English: In April 1904, abortion was illegal and therefore the surgical procedure undergone by schoolteacher Agnes R. Downs of Colfax, Washington was described as an 'appendectomy'; she died a week later. During that week, she stated that the "cause of her trouble" had been a local dentist, and that she had previously been intimate with a teacher at the Washington Agricultural College.

On May 10th of that year, Dr. T. D. Ferguson, the surgeon who performed the procedure and who was described as "one of the oldest and wealthiest practitioners in this section", was arrested and charged with manslaughter for "unlawfully, wilfully and feloniously slaying and killing one Agnes R. Downs;" warrants were issued for the arrests of the dentist (at whose request the procedure had been performed) and the teacher at the college, as accomplices to Dr. Ferguson.