The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-08-30
Tho Last Abortion Murders.

If there is anything painful to contemplate
in the state of public morals it is the discl0-
sures which have of late been made in the
atrocious crimes, on the commission of which
the professional abortionist lives and thrives
The case of Lookup Evans, who did the wretch
ed girl, Mary Geary, to death in his Chatham
street den, is not yet cold on the public ear
before another horror arises, startling Us to a
sense of our shamelessly inadequate legal
protection in the matter. But still more fear
fully does it force the unwilling conclusion
that society is being poisoned in one of its
most vital fountains-the wellspring of ma
ternal love-
This is the age Of new and wild theories
of free love, of ''stirpeculture )" and when we
| reflect that even the vice of past ages did not
lead to such awful interference with the ways
of human life, we are forced to look to this
upas tree Of poisoned thought that with
a monstrous sensuality declares God unwise
in His DEGREES for the reproduction of our
species 1t matters not to us whether, under
theoretical form, 1t quotes the name of John
Stuart Mill in England, or is weighted with
such a load as that of filthy free-lovers here,
whose very names are loathsome if the baby
farmer of the former country or the abortionist
| Of America are the results of these abomna-
BILE teachings put into rude practical shape.
| 1t should not have needed the sight of
| that blackened corpse crushed with
| horri6c indecency into that trunk at the Hud-
son River Railroad depot on Saturday night
to cause the indignant expression to glisten
the public eye and the excited cry for justice
on such criminals to rise from the
public throat The danger of detection
seemed, in spite of the fate of
Evans, to be small, judging from
the boldness with which these wretches
have lately driven their trade, in which DEATH
to at least one human being, was part Of the
bargain. We conjure the people to think of
it, For the one case which rises with its
putrid ghost before the public how many
pass away unheard of? We do not advance
anything startling, except at first blush, in
saying that the danger to society lies more
in the successful cases-those heartless, inhu-
man, unnatural creatures who preferring
murder to maternity, win on the CHASTITY,
deathly hazard. A woman is ''rid of her
| trouble" and the unutterable story creeps
| its shiny way around, untold by lips,
perhaps, but speaking in sure signs.
| To a weak one noting this, what a
| demons whisper is there ever in her ear, dis
counting the risks, until the fatal resolve to
| see the doctor is the result?
All this points to society taking the malady
by the throat, not merely through those on
| whom murder is proven, but on the system in
| all its caucerous branches of thought as well
| as action.
| From the moment the body of the nameless
| woman was discovered it became evident that
it was the work of some of those professors
of death. Inquiries, we are told, were set on
| foot among the murky places where they are
known to the police to dispense their slaugh-
ter warrants. To what result these searches
| of the detectives would have led we, hap
| PLY cannot be certain, for their
astuteness has been sorely questionable
lately. The truckman, Pickett, who conveyed
the remains in the trunk to the station, came
forward voluntarily on Monday and gave the
first real clue. Through his information the
police were enabled to lay hands on the wretch
Rosenzweig, from whose house in Second ave-
| nue. he took the trunk. Aud now it be-
comes known all at once to the authorities
hounds of his class. Why was not this known
| to them before? These furtive creatures are
always obliged to live in the light of day,
| though, like the harlot in the Proverbs, their
house leads down to the chambers of death.
The arrest of the servant girl, Jane
johnson, at first seemed to promise
little information, she denying all
knowledge of the body in the trunk.
To HERALD reporter she, however, confessed
a knowledge of married woman named
Hughes being disposed of on the 18th of last
June and buried under the name of Mary Car
roll. This additional fact shows conclusively
that murder has been the rule, not the excep.
ton, in that miserable wretch's slaughter pen.
But by far the most important link yet
reached is that furnished by an undertaken
who swears that on the Goth inst Rosenzweip
wanted servant buried, but was not after
ward heard of by him upon his demanding q
doctors certificate of the cause of death. This
proves that he had corpse to be dis
posed OF, for whose demise he could
furnish no honest reason. The question oil
her identity is not yet settled, but patient,
persevering men are hard at work upon the
mystery, and it is to be hoped that ere
long they will succeed, or that, from
the wide publicity given, some one
will recognize missing relative OF
acquaintance and state their knowledge. The
stained garments found at Rosenzweig's house
may, too, be of some painful use in helping
the dismal story out. Altogether, it is
one of the most sckening, revolving,