Early Saturday morning he received an express telegram from his brother in which he learned that his boys were not in Connecticut. It had been many months since Janine Campbell or her sons had last visited the Connecticut farm, and even longer since they had had a letter. Harold Campbell knew nothing of the whereabouts of his nephews.
Mr. Campbell went immediately to police headquarters to report that his sons were missing. Telegrams to family members as far away as Maine have provided no information or help. All that is known with certainty is that Mrs. Campbell left the city with them last Wednesday morning by train, and returned without them later the same day. Police inquiries began on Saturday, and will continue until the boys are found and returned to their grieving father.
The mayor has directed the police department to spare no effort to locate the Campbell boys. In turn, the police and family ask that any person or persons with information about the boys or about Mrs. Campbell’s movements in the days before her death come forward without delay. Information leading to the safe return of the boys will be amply rewarded.
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NEW YORK TIMES
Sunday, May 27, 1883
CORONER ASSEMBLES A JURY FOR THE MRS. JANINE CAMPBELL INQUEST
DISTINGUISHED PHYSICIANS AGREE TO SERVE
Coroner Hawthorn has called on some of this city’s most respected physicians to hear testimony and examine evidence in the case of Janine Campbell’s death by criminal abortion.
A postmortem found the cause of death to be infection and blood poisoning following from an illegal operation. The coroner’s jury will meet to determine if an unknown party or parties performed the procedure or if Mrs. Campbell operated on herself. If that is so, there will be an inquiry into who provided her with the information and instruments she used.
The last two physicians to treat Mrs. Campbell, Dr. Anna Savard and Dr. Sophie Savard, will be present at the inquest with their attorney, Conrad Belmont, Esq., and must be prepared to give testimony to a jury of six more experienced experts, as well as an officer of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice.
In an unusual twist, Mr. Belmont, attorney for the two lady doctors, approached the coroner to request that the jury include at least two female physicians, who by their sex, experience, and training would be best able to understand and judge the evidence. This request was denied for reasons of law, custom, and propriety, but the coroner will allow female physicians to be present in Judge Benedict’s courtroom, where the inquest will begin at 1 p.m. tomorrow. As is customary, anyone admitted to the gallery may question witnesses.
Whether the disappearance of the four Campbell sons will be addressed in the inquest is unclear, though insiders believe that it will be necessary to take the facts of the case into account.
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THEY GOT TO the Tottenville train station and onto the train at the very last second. Jack jumped onboard with both valises and then hauled Anna and her Gladstone bag up behind him, just as they jerked into motion.
The train was crowded, overheated, and awash in tobacco smoke. Anna fell into a seat with a great heaving sigh, lifting her hair off her damp neck. By the time Jack had stowed away the bags and joined her, she was coughing into her handkerchief.
They escaped to the covered vestibule between the two cars, where the window had been left open. It meant standing for the entire hour and swaying hard with every jolt, but it was worth any amount of jostling to stand in the cool rush of air.
“We’re not the only ones with a bright idea.” Jack inclined his head to the two women who had appeared at the vestibule door in search of clean air. They squeezed together to make room.
They were mother and daughter; nothing could be more obvious unless it was the fact that the younger woman was close to giving birth. Mrs. Stillwater and Mrs. Reynolds, as they introduced themselves, on their way to visit friends. Mrs. Reynolds rubbed her great belly with the palm of one hand and could not hide her curiosity.
She said, “I think you must be the newlyweds.”
Her mother’s face lit up with interest.
“My husband is Joe Reynolds; he’s a law clerk. He was one of your witnesses?”
Anna had no real memory of the witnesses whom the justice of the peace had called into his office, but she nodded.
Mrs. Reynolds was saying, “Joe described you. You don’t have any way to know this, but Judge Baugh refuses to marry almost everybody. He says he won’t be a party to a disaster.”
“You impressed him,” added her mother. “It bodes well for your future. Are you really a doctor?”
Anna agreed that she was. She knew where the conversation would go, and so she started it on her own.
“You are very close to your time, I think.”
The younger woman shrugged. “Everybody says so, but I don’t feel so uncomfortable the way most women talk about. Except maybe at night when the kicking and thumping keeps me from getting to sleep.”