Mary Rogers Death In The Mid-Nineteenth Century

Mary Rogers’ death became a sensation in the mid-nineteenth century because of multiple reasons, but the sensation mainly came from the fact that her death could have happened to any other woman in any city or town. That if this act and magnitude of violence could happen to Mary Rogers, then it could happen to any other woman who left their sphere. The historical event of Rogers’ murder also sparked the belief that single women should start becoming cautious of living alone in cities (Srebnick 4). This cautionary for single women came from the fact that rapid and mass migrations and immigrations, urbanization, was bringing strangers to their cities. Before urbanization, people knew each other very well due to living in a low populated area. After cities began urbanizing, people began to live in large populated areas where everyone is virtually a stranger to each other. Urbanization also leads to the second reason why Rogers’ death became so sensationalized, Rogers could have died from receiving an abortion. Amy Gilman Srebnick, authoress of The Mysterious Death of Mary Rogers, notes that Rogers possibly had two pregnancies and subsequent abortions in her short life (138). It is therefore not impossible that Rogers became …show more content…
If a woman living in any kind of community, does not have the patriarchal protection of her father, then there is the chance that she could end up like Mary Rogers. It could be very dangerous for young women entering the working class of cities (45). Working class meaning mostly domestic roles or roles in industry. A woman having multiple male companions could potentially lead to Mary Rogers’ fate. From all of this, it is most likely that Rogers’ death is a cautionary tale if a woman wants to have an abortion. This is because it is most likely that Rogers’ died from receiving an