12699.
Herald Building.
Buildings
12701.
No. 160. Bank of North America, Wall St.
12702.
No. 1. The Museum. (Formerly State Arsenal.) Central Park.
12705.
Park Avenue.
12707.
City Hall, Brooklyn, NY.
12708.
Western Union Telegraph Building, New York.
12709.
Madame Restell Residence 5th Ave. N.E. corner of 52nd St. and Fifth Ave., in 1869. Ann Trow Lohman (May 6, 1812 – April 1, 1878), better known as Madame Restell, was a 19th-century abortionist who practiced in New York City. Ann Trow Sommers, was born in Painswick, Gloucestershire, England in 1812. Her father was a labourer. At the age of fifteen she started work as a maid in a butcher’s family, and at sixteen she married a Wiltshire man called Henry Sommers, who was an alcoholic tailor. After three years living in England, they emigrated to New York in 1831 where Sommers died of Typhoid in 1833. Ann Trow Sommers was left alone with an infant daughter, Caroline, and forced to make a poor living as a seamstress and midwife. Ann remarried in 1836, to a German–Russian immigrant, Charles Lohman. Charles Lohman worked in the printing industry, and at the time was a printer for the New York Herald. Lohman was a radical and freethinker, a friend and colleague of George Matsell, the publisher of the radical journal the Free Inquirer. With Matsell, Lohman was involved in the publication of Robert Dale Owen’s book Moral Physiology; or, a Brief and Plain Treatise on the Population Question (1831) and Charles Knowlton’s Fruits of Philosophy; or, The Private Companion of Young Married People (1831). Ann’s brother, Joseph Trow, had also emigrated to New York, and was working as a sales assistant in a pharmacy. Ann continued to develop an interest in women’s health. Charles and Ann developed a story to validate Ann’s interests in midwifery and women’s health. According to their story, she had travelled to Europe to train in midwifery with a renowned French physician named Restell. She began selling patent medicine, and (probably in partnership with her husband and brother) creating birth control products such as “preventative powders” and “Female Monthly Pills”, advertised under the name “Madame Restell.” She sold these products through the post and performed house visits. Abortifacients used in this era were often blends of herbs such as ergot, calomel, aloe, or black hellebore. These were thought to upset the digestive tract, inducing a miscarriage. Surgical abortions included rupturing the amniotic sac, or dilating the cervix (premature labor), or even in-utero decapitation. Madame Restell advertised her services as a “Female Physician” in newspapers such as the Herald and even the New York Times. When Restell began her business, abortions were hardly illegal. Only surgical abortions were forbidden. This was only after the quickening, that is, when the woman started to feel the fetus move (this was typically around 4 months time). Soon, Restell’s success began to attract copiers and competition. This drew the attention of the AMA, which officially launched a campaign in 1857 to end abortion. In order to rally support for their cause, the AMA targeted Restell, the most celebrated abortionist and deemed her the enemy. The term “Restellism” became a euphemism for abortion. With the swift changes of law in New York, Restell was constantly being hounded by authorities and anti-abortion crusaders to end her practice. Madame Restell became so well known throughout New York City that copies of her trials were published in the Times and the Police Gazette. She was listed as a New York City attraction in NYC tour guides. In 1840, a patient named Maria Purdy accused Restell of causing tuberculosis through the abortion procedure. The press erupted with slander against Restell, calling her “the monster in human shape” and charging her with acts against God. Restell promised monetary compensation for anyone who could prove her methods were dangerous, and while she was initially found guilty, her appeal overturned said verdict. Her uneasy relationship with public opinion continued. Mary Applegate was an unmarried woman, a mistress, who had been sent to Madame Restell from Philadelphia by her illicit lover. The father had arranged for Restell to adopt the baby out. Applegate was unaware of this deal until she had returned to Philadelphia and was greeted coldy by her former lover. Applegate then went back to Restell to ask for her child back, but Restell claimed to know nothing of the infant. Restell was immediately painted as the villain by the press in publications such as the New York Medical and Surgical Reporter. In 1841, Mary Rogers was found dead in the Hudson River. Newspapers suggested that she had died during an abortion carried out by Restell. Abortion was soon outlawed by the state of New York in 1845. This law further restricted the previous laws from a decade earlier. An abortion that resulted in the death of the mother or was performed after the “quickening” was second degree manslaughter. A new addendum to the law made selling abortifacients or performing abortions at any stage during the pregnancy a misdemeanor punishable by a mandatory year in jail. Additionally, women who sought after an abortion or attempted their own abortion were fined $1000. Abortion became legally defined as an obscene subject and was no longer covered in the papers. Women were no longer allowed to freely discuss abortion. Restell skirted the legalities by advertising her services as methods to regulate menses. In 1847, Charges were again brought against Restell for performing an abortion. Maria Bodine was sent to Madame Restell by her master so that she could procure an abortion from Restell. Restell determined that Maria was too far along to have an abortion, but Maria’s master insisted. Finally, he paid Restell heavily and she agreed to perform Maria’s abortion. Maria then returned to her job as a maid. She fell ill and upon visiting a doctor, was forced to admit her abortion. Restell was taken to trial. During this case, Madame Restell’s defense painted Bodine as a “loose” woman whose injuries were a result of syphilis and had nothing to do with Restell. While Maria Bodine’s lawyers cast Restell as a godless incompetent woman. Restell lost the case and was charged with a misdemeanor and a one-year prison sentence which was on Blackwell’s Island. After Madame Restell finished her sentence, she reworked her business. She removed surgical abortions entirely, and concentrated her efforts on pills and her boarding house. In 1854, Restell applied for US citizenship and was granted it. Evidence given in a breach-of-promise case in 1854 suggests Restell and her husband were charging between $50 and $100 per abortion at this time and had a regular clientele. Prior to the 1845 law, Restell was charging her clients on a sliding scale according to social class. Many of Restell’s wealthier patients were charged upwards of $1000. While Madame Restell dialed back her business, the press did not leave her reputation to rest. She was dubbed “The Wickedest Woman in New York”. In 1855, Frederica Medinger, a German immigrant, approached Restell entreating her to allow her to stay in her residence until the birth of her child According to Medinger, Restell gave her six pills at the time of the birth. A day after the birth, Medinger asked for her child and was told by Mme. Restell that the child had disappeared. The Madame was accused of kidnapping and being too greedy. When Restell was brought to court, Medinger did not show. Many assumed Restell had paid her to drop the case. Restell was dismissed and the woman and her baby were never heard of again. It is assumed the child was adopted out by Restell. Madame Restell had amassed a fortune. She owned several plots of land, one of which featured an extravagant mansion. She had the finest horses, carriages, and silk dresses. The Civil War gave Mme. Restell the cover she needed to get her business back on her feet. Although she had been imprisoned once and accused numerous times, Restell appeared ultimately unscathed. Anthony Comstock was a moral reformer. He sought not only to stop sexual acts, but to control the very way society thought about sex. He considered any information regarding the prevention or termination of a pregnancy to be pornographic. In 1873, the US Congress enacted the “Comstock Law” which made it illegal to discuss or distribute anything considered “obscene” by the government. Breaking these laws were punishable by six months to five years in prison and a fine of $100-$2000. Politician Anthony Comstock, posed as a customer looking for birth control pills and brought the police round the next day to have her arrested. Bail was set at $1000. Restell was said to have reached into her purse to pull out $10,000, but the judge would only accept regular bail bonds. Madame Restell had to pay a bondsman. Following Restell’s arrest in early 1878, a maid discovered Restell in the bathtub at her Fifth Avenue home; she had slit her own throat on the morning of April 1, 1878. Upon her death, she was found to be worth between $500,000-$600,000 ($12.4 million-$14.9 million in present-day terms.
12713.
582. National Academy of Design; New York City.
12714.
View in a Conservatory, Fifth Avenue, NY. This is one of Richard K. Haight’s houses on 5th Ave., converted to a club house. Haight was the proprietor of the St. Nicholas Hotel and he was lost on the sinking of the Steamer Pacific in 1856.
12715.
169. View in a Conservatory, Fifth Avenue, NY. This is one of Richard K. Haight’s houses on 5th Ave., converted to a club house. Haight was the proprietor of the St. Nicholas Hotel and he was lost on the sinking of the Steamer Pacific in 1856.
12716.
165. Conservatory View, N.Y., The Three Graces. This is one of Richard K. Haight’s houses on 5th Ave., converted to a club house. Haight was the proprietor of the St. Nicholas Hotel and he was lost on the sinking of the Steamer Pacific in 1856.
12717.
171. Conservatory View , Fifth Avenue, NY. This is one of Richard K. Haight’s houses on 5th Ave., converted to a club house. Haight was the proprietor of the St. Nicholas Hotel and he was lost on the sinking of the Steamer Pacific in 1856.
12722.
1400. Ship News Office at the Battery.
12723.
1389. Tombs.
12728.
No. 171. Tammany Hall.
12737.
No. 295. Building the New Post Office.
12741.
No. 271. Fulton Market.
12742.
View on West Street, New York.
12805.
Fall River Pier, NY.
12812.
Goodbye–April 2, 1897, New York.
12818.
City Hall, NY.
12822.
Academy of Music, New York.
12823.
Academy of Design, New York.
12824.
Academy of Design, New York.
12825.
Academy of Music, Brooklyn.
12827.
210. Academy of Music, Brooklyn.
12829.
Court House, Brooklyn.
12841.
House in Brooklyn.
12844.
American Life, Architecture and Scenery. Observatory, Central Park, NY.
12871.
Central Park Garden.
12934.
Hudson River Railroad Freight Building.
12949.
1385. Stewart’s Home for Women.
12996.
Norwich Pier, NY.
20089.
40. Castle Garden and the Aquarium, New York.
20109.
N.Y.C. Unit-The Interior of the Pennsylvania Station.
20122.
6505. Castle Garden, New York.
20123.
6505.
6505. Castle Garden, New York.
20133.
6503. Pride of New York.
20261.
Herald Square, junction of Broadway and Sixth Avenue, north, showing Herald Building and Elevated Railway, N.Y. City.
20310.
Hotels along 59th Street.
20313.
A Chinatown Street.
20314.
A Harlem Street.
20315.
Large Apartment Houses Along Park Avenue.
20334.
Brooklyn Factories as Seen from the Williamsburg Bridge.
20340.
The Cornell Medical Center.
20350.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
20352.
The Empire State Building from the Air.
44266.
New York. The Bible House.