Mary Ellen Grogan

Mary Ellen Grogan died from an illegal operation on 10 May 1921.

A woman was tried but acquitted.

The woman had lived at 339 Oldham Road in Rochdale.

Mary Grogan had been a married woman but had not lived with her husband for some time.

It was said that when she had found that she was pregnant that she communicated with a woman that worked with her as a carriage cleaner with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, and that the woman had got in touch with another woman who had got in touch with yet another woman who knew the woman charged with the murder.

It was said then that arrangements were made for Mary Grogan to go to 339 Oldham Road on the morning of 19 May 1921 where the woman was to perform the operation. However, the woman that had been the friend of the friend had not been there at the time, although the woman said to have carried out the operation was and it was said that she then carried it out.

It was said that when the woman that lived at 339 Oldham Road returned home later she enquired whether the operation had been carried out and that the woman said to have done it replied that it had.

Mary Grogan was said to have been ill after the operation and so they gave her a cup of tea after which she left the house.

The woman whose house it had been said that the woman tried soon after showed her a £1 note, which she said Mary Grogan had given her.

It was later shown that Mary Grogan had borrowed that money from a friend.

Mary Grogan's friend said that she soon after found Mary Grogan almost in a state of collapse, leaning on a window-sill and that she took her home. When she arrived home, her mother seeing that she was very ill, gave her a cup of coffee and put her to bed and that upon finding later that she was still in pain she called for a doctor.

The doctor continued to call over the week, sometimes twice a day, but Mary Grogan died on the morning of 27 May 1921.

Her cause of death was given as pneumonia following abortion.

Following her death the woman suspected of carrying out the operation was arrested on a charge of murder.

The woman admitted to having gone to 339 Oldham Road, saying that she arrived at a certain time, and left at a certain time, however, when she was charged, she said:

However, the case for the prosecution was that it was humanly impossible for Mary Grogan to have performed the operation on herself.

It was further noted that the woman had in any case admitted that she was party to it.

The prosecution stated that if the jury were satisfied that the woman did use an instrument for the purpose of procuring a miscarriage, and that by the use of that instrument there would be set up the conditions the doctors would describe, then it would be their duty to find the woman guilty.

However, at that stage the charge of murder was reduced to manslaughter after it was argued that unless the prosecution could absolutely satisfy the jury that the woman when using the instrument for the purpose of procuring abortion knew that  that would endanger the life of the person, that the proper verdict would be one of manslaughter, after which the judge said he was quite prepared to lay that down, noting that he didn't think that the jury could possibly have found that the woman could have reasonably anticipated the death of Mary Grogan.

When the defence summed up, they said that they were not trying the woman for the use of the instrument, for which she had already pleaded guilty, and added that unless the prosecution could entirely satisfy them that the woman had caused Mary Grogan's death, that she was entitled to be acquitted.

It was further heard that a doctor found that there was nothing to show that her abortion had been anything other than natural.

However, the police surgeon said that in his opinion that her death had not been natural, and said that her cause of death was the introduction of some foreign body, such as that caused by a syringe and soap and water.

When the judge summed up, he said that the real question was whether the septicaemia was caused by anything that the woman had done on 19 May 1921, adding that if they had any doubts whatever that the woman was entitled to be acquitted.

The judge then reviewed the evidence, noting that when Mary Grogan had left her house at 10.40am that morning she had been in apparently good health, but that when she was next seen a 1pm, she was staggering like a drunken person, and asked what might have caused that extraordinarily quick alteration, and whether it was something that had been done at 339 Oldham Road or not. However, it was noted that it appeared that Mary Grogan had appeared to be not well at the house before the operation was carried out. It was also submitted that Mary Grogan's death might have had something to do with the operation she had later had at the hospital, and noted that if they felt that that operation and the taking of pills might have been as likely to have caused her death as the use of the syringe, then they would understand that the prosecution had not made their case, or got anywhere near it.

The judge added that they could not convict the woman on suspicion, and had to be entirely satisfied.

The judge then noted that one doctor had felt that Mary Grogan's death was natural, whilst another had not.

However, the jury didn't retire to consider their verdict and found the woman not guilty, which was met by applause from several people in the court. However, silence was immediately called for by the officials of the court and the judge said that it was a most indecent exhibition of applause and that he was sorry to see that the majority of the people that had applauded had been women. He then added that it was most indecent and that it was not a theatre or a football field, but a Court of Justice, and that if such a thing happened again he would clear the court.

The woman was then charged with having used a syringe on the following women:

1. Woman: 1 June 1920.
2. Woman: between 1 April and 30 April 1920.
3. Woman: between 1 May and 31 May 1920.
4. Woman: between 1 June and 30 June 1920.
5. Woman: between 1 August and 30 August 1920.
6. Woman: between 1 September and 30 September 1920.
7. Woman: in October 1920.
8. Woman: in October 1920.

She pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced her to 4 months' hard labour, the judge adding that he hoped it would be a lesson to her.