Julia Fortmeyer was a 19th-century abortionst from St. Louis, Missouri, who was convicted of manslaughter in 1875 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, and served seven.[1][2]
Author L.U. Reavis later recounted that prosecutor Colonel Normile had unsuccessfully sought to prove that Fortmeyer had burned a baby alive. During the trial, Normile argued for both murder in the first degree or manslaughter in the second.[3] A transcript of the trial was published in 1875 by Barclay & Company of Philadelphia. [4]
In 1899, a St Louis newspaper compared Fortmeyer to another abortionist, Henrietta Bamberger, who had been arrested under similar circumstances. The paper reported that Fortmeyer had "killed infants and burned their bodies in a cook stove."[5][6]
- ^ Bregman, Lucy (2010). Religion, Death, and Dying. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-313-35180-8.
- ^ Klose, Roland (April 8, 2023). "'The baby burner'". Roland Klose editor / writer. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ Reavis, L. U. (1876). Saint Louis: The Future Great City of the World : with Biographical Sketches of the Representative Men and Women of St. Louis and Missouri. C. R. Barns.
- ^ Life, Crimes and Confession of Mrs. Julia Fortmeyer of St. Louis, Mo., Known as The Baby Burner. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Barclay & Company. 1875. Retrieved 25 March 2024.
- ^ "A woman who is said to be a fiend - Mrs. Henrietta Bamberger". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. 1899-11-19. p. 25. Retrieved 2018-01-20.
- ^ "Baby burner - November 19, 1899". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. St. Louis, Missouri. 1899-11-19. p. 26. Retrieved 2018-01-20.