Mary already had a baby, Mary Anne, around eight months old, so for several weeks she spoke to some of her friends about her situation. During that time she tried to get some medications from the drug store in hopes of causing an abortion that way.

In April, one friend, Ruth Mansfield, provided the names of two midwives, 59-year-old Josephine Williams and her daughter-in-law, 33-year-old Adele Sassen. Williams had been a licensed midwife for thirty years but had given up her practice a little over two years previously due to health issues.

Sassen took Mary through a pair of double doors into a windowless dining room with a bed and a sink in it. The bed was set up with rubber sheets. There was also a low chest of drawers topped with a rubber mat that had blood on it.

Joe waited for about seven or eight minutes. Saussen came out and told Joe, “Everything is OK. Your wife will be all right. Everything is fine.” She even indicated that there was no need to go straight home but could go to a movie if they wanted to. Joe gave Saussen $35 of the $45 abortion fee. Sassen sent Mary home with three pills, and told the couple to call her if there were any problems.

When he came home from work in the afternoon he found Mary still in bed, and in quite a bit of pain. They discussed what to do. Joe had to return to work, so Mary asked him to send her friend Rose Molesky by with some tea. When Joe came home later, Mary was in even more pain so Joe called the number Sassen had given him and described his wife’s symptoms. “Why, she will be all right. Just give her a good physic,” Sassen instructed him. Joe gave Mary some milk of magnesia as instructed, but it didn’t help with the pain.

Mary continued to discharge blood, which had taken on a strong, foul odor. Again, Joe called Sassen. She, her husband, and her mother-in-law returned, carrying a large paper bag and a cloth bag, like a pillow case, that sounded as if it held pots and pans. Williams and Sassen went into the bedroom to attend to Mary. They were in there for about 20 to 25 minutes, then came out and told Joe that she would be fine.

He sat in the kitchen with Sassen and Williams. Williams said that she’d given Mary two pills. She left three additional pills with Joe, instructing him to give one to Mary at about 3:00 or 4:00 a.m., and another one or two in the morning.

Joe acknowledged that he still owed $10 for the abortion fee, but indicated that he only had $7. Williams agreed to take the $7 and left with her son and his wife.

Though a normal white blood cell count would be 7,000 – 10,000, Mary’s white cell count was 29,000, indicating massive infection. Mary was treated with a blood transfusion and what Miller indicated was routine treatment for toxemia such as forcing fluids and elevating the head of the bed to promote drainage. In spite of their efforts, she died at around 10:00 p.m. on April 19.

Dr. Theodore Curphey testified that Mary’s breasts had been full, and he had been able to express some colostrum. She had a purulent discharge in her vagina. In her pelvic cavity there was a large quantity of pus that tested positive for streptococcus and B. coli, which is usually found in the bowels. Her uterus had a large, ragged hole in it and contained a mix of foul-smelling pus and clots. Dr. Curphey estimated that the infection had started between four days and two weeks prior to Mary’s death.

She insisted that while she had indeed gone to Mary’s apartment, she had merely administered the douches, for which she accepted payment of $7 of her $10 fee. The detective arrested her.

Sassen, who had gotten a call at about 3:00 a.m. informing her of Mary’s condition, had fled. She later turned up in a hospital, recovering from some sort of surgery.

Their request for a new trial was denied.