The San Francisco call., 1899-03-16
IT WILL PUT A DAMPER ON
CRIMINAL OPERATIONS.
The Prisoner Will Be Sentenced Sat
urday and the Court Can Give
Her From Ten Years
to Life.

= JAMES E. DEALEY. =
JACOB WAND. :
% M. SPIRO. So
NJ ROBERT CLEARY.
| The above are the names of the jurors
who, yesterday, after a brief deIiberation,
! returned into court and rendered a YER
! dict of murder in the second degree
| against Mrs. Dora Fuhrig, the notorious
midwife and performer of criminal opera
! tions. To this verdict there is due the
| support Of the entire community, for it
| has condemned the acts of this notorious
woman as second only in criminal vicious
ness to the deliberate, malicious assassin
| alton of human being.
The verdict, if the Supreme Court does
not see fit to reverse it and send the case
| back for new trial, will be the means
| OF ridding the community of the most
| dangerous of this class of criminals-the
| most dangerous foe in addition to the
| inclination to perform such crimes as the
one for which she WILL in all probability,
| serve long term in prison, there is
coupled profound ignorance, and this ig-
norance makes her as dangerous to
community as the plague. Death has fol-
lowed IN her wake constantly and if the
doors of a prison are now to be closed
upon her 1t will be generally considered
well and that the jury did but its duty.
Ihe crime for which Mrs. Fuhrig has
suffered conviction is that of causing the
! death of Mrs. Anna w. Walmsley by
means of criminal operation, performed
IN a cruel, bungling manner 1t is mani
Test from the testimony introduced in the
case that she had no interest in the
you S0ung e. VIE whose death she caused ex-
Sepl lne IeW dollars she might reap if the
the operation was successful. 1t is ofttimes
necessary that this operation be per-
formed for the relief of disease An at
Tn
the condition in the present case but
the proof failed, and there remained but
IN me +ta tasqIIlzlng IIag picture OF young woman
IN the bloom of health but with an aver
SION Tor children and love of pleasure
pldcing her life in the hands Of a con-
sGienceIess midwife, whose ignorance and
SSLLIuiILdl ~ lncllnatlon sacrificed her rather
than lose the gold she might contribute
10 an lily 1lly gotten purse.
\ AS Wen as to the verdict of the iIrv
| the efforts of District Attorney NfuTnhy
ao ana nus assistant, Attorney Black, are
Several weeks ago Mrs Fuhrfe was
| Lrled and acquitted of the charge against
| ner or having caused the death of Mrs
<sdnd!es4 AnLhe 4EggerSton- A few days after this
| VeFQ1ct the husband of this victim ag-
| on1Zed over the loss of his life. took he
own owl NE, and it was not till then that the
auII aLIt eIiect OF this womans crimes was
| appreciated by the community. After
TINS occurrence District Attorney M1rphv
TOOK the prosecution in hand, and, as.
SISTED snc;9Ea by Mr.: Black, bent all efforts to
! n
| battle Waged between the prosecution
ana the defense as to whether the diving
statement OF the prisoners victim should
| be read TO the jury, and when Judge
| Cook finally decided to admit it if was
known that Mrs. Fuhrig's conviction was
aSsureo. On the ruling of Judge Cook
admitting this statement as evidence il
| is said that the defense will rest for n
reversal Of the verdict. District Attor-
ney Murphy, however, says that the right
OF the jury to hear this statement is sils-
tanned by many decisions, and in conse-
quence he is confident that the verdict
VIII stand and that Mrs. Fuhrig will go
10 States Prison for a term of not less
than ten years and perhaps for life
Judge Robert Ferral, who represented
MRS. tuhrig, made hard fight to secure
his clients acquittal, but the case against
! her was too conclusive. 1t is seldom that
Judge Ferral casts logic aside and at
tempts to play upon the sympathy of the
| deayored to lead the jury to the opinion
that in the event Mrs. Fuhrig was con-
yicted the world would be deprived of a
breadwinner and homes would be sad
| dened thereby, but in answer to this
Judge Murphy pointed to the homes that
had been ruined through her nefarious
reft of mother or a wife if she con-
| tinued plying her criminal trade. He did
not deny, that she was a breadwinner, ne
| said, but he questioned her right to fill
| grave after grave with young and prom
ising wives in her battle for existence.
When Judge Murphy closed his argu-
Il
! to deliberate on a verdict. In twenty
minutes it returned, the foreman an
ond degree and recommended the con-
vict to the mercy of the court. Mrs. Fuh-
rig evinced no emotion, but tears filled
| the eyes of many of the women in the
court, whether from gratitude over the
| conviction or sorrow for the convicted is
not known. AS soon as matters had
Quieted down to some extent Judge Cook
/ set Saturday for sentence and the crowd
! filed out. Mrs. Fuhrig was Immediately
| taken to Branch County Jail No. 3 to
| await sentence.
''I consider the. conviction of Mrs.
Fuhrig victory said Judge Murphy.
''The crime for which Mrs. Fuhrig must
prevalent in this city and must be
stopped. 1t is a crime second to none in
commit it are as depraved as he who way
| lays and murders for the gold in his vic
! TINS. pocket: Twenty years ago. 1 con-
victed Mrs. Hodgdon, and for time her
kind were afraid to practice their calling,
] but again they became fearless. This
conviction, besides ridding the community
! of this dangerous woman, will have it's
moral effect as well, and who can say
! the number of young women that. this
! who would have taken this step had not
its dangers and the darkness of the tomb
! been made known to them through the
most notorious of her class.
"As an authority upon which I base
my statement that this crime is becom-
! ing fearfully prevalent, outside my own
| knowledge, I can refer to the work of
Horatio r. storer, N. p. LIB, who
says: We are compelled to acknowledge
not merely that criminal operations are
of alarming frequency among us, but that
it's frequency is rapidly increasing, this
| having been made apparent by each link
in the chain of evidence that has been
presented. Every effort that might pos
.sibly check this flood of guilt, if de-
layed, has so much the more to ac-
! complish. The crime is fast becoming, if
} it has not already become, an estab-
lished custom, less honored in the breach
/ than in the observance. Sor these rea-
sons I am gratified that a conviction was
had, and to sustain this conviction will
devote all my energies
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Tn the Divorce Court.