#211 The Notorious Madame Restell: The Abortionist of Fifth Avenue

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Places & Travel

4.8 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2016

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ann Lohman, aka Madame Restell, was one of the most vilified women of the 19th century, an abortion practitioner that dodged the law to become one of the wealthiest self-made women in the Gilded Age. But is her reputation justified?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Episode 211 of The Bowery Boys, Madam Ristell, the abortionist of Fifth Avenue.
0:06.5	Hey, it's The Bowery Boys.
0:08.1	Hey.
0:09.1	Support for The Bowery Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:12.8	Join us for as little as a dollar a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowery Boys.
0:21.9	Hi there, welcome to The Bowery Boys. This is Greg Young.
0:24.6	And this is Tom Myers.
0:25.8	And today we present a truly notorious tale of New York City history about the person
0:32.3	dubbed the Wickedest Woman in New York.
0:35.9	This is the story of Madam Ristell.
0:39.0	In January of 1878, a well-dressed man knocked on the door of the mansion at the northeast corner
0:46.7	of Fifth Avenue in 52nd Street.
0:49.2	He was led into the basement, into an office, where a woman in her 60s sat down with him.
0:55.5	He told a tender and very familiar story.
0:59.4	He and his wife were in a delicate situation.
1:02.8	She was pregnant, but the family was already too large.
1:06.6	Couldn't this lady help him out?
1:08.5	Couldn't she sell him some medicine to help make this particular female problem disappear?
1:15.4	This was indeed a familiar story from Madam Ristell, who patiently listened.
1:20.8	And yes, she said she could help him out.
1:24.1	And of course, he'd have to pay for it.
1:26.8	Unfortunately for Madam Ristell, this man wasn't who he pretended to be.
	...

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