Wonderful trial of Caroline Lohman, alias Restell : with speeches of counsel, charge of court, and verdict of jury : reported in full for the National police gazette.

  • Restell, Madame, 1811-1878.
Date:
[1847]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Wonderful trial of Caroline Lohman, alias Restell : with speeches of counsel, charge of court, and verdict of jury : reported in full for the National police gazette. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

    19/48
    commonly termed, with pain in back and bow. elf, and after some con versa tiou, I asked to ex- amine her breasts; I did so ; the breasts were enlarged, distended with milk; the covering of her breasts was wet; apparently from the oozing from the nipple; the nipple was prominent and drawn out, with a dark areola about it; the pains in her back were intermittent; this was the sub- stance of what I first observed; after the flood- ing was suppressed, there was considerable trouble remaining, and 1 requested to make an examination of the private parts with my fin- ger j this I did; found, the parts quite tender, and the neck of the womb considerably en- larged and swollen; it was very hard, sensitive; and tender, and more than the natural heat; the discharges at that time were but little ; this was in the forepart of the month of September; the mouth of the womb was open about the size of a shilling; the discharge was fmtid and disagree- able to the smell. Q. How was her mind, at any time ? A. she was right in her mind at this time, but when she had erysipelas, she was out of her mind. Q. Doctor, during the period of her trouble, what do you consider was the cause- of that ailment ? A. She must have been de- livered of something to have produced this com- bination of symptoms. Q,. What are the symp- toms? A. If she had had u difficult labour. even a natural one, she might have sustained considerable injury from it. Q. Did she make statements to you at any time, in the month of September, as to the cause which produced her delicate situation ? A. She did not till after I told her what I believed her situation was, and the cause of it. Q. After you told her your opin- ion, did she then say what the cause of her ill- ness, and give you a history of her case ? The defence objected. McKeon.—l insist upon having this answered as a legal question. Reorder.—The witness has already said that she hadmadea statement to him, but has not been asked, or said, what that narrative was. A. At that time she did not give me a history of her ease, but during September she did. McKeon.—Will you give the statement she made to you as to her symptoms and Bufferings and the cause or causes which produced them ? Graham.—To that question we object. Cross-ettamined by Brady.—Dr. Evans, what is your age ? A. 2G. Q.. How long in practice ? A. Since March last. Q- When did you obtain a diploma? A. In March ; was a student for 3 or 4 years, in Cayuga Co., in Geneva, and in this city ; I had paid particular attention to mid- wifery, and made that a subject for special at- tention with the general practice of medicine ; previous to September, 1S46, 1 had quite a num- ber of cases in Walden; I had had several ca- ses of miscarriage before this; they were natur- al and accidental ; never saw Maria before I was called as a physician ; at my first interview there was no third person present; my first visit I prescribed a cathartic to put her system in a condition for remedies to suppress haemorrhage ; the blood was coagulated and foetid; I was in the room when she removed the cloths from her person ; menstrual blood doos not coagulate ; it does not come out in clots and coagula; it decomposes and does not came out in cakes.— Q,. Is there a disease called amenorrhooe ?— A- Yes, sir. it is sometimes defined a profuse menstruation, but is actually a natural menstru- ation, followed by hemorrhage. Q,. Does the discharge produced resemble an ovum ? A.— Often it docs. Q.. What is the difference in the blood? A. The blood is more foetid. The case was not one of amenorrhoee. . The enlarged breasts, the milk, the areola, all prove that it was not a case of suppressed menses, but of re- cent pregnancy. A. From the symptoms which I saw 1 formed an opinion, decidedly that she had been preg- nant. A. No suppression of the menses could possibly produce it. Having given the calhortic I gave remedies to control the hemorrhage. I had other trouble to manage. (A. What treat- ment did you adopt, or remedies employ? A. I cupped her on the side of her back, and side of her hip; 1 leeched her in the private parts ; I put issues in her back. The cupping was for in- flammation in the kidnies, and the issues were, placed to counteract spinal irritation and the disease existing in the womb. This was two or three months after I first began to attend her. Q. Had she the venereal disease in any form or shape ? A. No, sir, not while I attended her, I never heard of it. (J,. Do you know Mrs. Dowl- iug? A. Yes; but I never told anyone of her disease till some months after I had ceased at- tending her. While 1 attended her nobody but myself knew; but as a ruse, and to divert peo- ple's attention, I said she had a disease in the spine, to conceal her shame. 1 ceased to attend her because I had a considerable bill against them, and they had no means of paying, and having done my share I thought the town of Montgomery might do the rest. I cannot state the condition oi her womb when I left her. I did not examine it then, but at the last examina- tion it was less sensitive, less heated, and some- what more healthy, but lor many reasons she was weaker. Dr. Marston and Dr. Hagar were called in by me. The intermitting pains gradu- ally left when the hemorrhage had subsided.— This was within a week. They were after- pains, consequent upon delivery. These pains last as long as hemorrhage continues, and there is no exact limit-, as there is oftena long estab- lished oozing. It might come on for several weeks, two months, or more, and would recur by any exciting cause. Q,. Abont what time did the erysipelas oecur ? A. Probably sometime in October. It occurs from a feeble and debili- tated state of system Brady.—That is all, sir. Dr. Chandler Gilman.—I am a medical prac- titioner of 20 years or more. I am a profes- sor of astetrics or midwifery. My studies lead me particularly to cases of midwifery. Q. Does menstruation ever occur after pregnancy? A.— Yes, sir. Q. Is the fact that a woman has courses distinct evidence she is not pregnant.— A. Their are instances of women having their menses up to confinement. There are instances ou record where women have quickened at three months. Q. What is most decided evidence of pregnancy. A. Placing your ear on the abdo- men and hearing the beating of the frctal heart. Areola is very strong and almost decisive evi- dence. If it exist in the case of an unmarried female I should feel compelled to give my opin- ion against her. Q. If you found this areola