NJ NJ - Mary Cecilia Rogers, 20, Hoboken, 25 July 1841

[LadyL]

thanks for bumping Richard & thanks for posting Shadowangel!

just the kind of thread I needed right now ...

 

[shadowangel]

Its debateable what "violation" meant in the context of the time. Today, we would most usually concur that this meant rape, to include some type of penetration, but in this time? I've read articles from as late as the 1920's where "horribly violated" actually referred to a woman's breasts being groped. "Molested", in the papers of time, could mean something as innocent (by today's standards) as an unwanted kiss.
I've taken the term "chaste" to imply that she was still a virgin (hymen intact) but again, its all in the interpretation.

By the way, Jeffrey Combs (star of many recent "B" horror movies, most notably the character of "Dr West" in the "Re-Animator" series) is currently appearing in a one-man show as Edgar Allen Poe. His performance is said to be spectacular, even better than John Astin's one-man show from the previous decade.

 

[gaia227]

This gives the history of abortion going back to the 1800's:

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html

Abortion is Early America:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10297561

19th Century Abortion:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/19th-century-abortions.html

 

[Laura_Bean]

I read abortion stories where women were raped before the abortion was performed. The women didn't usually tell anyone and never went to the police because they were too afraid, after all they had gotten an abortion, which was extremely illegal at the time. Women were scared to go to a hospital for help if they came down with an infection, and if they did go, doctors didn't know what the problem was nine times out of ten, because the women would be too afraid to admit they had an abortion. They were afraid the doctors and nurses were trying to get the information to call the police. If women did admit what they had done, they would be forced to testify against the man who did the abortion, before they were allowed to have treatment. Some hospitals followed this policy, others wouldn't tell on the woman and would treat them quickly, but most women did not know which hospitals would make them testify first and which would not. So most women just didn't tell the doctor what was wrong with them, and many died either from treatment being delayed so they would testify or from being too scared to give the doctor a heads up on what needed to be done to save them.

I read up on back alley doctors and their methods were pretty frightening to say the least. Non sterlizied instruments, some were local butchers who used the same instruments used to cut into the animals they slaughtered, medical abortions where different herbs and in some instances even sticks were placed up there, coat hangers, women doing it themselves, (throwing themselves down a flight of stairs, going ice skating and falling over and over again, etc), were just some ways that were used.

I am still looking for more, but this seems to be just the tip of the iceburg. And I found a website that claims that the doctor claimed Marie was chaste until the night of her ordeal that led to her death. I am going to write the person who owns that site and ask him or her where they got that information. If it proves to be truthful, my question stands. How did the doctor know that was the first time Marie had ever had sex and that she was chaste before the night of her ordeal? I don't understand that. Maybe he was just covering it up so people would not think this woman was a harlot.

 

[shadowangel]

Just bumping this up as we approach another Halloween season, for those who may never have heard of the case. If anyone else has a lesser-well-known historical case that fits with the season, please post.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Mary...