Saturday, June 25, 2016

1882: Sexually Abusive Father Perpetrates Fatal Abortion

On June 13, 1882, 20-year-old Ruth Phillips of Wisconsin delivered stillborn twins. She was near death herself.

A few days later she made a shocking deathbed statement to her sisters: she said that their father was the father of the twins, and that he had used instruments on her to cause the abortion that killed the twins and was soon to take her own life.

Ruth died on June 25, and was buried on the 25th. An autopsy was performed, which evidently corroborated the girl's deathbed statement, since her father, James T. Phillips, was arrested.

There was such outrage in the community that Phillips was in danger of being lynched.

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