"The New York Daily News Moog has a 19-foot yellowed filing card. A woman and a girl who died in an illegal abortion between 1919 and 1972. "— Mike McAlary, New York Daily News.
Isabelle Cornish was like Cher's 1972 hit, the heroine of Gypsy, Trump and Sheave.
She was a gal in trouble.
A small Ripley in Ontario is known as the "Hub of Huron" and claims to be a "charming Scottish village". It remains infiltrated into the farmland for about three hours from Toronto, Bruce County.
The Presbyterian community, and many others, would almost certainly be tsk-tsked, frowned upon the dire situation that had befallen Isabelle.
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the abortion law in a troubled country is unconstitutional and could forever drive countless women to the fate of 16-year-old Isabel Cornish. I thought of her on Friday.
She came across Isabel's name and her tragic fate while she was featured on her murder in Ontario in 1947.
At that time, the government compiled all the statistics. How much produce is cultivated, barrels of wine, pigs are slaughtered, and countless other statistics will show little interest.
But what was hidden in the days lost in suspension, transportation and Shallot was the Ontario Police Annual Report.
They tracked arson, car accidents, robbery, and law enforcement agencies of all kinds in the countryside corners of the state.
Police have also compiled an annual list of murders outside the big cities.
And on that list in 1947 was Isabelle Cornish's manslaughter.
There are few details that can be collected from her situation, but some are clear.
A teenager finds out that he is pregnant. 75 years ago, it could mean scandal and ruin.
It is not clear if she sought help with the help of her parents, her friends, or someone else.
On March 14, 1947, a backstreet miscarriageist named George Murphy of Stratford is known to have taken steps to end Isabelle's pregnancy and her life.
According to news reports at the time, Murphy's hand began to bleed her. The teenager was taken to Kincardine Hospital and later died.
After her death, it was revealed that she died from an illegal miscarriage in the back alley.
Murphy frequently used frequent flyer services for tort transactions.
He was already convicted of raising an abortion for a 19-year-old Stratford girl the previous year.
It took two hours for the jury to convict Murphy on November 26, 1947 for manslaughter. Judge Jean Genest sentenced him to seven years in prison with an old Kingston pen. The ruling was to be provided at the same time as the shock of the previous four years to raise abortion.
Now, the difficulty that Isabelle Cornish found himself was not a problem that the wealthy girl had to worry about. A friendly doctor — and a paper bag filled with cash — will sort out the situation.
Girls like Isabel had to rely on backstreet butchers like George Murphy, often paying for their lives.
I'm not the one who engages in the jealousy of dissatisfaction that pervades Canada's left when something terrible happens in the United States. I'm not going to shout, "Can Canada be far behind by God?"
Before the Roe v. Wade decision was published, no one I knew had mentioned abortion for almost years.
Forget about the Handmaid ’s Tale scenario plunging in Canada.
This is like a dream on the country's social conservative Bonker's wish list. They are few and in between.
That stance is the best fringe pinion to leave on the shelves marked 1947.
bhunter@postmedia.com
@ HunterTOSun
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