Episode Transcript
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You're listening to Mugshot. I'm yourhost, Lindsay. This episode of Mugshot
was co created by Windy Scripps,who assisted with research and writing today's mugshot
name William and Lila Young and theIdeal Maternity Home Butterbox Babies arrested for fraud
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and Maternity Boarding Houses Act violations.Important note this episode does discuss infant death,
neglect, and infertility. Please proceedwith caution. Nova Scotia, which
means New Scotland in Latin, isa peninsula situated in eastern Canada. Nowhere
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in this artistic and cultural area ismore than forty two miles from the Atlantic
Ocean, enveloping it in breezy,rocky coastlines perfect for viewing the horizon.
Here you can participate in whale watching, skiing, and hiking through national parks,
perhaps enjoy a glass of wine inone of the many vineyards. Or
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if you're into history, there areeighty seven historical sites of Canada located in
Nova Scotia, detailing everything from indigenousliving to French colonization to being considered the
fourteenth American colony. It truly soundslike a little piece of heaven. Full
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of beauty and knowledge, and itis, but there's also a dark history
that still lives on today. Anembarrassment for the province's child welfare system,
a scandal involving black market babies,exploitation, controversial medicinal practices, death,
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and unwanted babies buried in pine butterboxes. In nineteen forty five, school
teacher Lila Gladys Coolin of Nova Scotiamet and married William peach Young of New
Brunswick, an unordained seventh day atVenice minister. The couple moved to Chicago,
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Illinois, in the United States,where they eventually had five children.
Both were health minded individuals with aspirationsof careers in the medical field. At
the end of nineteen twenty seven,William graduated from the National College of Chiropractic
and Lila graduated from the National Schoolof Obstetrics and Midwifery as a certified midwife.
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Following their graduation, the couple movedback to Nova Scotia, where they
intended to establish their medical roots,with Lila's passion for babies taking precedence.
Around Febuary of nineteen twenty eight,they founded the Life and Health sanitarium where
the sick get well. The home, which was located in their small four
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bedroom cottage, started out providing maternityservices for married couples, but soon specialized
in maternity services for married couples andunwed mothers. Here Lilah delivered and cared
for the mothers and babies. Soonthe home was renamed the Ideal Maternity Home
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or IMH. Initially, the couplewas so poor that they could barely afford
cots for their patients, but theywere determined to grow their vision. IMH
was located in a small cottage inthe Nova Scotia seaside village of Eastchester.
The home was advertised to the publicas a place for local couples to receive
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quality maternity care. It was alsoa place for unwed women who got in
trouble to receive private births and childplacement. This was during a time where
society condemned unwed pregnant women who wouldbe labeled a public disgrace to their families
and then be ineligible for marriage.According to Fred McKinnon, director of the
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welfare department in Nova Scotia in thenineteen thirties and forties, quote in those
days, it was a disgrace tohave a child out of wedlock. It's
hard to understand the feelings of theday. Women hid themselves away. Parents
collaborated in covering it up, andin some sense these places filled a need.
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Quote. The IMH became a discreetlocation where these women could find anonymous
refuge for a price. After all, doesn't everyone deserve a second chance.
Not to mention, birth control wasillegal at the time, the youngs were
of the mind that quote, Damegossip has sent many young lives to perdition
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after ruining them socially. That mighthave been bright stars in society and a
power in the world of usefulness hadthey been shielded from gossip when they made
a mistake. End quote. WhileLila was certainly the more dominant personality of
the two in the early days,it was said, quote everybody liked Lila.
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She wasn't a bad old thing.She was some good teacher, she
was some good with children. Quote. But what started out with good intentions
soon grew into nothing more than ababy factory. So how much did it
cost? Simple answer? A lot. At the time, the average wage
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was between four dollars and eight dollarsper week for skilled workers, less for
unskilled. In the early days,the IMH charged one hundred to five hundred
dollars for maternity services, room andboard, and placement of the baby into
a new home. Additional charges couldaccrue during this stay, such as a
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lay at for the baby, babysittingfees, and burial fees if necessary,
and of course part of the chargewas for silence secrecy. You pay us,
we don't say a word. Sowhat was a pregnant, unwed mother
with little resources to do. Ifyou were unable to pay, you were
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given the opportunity to work at IMHto pay off your debt. Sometimes this
was in the kitchens, other timesit was cleaning, and still others provided
childcare for the many babies waiting togo to their new homes. Whatever helped
you get to the end goal,which was for the mother to have her
baby and then returned to her lifeas though she were never even pregnant.
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Lila was headstrong and stubborn, soyou did what she said, and at
its core, that's how they madeit work. They made money from the
well off ones and got free laborfrom the others. The babies would be
adopted out to families who struggled withinfertility and longed for a child. The
adoptions would be closed and no onewould know who the mother was. It
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was a win win situation. Duringthis time period, adoptions could be very
difficult, even more so than today. Throughout the world, there were many
laws and procedures that didn't just makeit hard, but outright impossible for many
couples to adopt. However, thelaws were significantly more well lacks in Nova
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Scotia. So to do this,the Youngs created elaborate and detailed contracts for
the mothers to sign that would giveWilliam legal authority as well as power of
attorney over the babies and their adoption. However, if this took longer than
fourteen days, an additional charge ofthirty dollars was incurred. Then they placed
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advertisements reading lovely Babies for Adoption,excellent health background, and healthy bodies in
Canada, the US, and Europe. With the access to ports on the
Atlantic Ocean increasing their target market,they often promised a complete service free from
publicity. One advertisement stated all babiesat the Ideal Maternity Home are under the
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supervision of a baby specialist who seesthat a solid foundation is laid in each
case for the development of a strongmind and body, and only clean,
healthy babies are placed for adoption.With the anonymity this provided, their adoption
market was soon booming, earning Williamand Lila the nickname baby Barons of Eastchester.
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There was an influx of desperate mothersanxious to keep a place in society,
as well as couples looking for achild to love but couldn't qualify otherwise,
so homes for the babies were easilyfound. More often than not,
the babies were sold first to whoevercould pay, then to those who could
work off the debt as time wenton. It stated, although hard to
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prove, that the prices ranged fromone thousand to ten thousand dollars per baby,
not to mention the money coming fromthe pregnant mother. Whatever you want,
the IMH has a baby for everyone, white babies, dark haired babies,
green eyed babies, Jewish babies,babies in all price ranges. In
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fact, one of the hurdles withadoption at the time in many areas was
adopting across religious backgrounds. In otherwords, if you were Catholic, you
couldn't adopt a Jewish baby. Thiswasn't the case in Nova Scotia nor at
the IMH, causing many to flockto their services. Of course, the
perfect white babies were in the highestman but if a parent had a specific
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request and a baby wasn't available tomeet the need, they just lie about
the baby's background, and to Williamand Lila surprise, not only would these
couples pay the asking prices, manymade generous donations to the home out of
their gratitude. That's when all theprices were changed to donations, which were
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better for the youngs when it cameto income and tax reporting. Not to
mention, the whole process was quick. Parents could arrive at the nursery,
browse up and down the aisles ofcribs and find their perfect match, or
if they wanted, they could monitorthe pregnant mothers to ensure perfect health and
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delivery and take the baby home afterward. In Canada, the whole process could
often be completed in twenty four toforty eight hours. For those in other
countries it could take two to threeweeks only because of obtaining a visa.
In the United States at the time, there was required counseling. A very
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lengthy social investigation, physical evaluations,and follow up monitoring, which dissuaded many
prospective parents. This differed from todayand that a lot of this was an
effort to find the perfect match.Again, there was no adopting across religious
or racial lines. Once the matchwas made, a probationary period was used
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where social workers would monitor interaction betweenthe new family before everything was finalized.
Based on these laws, potential parentswere looking at six months to two years
for the process. Why go throughthat weight when this was so easy.
This was common practice in Canada bynineteen forty, however, but in nineteen
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thirty three the home was full almostto the brim, with the country being
at war and an increase in womenfinding themselves in trouble as they called it.
But with increased patience came increased talk. People started to take notice of
the home, but not in apositive light like before. There was gossip
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claiming poor healthcare, exorbitant and unfairexpenses for mothers, and that mothers and
babies were dying while under the home'scare. The Nova Scotia Department of Public
Welfare began gathering evidence against the youngs, but this was a very delicate situation.
The home had many high level supporterswho praised their good deeds, including
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business owners and of course politicians.After all, they were helping these unwed,
often young mothers. They were decreasingthe strain on the local welfare department
from having to pay for unwanted childrenand orphanages, decreasing the homeless population by
providing a safe and dis greek placefor the unwed mothers who otherwise would be
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rejected by their families. But onthe other hand, the home was becoming
a huge liability. It was anembarrassment that magnified the out of date adoption
laws in the area. So,in an effort to take the pressure off
of themselves by placating the local government, the youngs hired a registered nurse in
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nineteen thirty three. They hoped thata fresh set of eyes being cast on
their practices, as well as anextra set of hands to help, would
keep the home in good graces.Thus began a long ongoing battle between those
who wanted the home shut down,primarily new to the office of Health Minister
doctor Frank Davis, and those thatdesired it remain open. However, in
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nineteen thirty five, the Youngs werecharged and convicted of fraud. As it
turns out, on at least oneoccasion, a child passed away, yet
the Youngs still charged for care afterthe passing. One might think it easy
to chalk up a simple accounting erroror billing oversight, but the trouble didn't
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stop there. In March of nineteenthirty six, the Youngs were charged with
two counts of manslaughter and the deathsof a patient named Eva knee Forth and
her newborn baby. The local pathologisttook the stand and testified that he had
performed autopsies and that Eva had dieda painful death from an infection that she
had contracted from unclean obstetric instruments,and the baby died from the incorrect use
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of forceps during delivery. Eva mighthave lived had she been administered antibiotics,
and the baby could have survived ifdelivered by a properly trained medical professional.
This is when it was revealed thatLila was in fact a midwife, not
an obstetrician, which she had advertisedherself as. So this is all pretty
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bad. Surely they came in andshut the home down, right. We'll
find out more after the break welcomeback from the break. When we left
off, the Youngs had found themselvesin some legal trouble, charges of manslaughter
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lying about medical credentials. After athree day trial, the Youngs were acquitted.
But by now something definitely didn't seemright. Something was off here.
IMH and its owners fell under constantscrutiny and other fraudulent charges poured in.
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But the youngs had positioned themselves verywell. They had served very prominent clients
by making their family dreams come true, and some of these new parents return
the favor by using their services andconnections to protect the IMH. Not with
nefarious intent, of course, theyjust trusted them. It didn't seem to
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affect the home too much either,as by nineteen forty it was the largest
home in Eastern Canada, with betweeneighty and one hundred and twenty five babies
under their care at any given time. Around this time, the Maternity Boarding
House Act of nineteen forty was amended, in large part due to IMH,
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which now required all maternity homes tobe licensed by the government. According to
a paper titled Scandal and Social Policy, the Ideal Maternity Home and the Evolution
of Social Policy, in Nova Scotianineteen forty through fifty one by Karen Balcolm
at McMaster University. Quote. Onecondition of the license was that the facility
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and its records had to be openat all times for inspection by the Director
of Child Welfare and certain of hisrepresentatives. Other provisions effectively prohibited institutions from
advertising that they had children available foradoption or were willing to arrange adoptions.
The law established penalties for institutions operatingwithout a license or violating other provisions of
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the legislation. The Director of ChildWelfare, at his absolute discretion, was
given the authority to evaluate any applicationfor a license and to cancel any license
already granted end quote. The youngsapplied for a license and were approved for
the first few years, but thenin nineteen forty five were rejected after a
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visit from the director, who wasappalled when he saw babies lying in their
own vomit and theses covered in flies. As a result, I MH was
now unlicensed, and a smear campaignensued. The public was left to decide
who was right, the government,who was trying to help make the process
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safer for the babies, or theyoungs. Who were allegedly helping the babies
find homes. Finally, after along fight, the youngs seemed to give
in. It was too difficult tochallenge, or so it seemed in reality.
Not wanting to give up their morethan comfortable income stream, they renamed
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the home Battle Creek of Nova Scotia, rest Haven Park and marketed it as
a hotel for tourists and a homefor the elderly. However, they continued
business as usual. It was nothingmore than a disguise. The Youngs continued
to live elaborately with fine cars,homes, and anything their hearts desired,
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without any loans or mortgages attached.They built a new home for themselves with
nine rooms and three bathrooms. Infact, the maternity home was now situated
in a lovely fifty four room,fourteen bathroom building, surrounded by property on
all sides, a turret on top, and a gleaming golden statue of a
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baby out front. But by nowthe home and the Youngs were starting to
get more and more negative publicity.Among this was the Montreal Standard newspaper,
who ran a story titled Traders inFear Baby farm rackets still lure girls who
are afraid of social agencies. Thisarticle reported smuggling infants out of the province,
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young girls being bullied into putting theirbabies up for adoption, mothers being
charged ridiculous fees, and the medicalcare given to patients being questionable at best.
The young sued the newspaper for deafof character and the case went to
trial. Little did the youngs knowit would be here that the true story
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came to light. They had alreadybeen taken to court over twenty times at
this point and made it out mostlyunscathed, of course, but there were
now documented people who had detailed theseexperiences, and more coming forward daily.
There were reports of the entire placestinking of urine feces. It wasn't uncommon
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to find three or four babies toa bed, completely soiled and needing a
fresh diaper. They were fed whenthey could be, because, of course,
the workers had their hands full naturally, though expectant mothers didn't know this
when deciding to go to the home. No one went around talking about their
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pregnancy out of wedlock, so formany, once they were there, it
was too late. This is alsowhy it was never reported who would give
up their anonymity and any hope ofa future according to society's standards. But
now all bets were off. Residentsof the home were beginning to see it
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for what it was. The biggestbombshell in the trial was delivered by a
local grocer who revealed that dead babieswere buried in butter boxes that came from
the local dairy farm. They werethe perfect sized coffin for a newborn baby,
twenty two inches. The kind butterwas delivered into thousands of homes every
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week. He delivered them there himself. But this brought up more questions.
Why were so many of the babiesdying? Why were so many of these
butter boxes even needed. Certainly thelack of care was one reason. There
was no actual physician to treat illnesses. Not to mention, there weren't enough
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workers to keep everyone fed. Butaside from that, there were the unlucky
ones that simply were deemed unmarketable.This was for a variety of reasons,
such as being mixed race, havingphysical disabilities, sickness, or even birthmarks.
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As a result, these babies werefed a diet of water and molasses.
This diet would slowly starve the babiesuntil they died. They were then
placed in a butter box and oftenleft in a shed for a few days
before they were buried in an unmarkedgrave at Fox Point, which was located
near a Seventh day Adventist cemetery abouttwelve miles from Imh. There were also
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recollections of fishermen paid to throw boxesaway at sea, and reports of odd
smells and smoke coming from the propertyat night. The babies were usually collected
on Friday nights left to sit allweek, but this was just for the
unmarketable babies. Remember, most adopterswanted babies who were healthy and white.
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The lucky ones were adopted to familiesin Canada, the US, and Europe.
Some of these babies were actually givenup for adoption by their typical unwed
mothers, but others were taken withouttheir mother knowing. Many couples were told
that their baby had died during childbirthor had gotten sick after and died.
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In reality, they had been takento add to the home sellable inventory.
There were also instances of twins beingseparated when one met the criteria of a
potential adopter. Mothers working off theirdebt in the home. Also told of
how they were forced to pose asnurses when an inspector came by. After
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four days of heartbreaking testimony, thedefamation lawsuit was dis missed, leaving the
youngs with very few allies left andtheir reputation in shambles. This was quickly
followed by eight more criminal counts,including violation of the Maternity Boarding House Act
and practicing medicine without a license.Their total punishment for all counts a fine
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of less than six hundred dollars.So what did the survivors have to say
for one? Reva Barnett was bornat IMH and adopted in nineteen forty five.
She shared her story with CBS Newsin twenty sixteen. Her adopted family
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is from New Jersey. She tellsthe story of how her mother chose her
because she was so pitiful looking.While waiting for the paperwork to be finalized,
the family took her to see alocal pediatrician who told them to get
her out of that home as soonas possible. Riva attended the I m
H Survivor's Reunion each year in NovaScotia. At the nineteen ninety seven reunion,
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she shopped at local antique stores untilshe found the butter box from the
local dairy. She said it's areminder to her of what could have been.
She believes that she would have beenburied in one had she not been
adopted when she was. Riva wasone of the lucky ones to locate her
birth mother after writing seventy five lettersto every person in Nova Scotia that shared
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her biological last name. However,not everyone wants to be found. Her
birth mother was not happy to hearfrom her and did not want Riva to
contact any other relatives. She didtell Riva her birth father's name, and
he denied he was her father.Eventually, though, Riva connected with a
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half brother and cousins. In twothousand and twelve, Sharon Knight shared her
story with Green Valley News in Arizona. She was born at Imh in nineteen
forty five, and her adoptive parentstold her that her mother had died during
childbirth and that her father had diedin the war. However, after Internet
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research, she discovered that that wasa story told to a lot of adoptive
parents. In reality, Sharon's biologicalparents already had three children and were struggling
to make ends meet when they decidedto go to IMH and give the baby
up for adoption. She had livedher whole life hearing how she didn't look
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Jewish, and now it made senseshe wasn't. Following her search, Sharon
located a brother, a stepbrother,a step sister, and various other family
members. Then there was Violet Eisenhower, who had visited the homes sixty years
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earlier and now sought answers as towhat happened to her baby. She was
married, but had heard such greatthings about the care provided there. Her
daughter was two weeks old when LilaYoung informed her that her baby turned black
and stopped breathing. When Violet askedto see the baby one last time,
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Lila said the infant wasn't fit tobe seen. Plus, the baby's butterbox
casket had been screwed shut, mostwere simply nailed. She had an eerie
feeling when another mother in the hometold her how a couple came looking for
a baby girl, and Violets wasthe only girl in the nursery at that
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particular time. It wasn't until laterin life that all the suspicions she had
about the home were confirmed. Butit left her wondering if her daughter had
actually been buried in a butter boxas she had been told. Violet even
had the supposed grave exhumed, butthere wasn't enough DNA to test and confirmed
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the baby's identity. Now she's allbut sure her daughter was one of those
that was stolen, said to bedead, so the Youngs could add her
to their inventory. She never hadany more children. Following the trial,
the Youngs experienced a swift spiral intobankruptcy without their tried and true source of
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income to support them. Although thetrial occurred in nineteen forty five, the
homes stayed open while waiting for theappeal, which eventually failed. The home
officially closed in nineteen forty seven.They sold their property and moved out of
Eastchester, and Lila went back towork teaching. Not long after, William
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died from cancer. Lila lived untilshe was seventy years old and died from
leukemia, buried in close proximity tomany of the so called butterbox babies.
IMH was destroyed by a fire innineteen sixty two, which is thought by
some to have been a deliberate wayto extinguish any remaining paperwork or evidence that
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may continue to haunt the community.A community center was built in its place.
Some documents in a guest house acrossthe street remained, allowing some lucky
families to find each other again.There are many others out there still looking
for their families, both adoptees andfamilies who believe their child died, but
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time is short as many are elderlyor have passed away. It's been suggested
that between five hundred and seven hundredbabies died in the care of the Youngs
at imh. Some even believe thatnumber to be higher. Some reports have
it lower. Unfortunately, no onecan and say for sure due to the
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anonymity and destruction of records. Ifyou want to learn more about the Butterbox
Babies, several books, plays,and movies have been written about Ideal Maternity
Home. There's a book called ButterboxBabies by Betty Cayhill that recounts hundreds of
stories from people affected by the Young'sgreed. It includes the worker who lined
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hundreds of boxes with satin for comfort, and even a man who said he
had buried babies as far as twelvemiles away, estimating seventy five to one
hundred and twenty five little dirt moundsin one area. In fact, that
man is who inspired the investigation andstory, as he called the author with
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a tips suggesting where many of thebabies were buried. There are also the
movies Butterbox Babies and The Child Remains. There's also a website dedicated to finding
survivors of IMH. You can findit at www dot Ideal Maternity Home Survivors
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dot com. The countless stories offamilies reunited, still searching, and those
who have lost loved ones are compiledhere, as well as information from the
records that could be found. Thereare several social media groups dedicated to those
seeking their birth families or their children. One group on Facebook is called Adopted
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in Nova Scotia. It contains postsand threads as recent as late October of
twenty twenty in which families are searchingfor loved ones associated with the home,
proving that despite being out of businessfor decades, the pain still remains.
If this case sounds eerily familiar,that's because it is. It closely resembles
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the story of Georgia Tan, whichwas happening in the US right around the
same time, It's hard to imagineeven one case where this happened. Nevertheless,
two This just goes to show whata widespread problem it was at the
time. In fact, Georgia Tanand the Youngs aren't even the only two
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stories that concludes this episode of Mugshot. On Saturday, February twentieth, I'll
be participating in an event that I'mreally excited about. Josh Hallmark from the
True Crime Bullshit podcast has put togethera fundraiser for the Charlie Project. That's
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a database that profiles over fourteen thousandmissing persons cold cases, helping to get
the word out and making it easierto investigate these cases. The fundraiser will
run from twelve pm Eastern to elevenfifty five pm Eastern on get Vocal that's
get v o k L. Therewill be several podcasts participating by doing live
(33:00):
shows, interviews, and trivia.So far, we've got Whining Crime crime
writers on the fall Line, TheTrail Went Cold, Trace Evidence, and
so many more. Please follow mugShot on all social media outlets for additional
details to come. Until next time, stay out of trouble or you may
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end up pictured and your very ownmugshot. Hey, guys, Melissa fer
Moms and Murder here inviting you tocheck out my new show, Criminality,
or I'll be taking a look atcrime and reality TV with my co host,
Rebecca Sebastian. Hi, friends,I'm Rebecca, host of Dialogue,
(33:45):
a true crime conversation. Face it. We all love to hate reality TV
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Join us as we discuss everything froma tea mom with feathers in her
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lending my expertise. We'll break itall down for you every other Friday beginning
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