Wicked Bay City, Michigan

The news was shocking enough. A twenty-eight-year-old woman, supposedly from Grand Rapids, had endured what was called a “criminal operation” in her Bay City hotel room.

At 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 1, 1902, her lifeless body was taken from the room by Undertaker George N. Ewell. That was where the mystery truly began.

The woman had registered at the Fraser House on February 19, 1902, as May Morris of the Furniture City. Sometime later, a man arrived at the hotel and paid her bill, and the two left together, according to a news account in the Bay City Times-Press .

She was described in the report as “a fine looking woman with piercing eyes and very dark brown hair.”

A month later, on March 19, she returned and checked into the hotel under the same name. Ten days after that, she was dead.

Ewell prepared her body, put her in a coffin and had her taken to the train station for shipment to Battle Creek, where relatives lived on a farm. An unidentified young man accompanied her body.

Her death aroused the suspicion of police chief Nathaniel Murphy, and when he was on the case of a possible criminal venture, the bad guys were in for a world of hurt. He was to be aided by longtime veteran officer Captain Andrew Wyman. Also involved in the investigation was Bay County prosecutor Edward E. Anneke.

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The Fraser House hotel, though in the waterfront district, was the best hotel in Bay City at the time and where “Miss Morris” died. Bay County Historical Museum.

Hotel employees had turned over the bed clothing and sheets to the police because they did not appear consistent with the story they were told. The investigators learned from hotel employees that the woman told them she was having an operation in her room in a week to clear up an abscess from an ear infection. Miss Morris allegedly told one female worker that she “dreaded” the operation “tomorrow” because she’d have to be chloroformed. Her words seemed to indicate that two surgeries were planned.

They said Dr. Roy W. Griswold, a young Bay City physician, had visited her on a number of occasions.

A nurse was hired and brought to the hotel supposedly after the first operation. She was identified later as Loretta McEwen, who attended Miss Morris until she died. McEwen then left the hotel and went home.

As the police began their investigation, Captain Wyman went to McEwen’s house and questioned her. McEwen stated:

When I saw the young woman, I was very much surprised at her condition. I found her a very sick woman, whereas I had inferred that she was not very sick. I attended her through from that time out, and did everything as directed by Dr. Griswold, who had charge of the case. When he left the room Monday night, he said she could not live and told me to let him know when she died. She died at about 2 o’clock and I informed the night clerk and he told the doctor.

The nurse also noted that Bay City businessman Edwin T. Bennett, publisher of the Bay City Tribune among other periodicals, had been a visitor each day. She said he did not show any affection toward the woman but noted that Miss Morris called him “Ed.”

Bennett was very well known in Bay City because of his numerous ventures and business dealings, along with being a prominent newspaper publisher.

At forty-nine, he had accumulated a number of properties and owned the Bay City Tribune and the Lumberman’s Gazette and had owned the Evening Press , retaining an interest in it when it became the Times-Press .

He was rather stocky, weighing about two hundred pounds, and his countenance was memorable in that he had only one eye and one arm.

He was born on April 8, 1853, in Clayton, New York, growing up near the St. Lawrence River in upper New York. During the Civil War, he was playing by the river when a marine torpedo, today known as a contact mine, exploded. The eleven-year-old lost his left arm to the shoulder and his left eye in the blast.

As an adult, he might have had a glass eye, for he wore no patch. He had a prosthetic left arm. He wore his dark hair combed straight back and sported a bushy mustache and chin whiskers.

He was a longtime member of the Knights of Pythias, serving as grand chancellor of Michigan, and was appointed as a supreme representative to the Supreme Lodge of the World. He was well known and respected not only in Bay City but also in the state of Michigan and nationally among other Pythias lodges and leadership offices.

Bennett was confronted by a reporter from the Times-Press after he had been called in to the office of prosecutor Anneke for questioning. He claimed that May Morris had been sent to Bay City by a friend of his and asked him to look after her here. “I paid her bill at the Fraser House, but the money was advanced by a second party.”

He then referred to her character. “She has been on the turf for some time, I am informed.” He said Miss Morris told him she had an abortion in Detroit, but when it came to the ear operation, she wanted it done in Bay City.

“Her parents are respectable people and they know what kind of a life she has been leading, and knew all about what caused her death. They would not let her come home until she promised to lead a better life.”

Police say initial statements made to investigators by individuals being questioned in a criminal investigation are either outright lies or leave out important facts. The same was true when Dr. Griswold decided to write out a statement for the press. He claimed Miss Morris came to his office suffering from the effects of a criminal operation, which she said had been done in Detroit, and that she had the same operation performed seven times. She said she had lived a fast life for ten years.

“She came to me a sick woman whose case necessitated immediate treatment,” Griswold wrote. “It was no business of mine to publicly denounce her.” He also claimed that the woman’s family had known about her life and how she died and wanted it kept secret.

He said the statement she made to hotel people that she was to have an ear operation was fabricated, although she did have an earache and he had given her something to ease the discomfort.

Fred Anger, a friend of the woman’s family who was planning on traveling to Battle Creek on business, agreed to accompany the remains and see that they were turned over to the family. He said he did not know her, but he knew her sister and had met the rest of the family before. He said her real name was Agnes Eberstein.

Prosecutor Anneke said he had conferred with Judge Theodore F. Shepard, and both agreed that the case should be investigated thoroughly. The implication being they would be confronting both Bennett and Griswold about the facts in the case and that, up to that point, the facts did not match their statements.

A day later, Dr. Griswold and publisher Bennett were arrested by police chief Murphy at about 4:00 p.m., once warrants were authorized by police court justice Kelley.

The Tribune didn’t hedge on the story, although it was a day late in reporting the statements by both Bennett and Griswold that had appeared already in the rival Times-Press . It should be noted that though at one time Bennett had bought into the ownership group of the Times-Press , he had no control over it at the time.

In any event, the Tribune reported that prosecutor Anneke ordered Dr. Charles Newkirk to travel to Battle Creek to conduct an autopsy on the woman. He said he hoped the doctor could arrive before the funeral, but if one did not, an exhumation order was also issued.

Although the autopsy hadn’t been completed, the two men were arrested anyway on charges of manslaughter. There was no report on how the men were arrested, but both were arraigned immediately and released on $1,000 bond each. Perhaps this was a bit of preferential treatment given the social standing of the two men. The fact that they were charged at all, and so swiftly, counters that claim and notes how seriously Chief Murphy and the prosecutor took what happened to Miss Eberstein.

Both the doctor and Bennett painted the young woman as a prostitute who was on the road to an early grave anyway because of numerous abortions. Up to that point, no one had a clue as to whether any of that was true.

Chief Murphy and the prosecutor traveled to Detroit to further investigate certain aspects of the case, presumably to determine the allegations against the woman and to find any connection of either suspect to her.

Meanwhile, Anneke asked that the bail be increased based on evidence found in Detroit, and Justice Kelley raised it to $5,000 each.

A preliminary hearing on the evidence was held on April 11 before Kelley. The first problem for Edwin Bennett was two of the bondsmen guaranteeing his bail withdrew their pledge, which negated Bennett’s freedom prior to trial.

A hotel employee, Julia Smith, testified during the preliminary hearing that Miss Eberstein, known as Morris, had told her Bennett was her uncle as a way of explaining why every time Miss Smith went to the room, Bennett was there. She said she was barred from the room at one point, and when she finally was allowed to enter, she found the bedding spotted with blood and soiled.

Another worker, Edith Smith, testified that Miss Morris had the operation on March 23. She said Morris had told her she was to have an operation she dreaded.

The nurse, Loretta McEwen, testified she was not retained until five days after the alleged operation and arrived at the hotel on March 28. She described the woman as being very ill.

Maintaining the ruse of an ear operation, Dr. Griswold gave Nurse McEwen ear drops to administer to the woman at intervals to help with the healing. She described the situation as strange because she found no evidence that there had been an ear operation.

Bennett’s arrogance was evident when the hearing was adjourned and he was to be sent to the county jail for the weekend. He and his lawyer complained that he shouldn’t have to spend time in a jail like a common criminal and that he should have better accommodations. They said he should be able to stay in the city police lockup. Enough political pressure was applied to Chief Murphy that he reluctantly said Bennett could stay in the lockup until Monday.

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Bennett pleaded with the judge not to be housed in the Bay County jail for the weekend because he would be treated like a criminal there. Bay County Historical Museum.

The hearing lasted another two days before the case was bound over to circuit court for trial. Griswold remained free on bond while Bennett this time was taken to the county jail.

Attorneys for the two defendants requested that the men be tried separately, and the court granted the motion. Jury selection for Bennett began on June 2, 1902.

It was determined through testimony that Bennett personally purchased materials, such as cheesecloth, three nightgowns and other items, that eventually were used during and after the operation.

Dr. Charles Newkirk testified that he examined the body in Battle Creek and determined that an abortion had been performed and that she had died of peritonitis. He said the operation had been recent and that a dilator had been used, indicating the woman did not perform the abortion herself. He said she had been about three months pregnant.

As the trial progressed, a large crowd of curious boys gathered, most likely to hear the lurid sexual details that were expected to be revealed. Bailiffs chased the boys from the courthouse.

Defense attorney J.E. Simonson questioned Newkirk, attempting to indicate that the woman might have naturally miscarried and that was the reason for the inflamed area and eventual infection, not an abortion.

Newkirk would not change his testimony and cited his reasons for believing why an abortion operation had taken place. He insisted that it had to have been done a few days prior to the death.

Letters written between Miss Eberstein and Bennett strongly suggested a romantic attachment, and a local minister had attempted to get Miss Eberstein to carry the pregnancy to term, saying he would adopt the child if she did so.

A woman, Rachel Randolph of Detroit, was called as a witness and testified that she operated a rooming house where Bennett and Eberstein, posing as Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, a married couple, rented a room from her for two weeks the prior August.

Bennett and Eberstein also were identified as the couple taking a room in another boardinghouse and renting a room at the Hotel Utopia in Detroit.

Once the state rested its case, Bennett’s counsel team began a mission to discredit the earlier testimony. Attorney M.L. Courtright, in a statement to the jury, attempted several times to show that Miss Eberstein was “impure” and that she had “made advances towards him [Bennett]” in Battle Creek when he was there at a Knights of Pythias convention. The whole line of thought was to get the jury to believe the woman was a prostitute. Judge Shepard ordered the lawyer not to use that in his remarks.

Courtright then claimed that Bennett had asked her to meet him in Saginaw, and both took a room at the Everett House. He said he then went to Bay City to get money in order to get her back to Detroit, but when he went back to the hotel, he found she had conducted the abortion herself.

After she cleaned up, he brought her to Bay City to the Fraser House. Observers noted that during the lawyer’s statement, Bennett was overwhelmed with emotion and wept into a handkerchief (or so it appeared).

Griswold was called as a defense witness at his own request and testified, as expected, that his examination of the woman showed she already had aborted the fetus at some point earlier and that it appeared the infection was very grave and could lead to death.

Another defense witness, Reverend Charles T. Patchell of First Congregational Church, said he had known Bennett for ten years and was aware of his affair with Eberstein. He testified that he first learned of the affair through Bennett’s wife and talked to Bennett about it. For some unexplained reason, he had read letters Miss Eberstein had written to Bennett and his return letters to her and said he had even mailed some for Bennett. He also took some of the letters she had written to Bennett and burned them.

An unusually large crowd gathered at the courthouse when word leaked that Bennett was to testify in his own defense. He testified that he had received correspondence from Miss Eberstein that demanded money so she could take care of her “problem” or she would come to Bay City and raise a sensation and disrupt his life. He said that was when he consulted the minister for advice.

Under cross-examination by the prosecutor, Bennett admitted that he believed he was the father of the baby, but he claimed to have refused to pay her.

He said he first met Miss Eberstein in South Bay City, or the South End, on May 5, 1901, being introduced by a mutual acquaintance. He saw her several more times in Battle Creek and in Kalamazoo a short time later. He also admitted to having lived with her in Detroit but claimed to have eventually severed his relations with her at the end of 1901 and hadn’t seen her until she showed up in Bay City. He also claimed he didn’t want her to have an abortion but to have the baby. He indicated he would have provided for her and the child.

In the closing arguments to the jury, it became clear that the state’s case was straightforward: Bennett arranged for the abortion and Dr. Griswold performed it; however, there were complications because of infection, and he couldn’t save her. It was noted that Bennett continually lied and changed stories to the point that none of it made sense.

The defense offered several other scenarios, including one in which Miss Eberstein naturally aborted and another in which she did the operation on herself.

What wasn’t said was almost as important. Prior claims by Bennett included allegations that Miss Eberstein was a prostitute, had multiple abortions because of it, was extorting him and was blackmailing him for money and assistance with threats that she would ruin him.

One question not raised was how did he know the child was his if she was a prostitute? He easily could have waved off her claims, arguing there was no way to know the true identity of the father.

Another problem for the defense was failing to produce proof from Detroit or elsewhere of her being a prostitute, of ever having been arrested or of ever having had operations.

The jury was given the case at 11:00 a.m. on June 12 and retired to deliberate, but it didn’t take them long. In ninety minutes, the jurors informed the court officer that they had reached a verdict. Just before 2:00 p.m., they were brought back into the courtroom, and Judge Shepard asked for their decision.

Observers noted Bennett’s normally ruddy complexion was ashen and that he showed little emotion when he heard the verdict. Attorney Simonson said the case would be appealed to a higher court.

Sheriff Kinney led Bennett from the courtroom and walked him across Center Avenue to the jail.

On June 23, 1902, Judge Shepard asked Bennett to stand and be sentenced. He asked if Bennett had anything to say, and Bennett declined the offer. Shepard then continued with his sentencing:

You are an old resident of this city, having lived here for many years. You are well known to the community and I have known you for a long time. You have been prominent in the affairs of this locality. You are a man in the strength of full manhood, a man of family.

You have children. About one year ago you took from Battle Creek a young woman and almost two months later formed an illegal alliance with her. You provided for and kept her in Detroit in this alliance. You ended her life in Bay City.

She was a young woman but you are a man of family in the full strength of your manhood. As a result of this unlawful alliance, she became in the family way, she came to Bay City, and submitted to the operation resulting in her death. Inside of one year from the time she met you, she was in her coffin and you before the court.

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Circuit judge Theodore F. Shepard reprimanded both Bennett and later Griswold at the end of their trials, handing down a prison sentence for each, though they were not as harsh as many expected. Bay County Historical Museum.

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Bennett and Griswold would spend time in Jackson Prison, shown here. Library of Congress.

With that, he sentenced Bennett to seven years in Jackson Prison. Bennett sat down and wiped away tears.

Three days later, he boarded a train with Sheriff Kinney bound for Jackson Prison. Bennett declined to talk to reporters except to say he had no complaints of his treatment while in the county jail. While several friends had been there to see him off, his wife had not.

Part of Bennett’s punishment was enduring the uncomfortable accommodations provided prison inmates, forced to live in cells only three feet wide, nine feet deep and seven feet high—only about half the size required for today’s prisoners.

Two and a half years later, on Christmas Eve 1904, a train pulled into the Michigan Central Depot, and Bennett alighted on the platform. His prison sentence had been commuted from seven to four years by Governor Aaron T. Bliss, a Saginaw politician who certainly knew Bennett. Reducing the sentence allowed Bennett to be paroled at once, and he was put on a train home.

He was greeted by his brothers and a few friends but again offered no statement to the press, except that he was grateful that no one had said a word of his predicament to his ailing ninety-year-old mother, who believed her son was on an extended business venture out of town.

As for Dr. Griswold, he did not go on trial until January 1903. Most of the same witnesses and evidence were presented in his case, plus some added testimony that he had been using cocaine. As expected, the jury found him guilty of manslaughter. Judge Shepard sentenced Griswold to only two years at the Ionia Reformatory.

And to all observers but one, that was the end of the story. That one person was police chief Nathaniel Murphy.

He was unhappy with the way the entire investigation played out and the relative rush to judgment for all concerned. He continued his investigation, traveling to Detroit to retrace his steps from the first time he had gone there on the case.

He worked the case off and on for nearly a year before finding that there was good evidence that the abortion operation had taken place in Detroit and most likely at the Hotel Utopia. In any event, Dr. Griswold seems to have been innocent, in part at least, although he still was a party to the coverup.

Chief Murphy reported his findings to the Michigan Board of Pardons, a body designed to advise the governor. Murphy also got an affidavit to be submitted by the prosecutor favoring a pardon.

The board issued findings based on Murphy’s investigation that the deceased woman was of “bad character” and had had a prior abortion. It also refuted statements that Griswold was a cocaine user, finding no proof offered to back up the statements.

It was noted that Griswold had been helping at the prison as a physician’s clerk, and doctors there reported no sign at all that Griswold had used drugs of any kind.

However, the newspapers failed to make much of the incident. It was reported in the American Medical Association monthly report.

It should be noted that the reduction in Bennett’s sentence may have been partly due to what had transpired with Griswold, but it seemed clear that Bennett was orchestrating the entire situation, paying for everything and likely arranging for the abortion in Detroit. He might have thought his affair was over, but his mistress showed up in Bay City.

If a person was of a cynical nature, he or she could not rule out that, if Miss Eberstein was blackmailing Bennett, her death might have looked to be opportune for Bennett, until the entire thread of the story unraveled. Then it was one lie on top of another to keep ahead of the investigation.

So the Bay City press mogul’s reputation was gone, a young doctor’s own was damaged if not destroyed and a woman was in her grave—a tragedy all around.