Berengera Dalton Caswell (February 17, 1828 – December 22, 1849) was a Canadian mill and factory worker who died following an abortion procedure.
[2] Caswell and her two sisters, Ruth and Thais, left their hometown of Brompton, Quebec, to work in the textile mills of New England.
[2] While working at the Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, Caswell met William Long, a factory machinist and the pair became lovers.
[2] On December 15, 1849, when Caswell was fifteen to eighteen weeks pregnant, Smith took more drastic and dangerous measures to terminate the pregnancy.
To perform the abortion, Smith inserted an eight-inch long hooked wire instrument into Caswell's vagina and into her womb while she was producing very intense contractions.
Smith was successful in aborting the fetus but during the procedure he pierced her uterus and damaged the surrounding organs, leaving a wound a quarter-inch in diameter and four inches in length.
A week after the abortion, as Smith knew Caswell's life was coming to an end, he left the house and slept at a nearby parlor.
[citation needed] Following Caswell's death, Smith took a wooden board from his barn and tied her corpse to it, then disposed of her body in the nearby Woodbury Brook, off the Saco River.
The reason that these young girls were allowed to work in the factory was under the assumption that they would send their earnings back home to financially support their families.
[2] Eventually, her actual name was dropped altogether by the public as the case stopped being a hot topic, and her story became free range for any authors seeking to add a spin to her tale or use it to their advantage.
[2] The newspaper and book publications of Caswell's actions leading to her death, as well as the details and outcome of her murder trial were used to scare women into conforming to what was seen as the correct way to behave.
[citation needed] After the trial, which left many citizens of Saco feeling that Caswell's death had gone unavenged, sensational fiction stories emerged.
In these works of fiction, Caswell's name was replaced with her alias Mary Bean, and William Long was framed as a dastardly villain called George Hamilton.
The authors, "Miss J.A.B- resident of Manchester" and "Reverend Mr. Miller", also combined the details of the Caswell case with other murders across New England, further villainizing the "evil seducer George Hamilton" in the public's eye.
[2] In this story, a beautiful but naive Mary Bean leaves her soon to be husband, William Churchill, for the seductive George Hamilton, who effectively ruins all aspects of her life.
Ultimately, Hamilton and the rest of his evil posse end up deceased or in jail, providing further closure to the Mary Bean tale.