The Tragic Tale of Alice Bowlsby

[Draggingtree]

The Tragic Tale of Alice Bowlsby

Had it not been for the foul stench, Robert Vandervort, baggage master of the Hudson River Railroad, would never have opened the trunk labeled as freight to Chicago on the hot afternoon of August 27, 1871. Inside was the naked corpse of a young woman, bloody and rotting. Dr. Cushman, who performed the autopsy, could still tell that the nameless victim had been comely, with blond hair, blue eyes, and skin “as white as Parian marble.” Cushman discovered she’d had an abortion; whoever had performed it had botched the job, and she’d died in excruciating pain. Cushman noted that her mouth still bore the marks of an agonizing death scream.

 

Even before the police ascertained the victim’s identity, they had a suspect. Through the cartman who’d delivered it to the station, the police tied the trunk to Dr. Jacob Rosenzweig. He did not look the part of a doctor; one reporter noted Rosenzweig was “a fat, sensual looking fellow, without any trace of refinement in person or manners, and does not bear the faintest appearance of the educated physician.” Appearance matched reality. The “Dr.” before Rosenzweig’s name was little more than an honorific, purchased for $40.00 from a Philadelphia medical institution, and costing nary a minute of study. Before setting himself up as a doctor, Rosenzweig tended bar in a dive saloon and worked a brief stint as a butcher, which provided a cursory understanding of anatomy and little else.

http://forgottenstories.net/2013/03/15/the-tragic-tale-of-alice-bowlsby/

[cudjo]

One amazing thing about that article was the New York Times pushing for a ban on abortions, my how times have changed