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Excerpts from "Tall Wall-Tales from Within the Prison Wall" compiled by the museum |
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A portion of the story Prisoners in Petticoats The first female inmate #60, Mary Solander |
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Dr. Mary Solander was a resident of Boulder where she lived and practiced her profession. Mary was born in Cumberland County, PA and had moved to Colorado in 1870. Her husband was a carpenter and she had four sons and one daughter. Boulder residents respected her as the first woman doctor in the area. She regularly advertised her practice in the Boulder county news. | |
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Mary's legal troubles started in early December of 1871 when a patient of hers, Mrs. Frederick Baunn died and the coroner determined the cause of death to be the result of hemorrhage after procuring an abortion. Mrs. Baunn had separated from her husband and was keeping company with Clements Knaus. When they discovered that Mrs. Baunn was pregnant, they went to see Dr. Solander to see if she would perform an abortion. Neighbors found a fetus in the nearby stream as well as medical instruments. | |
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Inmate #6040 |
Mary Solander and Clements Knaus were both arrested for the death of Mrs. Baunn. Each posted bond and was released pending trial. A grand jury met in January 1872 and only Mary was charged with manslaughter. Prominent community citizens pooled together and posted her bond of $8,000. Mary continued to advertise her practice and maintained her innocence until her trial day in June 1872. That jury ended in a hung jury - 11 for acquittal and 1 for guilty. | |
| Six months later, a second trial began. Mr. Knaus testified that he and Mrs. Baunn had sought Dr. Solander's service on Thursday. According to Mr. Knaus Dr. Solander had indicated that she would have to use an instrument and would need to send for medication from St. Louis. | ||
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Mr. Knaus stated that on Saturday Dr. Solander came to their house and stayed until Monday. The next day Mrs. Baunn was in very bad health and Mr. Knaus went to get Dr. Solander. Upon returning to the house, they found Mrs. Baunn had died. Mr. Knaus also testified that during the conversation on the way to the house Dr. Solander had asked if a child had come from Mrs. Baunn and he had answered yes. Dr. Solander also asked me if Mrs. Baunn had seen a doctor before and he said that she had seen a doctor in Denver who had given her some medication. Dr. Solander said that the medicine might cause Mrs. Baunn to die, and that he should put the child where no one would find it. When they found Mrs. Baunn was gone, the Dr. Solander wanted to immediately return to Boulder and consult her lawyer. | |
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Inmate #6412 |
Dr. Solander testified that Mrs. Baunn had sought treatment for prolopous uteri (fallen uterus) and she had not treated her until Sunday night when she had left some medication for her. She repeatedly swore that at no time had she used any type of instruments on Mrs. Baunn. But the jury returned a verdict after three hours of deliberation on the charges of manslaughter and she received a three-year sentence. | |
| Mary's husband and the same group that had posted her bond filed a motion for a writ of supersedes, but the appeal failed and Mary was escorted to the Territorial Penitentiary by the sheriff. Mary was described as age 42, 5'3" with light hair and skin, literate and married to Daniel Solander. | ||
| No accommodations for women were available at the 42-bed cell house in Canon City. You can only imagine what it was like for her in that cell house with 39 male felons. She could have been confined to a cell. She might have done the laundry for the male inmates or cook meals. Only our imagination can conceive what it was like for her in prison. | ||
| A group of Boulder citizens petitioned the Territorial Governor for a pardon for Mary and it was granted only 5 months after her incarceration at the prison. Mary was fortunate that she had the backing and support of so many people in her community. After her release she placed a thank you in the newspaper to those people who helped her during her time of legal trouble. | ||
| Shortly thereafter, Legal notices appeared in newspaper for the sale of the Solander property and a notice of divorce for the Solanders. Mary then went to Butte, Montana and Boise, Idaho and later died in California. However her legend still lives on as the first female prisoner in the Colorado State Penitentiary. | ||
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