Ann cooper hewitt trial

At court, Ann later testified that she learned her mother and Dr. She added that after she was discharged from hospital, she returned home and was kept a prisoner in her own room.

Not one housekeeper entered my room during my convalescence. I was forced to live with little more than the bare necessities or comforts of a poorhouse waif. However, as soon as prosecutors has learned of the case, Maryon had headed for the East Coast. Maryon died in April , aged 55, following a stroke, while Ann, who married five times, died from cancer, aged 40, in February Inside shocking s trial of socialite Ann Cooper Hewitt who sued her mother Source link Inside shocking s trial of socialite Ann Cooper Hewitt who sued her mother.

All legislation was eventually repealed in the s. And the way my eyes cross when I am tired. She sometimes struck me when she noticed my eyes were going. The reporters looked around in disbelief. What would Maryon have to say for herself? Reprinted with permission of Grand Central Publishing.

All rights reserved. The Scene. Type keyword s to search. Hearst Owned. Ann Cooper Hewitt, pictured here in , is the subject of the new biography The Unfit Heiress , out now. Bettmann Getty Images. In , heiress Ann Cooper Hewitt sued her mother, Maryon Cooper Hewitt, claiming she had arranged for Ann to be sterilized without her consent. In her book , Farley writes: 'During this time, she overheard a few staff members ask her nurse how the 'idiot patient' was doing. Tillman assuring him that his patient 'didn't suspect a thing.

At court, Ann later testified that she learned her mother and Dr. Tillman had told everyone she was a 'mental case' and that she had undergone a salpingectomy - her her tubes removed and her appendix.

She added that after she was discharged from hospital, she returned home and was kept a prisoner in her own room. Ann claimed: 'My mother made me act as my own maid. Not one housekeeper entered my room during my convalescence. I was forced to live with little more than the bare necessities or comforts of a poorhouse waif. However, as soon as prosecutors has learned of the case, Maryon had headed for the East Coast.

She stuck to her story that she deemed Ann to be unfit for society due to her addiction to masturbation and 'erotic tendencies,' branded her a 'moron' and even cited how she was attracted to 'men in uniform.

Leaving behind an affidavit, she referenced one occasion where she'd tried to elope with a chauffeur, to whom she had exchanged letters with containing pubic hairs. She also insisted Ann was 'feebleminded,' noting an intelligence test performed by the psychologist shortly before the procedure. In response to accusations of her intelligence, the plaintiff's attorney called witnesses to the stand in court.

The San Francisco district attorney charged Maryon and both doctors with 'mayhem' - a rare charge that was 'reserved for cases involving the act of disabling or disfiguring an individual. Maryon died in April , aged 55, following a stroke, while Ann, who married five times, died from cancer, aged 40, in February The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

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But before authorities could get to Maryon's penthouse, she'd fled for the East Coast. She left behind an affidavit explaining herself: She was merely protecting society from the effects of Ann becoming pregnant. Ann had been deemed a "moron. Ann also had "erotic tendencies. For the next six months, the two women riveted the public with their claims against each other.

It wasn't merely the salacious nature of the feud that raised eyebrows, but also the unusualness of Ann's case. The heiress hardly resembled the typical victim of eugenics; she was educated, wealthy and white. This raised the question: Could any woman deemed "sexually deviant" be plucked off the street and operated upon?

She could, for the simple reason that she threatened to amalgamate the races. As Ann's mother and the doctors' attorneys managed to persuade the public, "adrift" women constituted a grave danger to white society, which only surgery could ameliorate. Long after Ann's death and the eventual repeal of sterilization laws, the heiress's story and that of eugenics, more broadly, remain instructive. Together, they reveal how narrowly whiteness is conceived and how readily the very institution that confers a person's privilege can become her undoing.

They reveal a truth that scholars and activists are only now beginning to make mainstream: White people can be collateral victims of white supremacy. Eugenics was a movement to protect the purity of the white race.

It took hold in America precisely at a moment when the nation's racial makeup was transforming.