies

Chicago Doctors, 1922

Beulah Pickerill, a Texas native, was 21 years old and living with her parents in the Louisville, Kentucky area. She worked there as a bookkeeper, but had other plans for her life. Beulah and her friend Floy Butler had ambitions for the stage, and on July 29, 1922 they left Louisville for Chicago, arriving on August 5. The presumption at home was that the two young women planned to develop careers as vaudeville performers, though the story Beulah had told her family was that she was going to visit friends.

An unidentified man, described as "wealthy and prominent," had arranged the journey. Whether he spirited the young woman to Chicago purely for the abortion or in order to support her dreams is unclear.

Those dreams died along with Beulah at Chicago's Mid West Hospital on August 13. After authorities determined that Beulah had died from complications of an abortion, two physicians, Vincent Filletti and Michael Galgano, were held by the coroner and indicted for felony murder. In her deathbed statement, Beulah had identified Filletti as the abortionist.

The two young women had gone to Filette's office on August 7 to consult with both doctors. They set the fee at $200 (c. $3,100 in 2020 dollars). Beulah wired somebody in Louisville -- likely the "wealthy and prominent" man -- for the money. She went to Filetti's office on the 9th for the abortion.

Floy, along with Patrick J. Owens, the manager of Chicago's Clarendon Hotel, were held as accessories. Owens had reportedly made the referral to a doctor who refused to perform an abortion but suggested that she consult Fillette and Galgano. A physician identified only as Dr. Peterson was held as a witness.

I've been unable to determine the final outcome of the case.

See recently added sources on the case below.

A Pentacostal Preacher, Chicago, 1954

Nathelyn Collins, age 17, died at Cook County Hospital on August 13, 1954 from complications of an abortion perpetrated by Rev. Clarence Loveaux in a back room of his storefront church, Pentecostal Righteous Temple of God.

Loveaux, age 59, insisted that he had only been "giving treatment" to Nathelyn, not performing an abortion. However, he had two small rooms at the back of the church that were fully equipped with all the medical tools necessary for an abortion practice. He was arrested when another 17-year-old girl identified him as the man who had perpetrated an abortion on her.

Police, who had staked out the church for two weeks prior to the raid, said that Loveaux charged between $5 and $100 for abortions. That's roughly $48 - $960 in 2020 dollars

Safe and Legal in Los Angeles, 1986

Donna Heim, a 20-year-old nursery school teacher, went to Her Medical Clinic on August 12, 1986, accompanied by her sister. Donna told staff that she had asthma, and she noted this on her forms when she filled them out. Despite this pre-existing condition, a nurse anesthetist administered general anesthesia for her safe and legal abortion. Donna started to have difficulty breathing, but Mahlon Cannon continued with the procedure for five more minutes before helping the nurse anesthetist to try to restore Donna's breathing.

Donna's sister, who was in the waiting room, became alarmed at the intense staff activity she noticed, and questioned a staffer about her sister. She was reassured that Donna was fine. The sister saw an ambulance pull up to the building and stepped outside, where she observed Donna being transferred into the emergency vehicle. Donna's sister followed the ambulance to a nearby hospital, which summoned the comatose young woman's parents.

Donna died the next day without regaining consciousness. An investigation was sparked, and an administrative law judge ruled that Cannon was negligent in continuing with the abortion despite his patient's respiratory distress. The judge also found that Cannon often failed to do medical exams, take medical histories, or administer standard tests prior to abortions.

Donna's father, Richard Heim, told the Sacramento Bee, "I honestly thought that within a month or two the man would be in prison for manslaughter. When you go to the cemetery to visit your daughter, there's no way you can explain that, and this guy's just kicking back and making more money."

Donna's mother, Barbara Heim, told the Daily News of Los Angeles County, "I thought they'd close the doors so no one else would die." But a month after Donna's fatal abortion Liliana Cortez, another woman with asthma, died after an abortion at Her Medical Clinic. Maria Soto had already died there while left unattended in 1985 and Michelle Thames would die at Her Medical Clinic in 1987 after being improperly resuscitated. 

Maternal and Fetal Indications, Georgia, 1988

Allegra Ann Roseberry of Snellville, Georgia, age 41, had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. She was admitted to Emory Hospital for assessment and surgery in anticipation of admission to an experimental cancer treatment program. There, a sonogram during surgery revealed a 23-week pregnancy, much to everyone's surprise since Allegra had undergone fertility drug treatment in order to conceive her son Matthew 20 years earlier.

Her liver specialist, family doctor, and gynecologist all failed to detect her pregnancy despite amenorrhea, breast tenderness, distended abdomen, and nausea because these symptoms were attributed to the cancer and other ailments. Allegra's doctors offered abortion as her only alternative, saying that the fetus was "doomed" due to Allegra's ailments, that the pregnancy would render her ineligible for the experimental treatment, and that the pregnancy was damaging her fragile health and would greatly hasten her death. No one arranged for a consult with a perinatologist or obstetrician. The options of continuing the pregnancy and/or premature delivery of the infant were not offered or discussed.

Allegra was transferred to Emory's Crawford Long Hospital for the abortion. Young W. Ahn initiated the abortion by prostaglandin suppository on August 8, 1988. On August 9, Allegra expelled the dead baby, whom she and her husband, Gary, had named Amy Ann. Allegra developed sepsis from the abortion, and died on August 13. An autopsy revealed that Amy had been normal.

The liver specialist contended that Allegra would have aborted Amy even if she had known the child was healthy in order to be eligible for the experimental program. The experimental program, however, did not actually exclude pregnant women. Allegra's gynecologist claimed that the reason for the abortion was damage to the fetus due to radiation therapy and also mentioned chemotherapy, neither of which Allegra had undergone.

All defendants held that Allegra could not have survived long enough to deliver Amy alive anyway. However, her prognosis if untreated for the cancer was 3 to 6 months to live. That would have put Amy's gestational age at 35 weeks at the earliest her mother was expected to die -- far past the point of viability -- and at 47 weeks had her mother survived 6 months -- nearly two months past the end of a term pregnancy.

In addition, it seems bizarre to subject a woman, as one of the last acts of her life, to endure a grueling late-term abortion rather than delay merely a single week at most before inducing labor to deliver a live infant with a good chance of survival.

The jury rendered a verdict against the liver specialist for the wrongful death of baby Amy, but returned no verdict for the wrongful death of Allegra due to their assumption that the cancer would have killed her soon anyway. Evidently they did not consider the time she could have spent being a mother to her baby daughter to be of any value.

******

New sources on Beulah Pickerill: 

• "Physicians Charged With Murder," Greenville Daily News, August 17, 1922
• "Operation Fatal Doctors Held," Arkansas Democrat, August 17, 1922