The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-17
RAIDA"HOSPITAL" FOR WOMEN
POLICE FIND SIX VICTIMS or
ILLEGAL OPERATIONS.
Two women and . Man Locked Up-(hil.
dren Prematurely Born In bellevue
Prisoners Caught Trying 10 Abandon
Daby-The Hospital Incorporated?

l Prisoners Caught Trytng 10 Abandon
| Baby-The Hospital Incorporated:
| As the result Of an effort to abandon a
| two-days-old child by two women the police
| raided the house al 90 East Thirty-fourth
| street, early yesterday morning, and there
! found six women. of whom four had recently
| had children, and the other two were about
| to become mot hers. Amhulances were sum-
| moned from Bellevue Hospital, and they
J were taken TO that institution, where they
are now held prisoners.
| The greatest haste was used in getting
| tho women to the hospital as Drs Mcdonald
and Vose declared that two of them had been
operated on and needed immediate atten-
/, ton. Shortly after her arrival at Bellevue,
one 81 them gave birth prematurely to a
| chi d and a few hours later the other had a
child, also born prematurely. The chill
dren have been placed in an incubator and
may live.
Adolph Fuchs, II years old. of 203 East
! Forty-seventh street, put the police on the
track Of tho women. He was going into
the hallway Of his house on Monday even
ing when he almost ran into two women
| coming out They We're strangers and evil
IDENTIFY in a hurry. Fuchs saw that they
had left bundle in the hallway and he de-
cided to follow them.
The women went up Third avenue with
Fuchs close behind. At Fifty-sccond street
| they asked him why he was following them,
and when he refused to explain. threatened
| to have him arrested. Finally one Of the
women offered him S. to g away. but Fuchs
declined to take the money Gad called PO-
liceman Martnedu Of the East Ffty-frst
street station, to whom he explained the
| situation.
Martmeau insisted that the women go
back until he could see what was i'll the
bundle They found the bundle all right.
la it was a very much alive male baby. The
women protested that they hadn't left the
baby in the hallway at all, but they were
taken 10 the station house.
There the older of the two said that her
name was Mis- Helen kersten and the
other woman said she was her sister. Mar
gtg"t hersten. They gave fictitious adj
dresses on Second avenue. After the
women had been locked up for while they
decided to send for some friends To give
bail. messenger boy was sent with a
mess, g. to a house on East Fifty-e,ghth
street nrpt by woman who was arrested
some years ago charged with having caused
, tn death of a young Brooklyn gin by an
Illegal operation Detective McMullin fol-
lowed tn, messenger boy to the fiftv-eighth
street house, but made no arrests there.
As a result Of the message, however,
tall German, Gustave kersten, husband Of
| IL len Ke'sten, appeared AT the station
. house late in he evening. When h. left,
him 10 tho house on East Thirtyfour,h
| street and shorly after midnight they
, hrohe into ihr place with he assistance
of men from tn East Thirty fifth street
r | station.
/ Kcrsten was found there apparently in
chl'ga and in bed in other rooms in the
{ house were the six women The police inn
, mediately sent for physicians, first, how
ever placing Kcrsten under arrest and
sending him to he East Fifty-frst street
p | station
, These are the names the women gave;
! | Katherine Carney. 2O5 East Twenty-third
street; Ida Nesbitt, III Adams street. Ho-
= hokcn Anna Peterson. 81 West tlghtleth
street: Ida Carson. 1923 Arch street, Phila-
delpha; Fila Bradley, 2ls West Thirty fifth
= street, and Christina Pickel, 263 Academy
| street, Newark.
on a card in the window Of the parlor was
| printed in large letters -Dr. q Y. Dol
beck. and on another card was the single
word Midwife. ,Acertitrat" Of incorpora-
ton Of the Nagol Home and Hospital for
Women was found in the place. IT. was
issued in 1894 and was signed by John I.
McDonough as Secretary of state;
, None u the sick women would tell the
| police ANYTHING about the kerstens. They
all said they were in the place voluntarily.
After prs. Mcdonald and No-e had made
an examination Of the patients all of them
= | were taken 10 the hospital ana placed In
the prison ward. The charge against them
| is aiding and abettlng the performance OF
, | a criminal operation.
! The police could not learn with certainty
5 whose child had been left in the Forty
seventh street hallway. They learned that
. | the Carney woman had had baby on Sun
day morning. The woman said she had
I given Mrs Korstcn all he money she had
= to see that the child was adopted; She
, | thought she would know the child by Its
| clothing, but when IL was shown TO her
, she declared that the clothing had been
changed and that she couldn't be sure
that the founding was hers. The police
, are confident that il is.
> | The Bradley, Peterson and Pickel women
, admitted that they had been operated on.
: | The Bellevue doctors said that there was
! no doubt that Ida Nesbitt and Ida Carson.
: | To whom children were born In the hospital,
| had been treated unlawfully also.
, All three Of the kerstens were arraigned
, | In the Yorkvillc police court Yesterday
2 and held in 81 90 bail'apicCe for examina-
| ton Later in the day they secured bonds
| men and were released until next saturday.
, | A lawyer whom they hired declared that
T, when TIE women We're arrested for aban-
doninc "A child they were really looking
{ around for "A child that had been stolen
from their establishment.
> A, soon IA kor-,en and his wife got back
| 10 the Thirty-fourth street house they
! ! took down the doctors sign and the midwife
! | sign and closed all the shades. kerstcn
. was seen there by a Sun reporter, but he
70 refused to make any statement or to allow
; | h,, wife to.
The police after much difficulty found DR..
| G.. n Dolb"ck at III Fast lWcnty-cighlh
street lie declared that he had absolutely
, no connection with the kersten place and
that he kept his card in her window simply
- as an advertisement Not one Of the women
! in the house, he said, had over had any treat
meut from him
The Kersten woman was indicted in May,
1890, for attending Mary Smith, who died
| in n housr on East Eighty-eighth street
p. after an operation, She fed at the time,
| and after going 20 Europe returned to this
}. | country and wa- arrested in Philadelphia
She got out of the scrapo without going to
| prison. The man who gave bail for Mrs
q Kersten gave a. his address n Fifty-eighth
= street house that has long been known as a
\ | -sanitarium"