Hermione Fowler, a 20-year-old coed at the Oklahoma A&M University, died at her Red Oak, Oklahoma home on June 27, 1934, nine days after an abortion perpetrated by noted local philanthropist Dr. Guy E. Brewer.

Dr. Guy Brewer
Hermoine was one of six women to die after abortions perpetrated by Brewer.

Doris Jones, a 20-year-old mother of two, died in mid-April, 1935. Ruby Ford died on the first of April, 1934. Wanda Lee Gray, age 20, Myrtle Rose, age 21, and Elizabeth Shaw, age 23, evidently died in early June of 1935.

Brewer entered guilty pleas and served six concurrent four-year sentences.

The most likely reason that Brewer’s punishment was so light for the deaths of six women was how popular he was in town for his benevolence toward young men. He ran a home for them to live in while he put them through college. So beloved was Brewer that one victim’s husband was fired from his job in retaliation for reporting Brewer to the police.

Sources:

• “Doctor Named in 2nd Murder Charge,” Rockford (IL) Morning Star, May 5, 1935
• “Death of Co-Ed Laid to Doctor Hit as “Jekyll,” Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch, Sunday, May 5, 1935