203: The Hicks Babies

More than 200 babies, known as the “Hicks Babies,” were sold by Dr. Thomas Hicks from the back of the Hicks Community Clinic in McCaysville, Georgia during the 1950s and 1960s. Until his actions came to light, he was a respected and beloved doctor in...
More than 200 babies, known as the “Hicks Babies,” were sold by Dr. Thomas Hicks from the back of the Hicks Community Clinic in McCaysville, Georgia during the 1950s and 1960s. Until his actions came to light, he was a respected and beloved doctor in McCaysville, known for helping everyone…often taking things like a sack of potatoes in return for payment. Some town residents defend his actions to this day, but the “Hicks Babies,” as they became known, are still struggling to find their birth mothers and come to terms with their origins and the damage Hicks did by keeping his practice shrouded in mystery.
Hosted and produced by Erica Kelley
Researched and written by Gemma Harris
Original Graphic Art by Coley Horner
Original Music by Rob Harrison of Gamma Radio
Edited & Mixed by Brandon Schexnayder & Erica Kelley
Sources:southernfriedtruecrime.com/thomas-hicks
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Southern fried true crime covers cases that
are not suitable for young listeners, and
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there may also be some explicit language
used. Listener discretion as advised. On
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March fifth, nineteen seventy two,
the residents of Mccaysville, Georgia, were
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in mourning their beloved former town doctor
had lost his battle with leukemia and passed
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away at age eighty three, leaving
behind a wife's son and daughter. Doc
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Hicks had a reputation as being the
kind of doctor everyone needs. He do
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anything for anyone. In the poor, remote copper mining town straddling the Georgia
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Tennessee border in the Blue Ridge Mountains, people didn't always have money for medical
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services, and if they did,
it often wasn't enough. But doctor Hicks
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provided a level of care and various
services without judgment or demanding payment from those
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who truly couldn't afford life saving treatment. It wasn't unusual for him to be
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paid in a sack of potatoes.
He was part of the fabric of mccayswell
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and was said by many to be
not only one of the best physicians,
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but one of the best men they
knew. However, others took a different
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view. The same man who had
donated an organ to the local church and
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gave medicine away for free, had
once stolen a watch from the arm of
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a dying patient. So not everyone
was a fan of doctor Hicks, But
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twenty five years after his death,
a much greater scandal would emerge. It
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rocked not just the small town,
but the entire country. The hippocratic oath
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all physicians must uphold throughout their career
as above all else, do no harm.
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The people of Mcayswell were about to
discover that someone they had trusted with
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their lives and who they felt been
nothing but professional, was accused of something
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so harmful and so contrary to the
nature of the man they knew, it
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was hard to believe. Welcome to
episode two oh three, The Hicks Babies.
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Thomas Juggarthy Hicks was born on October
eighteenth, eighteen eighty eight, in
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Bloomington, Tennessee, to parents David
and Mary, one of six children.
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He graduated from Emmery University Medical School
in nineteen seventeen and that summer married twenty
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four year old Sullivan County woman Chas
Copeland. The couple settled in Copper Hill,
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Tennessee, and had three children.
Their son also became a doctor,
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but died suddenly in nineteen sixty seven
at age forty four. While Chass became
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a Sunday school teacher. Her husband
took a job with the Tennessee Copper Company
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treating minors he diagnosed with fatal lung
conditions, but in nineteen thirty two,
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when the doctor was discovered submitting an
excessive amount of claims compared to the size
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of the company's workforce, he was
fired. Doctor Hicks ran into trouble again
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in nineteen forty three, having time
in jail for illegally selling narcotics, and
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was subsequently struck off in Tennessee.
Despite this setback, just ten months later,
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following his release, the doctor opened
a clinic several blocks away from his
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home. It was just across the
border in the tiny North Georgian town of
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Mccaysvielle and Fannin County, home to
just over two thousand people. The unassuming
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blond brick one story building had distinctive
green and white striped awnings. Mccaysville is
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the twin city of Copperhill, Tennessee. Both Appalachian towns are situated along one
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river, whose name varies depending on
where you are in relation to the state
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line. In Tennessee, it's the
Ocoee River, while in Georgia it's the
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Tacoa River. The state line itself
runs right through downtown mccaysville through the grocery
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store parking lot. Doctor Hicks was
well respected and warmly embraced by the community.
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He was personable, charming, and
made house calls regardless of the hour.
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Patients felt at ease in his presence
and trusted him without a question.
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He became a charter member of the
Adams Bible Class of the town's first Baptist
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church, president of the Kowanas Club, and a member of Copper Hill Lodge.
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But doctor Hicks was working at a
time when reproductive rights for women in
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Georgia were non existent. In the
nineteen forties and fifties, conservative Southern America,
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birth control wasn't readily available, and
unmarried mothers were much aligned. Anyone
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finding themselves unexpectantly pregnant and not wanting
to be was thrust into a terrifying world
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of fear and uncertainty. It was
the same for married women who couldn't afford
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another mouth to feed. Many women
died as a result of a lack of
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access to safe and affordable abortions,
either through trying to perform one themselves,
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having one at the hands of an
unqualified back yard operator, or by suicide.
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According to the Akron Beacon Journal,
doctor Hicks advertised what he called pregnancy
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care services on phone booths, overpasses
and at bus stations for one hundred dollars
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about twelve hundred dollars in today's money. He performed safe abortions when many other
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physicians wouldn't. Of course, adoption
was an option, but this process had
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recently been the subject of much scandal
at a national level, when the crimes
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of Tennessee women Georgia Tann were exposed
just before her death in nineteen fifty.
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Back in twenty twenty, I released
episode ninety five on Georgia Town, entitled
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Pedophile, Kidnapper and Inventor of Modern
Adoption. From the nineteen twenties, Tan
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trafficked over five thousand children, selling
them to wealthy families. Other children,
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including nineteen unidentified victims, died of
extreme abuse and neglect at the Memphis branch
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of the Tennessee Children's Home Society.
Southerners were horrified that something like this could
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happen in their own backyard. Surely, they thought, with Tan's death and
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the sordid nature of her actions exposed
societies most vulnerable would never again be exploded
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on such a scale. But they
were wrong. Over in Georgia, word
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was now getting around that doctor Hicks
could arrange a discreet way for his pregnant
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patients to adopt their babies out to
loving families. He had lined up himself
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with privacy guaranteed and minimal fuss.
He was already performing abortions, so this
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seemed to many women a legitimate way
to solve the embarrassing or financially stressful problem
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of an unplanned pregnancy, and it
was an option for those women who didn't
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want a baby but were personally opposed
to abortion. Doctor Hicks arranged temporary housing
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for some of the expectant mothers for
several months. He also covered their medical
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costs and care during their stay at
either his farm, the New York Hotel
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on Copper Hill, Tennessee, or
in his apartments in the Telephone Company building.
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Time came for women to deliver.
Doctor Hicks got on the phone to
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prospective parents, but none of them
were vetted the way they are today.
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After giving the new parents only twenty
four hours to get to Mccaysviell, doctor
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Hicks sold the newborns for anywhere from
eight hundred dollars to up to ten thousand
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dollars ten thousand to one hundred and
twenty thousand today. The usual amount was
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said to be around one thousand,
which is about twelve thousand, six hundred
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today, according to the Atlanta Journal
Constitution. Some babies even went for as
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low as one hundred dollars twelve hundred
today. It's not known how much,
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if anything, was paid directly to
the birth mothers. Parents couldn't choose the
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gender, but if you could pay, you could get yourself a baby.
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Doctor Hicks arranged a falsified birth certificate
which would be forwarded several weeks later,
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naming the adoptive parents as the birth
parents, with the birth occurring in Mccaysviell.
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No questions asked. Doctor Hicks knew
he had to minimize any paper trail,
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so he didn't keep any records of
the birth mothers or families linking them
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to their adoptive families out of state, no medical records, and no accurate
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county court records of the births would
ensure the entire operations was kept under wraps.
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The doctor's mo also prevented any birth
mothers from changing their minds about giving
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up their babies. With no documents
filed through a court to prove the adoption
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had occurred, they had no rights. Despite how traumatizing this must have been
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for many of doctor Hicks's patients.
Some women gave birth multiple times at the
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clinic. I'm going to pause now
for a short commercial break. While many
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of the women knew they were giving
up their babies for adoption once they had
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delivered, it wasn't always this way. In a situation where it's hard to
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see that altruism was the sole motivator
and not money, doctor Hicks began taking
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infants from mothers who didn't want to
give up their babies at all. After
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these newborns were delivered, they were
whisked away and the dazed mother was told
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her child was stillborn. Meanwhile,
a couple who assumed the baby wasn't wanted
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was waiting out back of the clinic
to take their new baby home. Expectant
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mothers who very much wanted their children
and trusted Doctor Hicks were lied to Doctor
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Hicks didn't flaunt what was happening behind
closed doors. Locals put two and two
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together, but didn't ask questions about
what seemed to be an open secret.
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Women arrived from out of town in
cabs and even by plane. Pregnant teens
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and young women from wealthy Southern families
arrived in mccayswell at all hours of the
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day and night to see the doctor. It wasn't unusual to see limousines parked
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in the clinic's back alley. But
in December nineteen sixty four, operations at
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the Hicks clinics started to wind down. This wasn't due to the illegal adoptions,
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which were really more transactions being conducted
literally out of the back door.
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Doctor Hicks was instead arrested for performing
an abortion on a young woman from Cobb
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County. In return for the charges
being dropped, the doctor agreed to surrender
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his Georgia medical license. According to
the AJAC, some believed the arrest was
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orchestrated by other doctors who were jealous
of how well off doctor Hicks was.
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By this time, the years passed, and by the early nineteen nineties,
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a woman in Akron, Ohio named
Jane Blasio was on a mission. Since
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the age of six, Jane had
known she was adopted. As a teen,
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she didn't ask too many questions,
but she knew that one day she
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had to find out more about where
she came from and hopefully her birth family.
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As a teenager, Jane had found
an imbordered baby pillow in her attic.
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It had her name and her birth
date as January fifteenth, nineteen sixty
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five, but Jane had always been
told her birthday was December sixth, nineteen
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sixty four. Her birth date was
backdated to December nineteen sixty four to avoid
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any repercussions for doctor Hicks, who
had continued to practice even though he had
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surrendered his medical license in nineteen eighty
eight. Following the death of her mother,
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Jane's father told her the story of
how she came to join the family.
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After losing a child at birth and
being turned down by local adoption agencies,
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her parents bought Jane's older sister,
Michelle, from the Hicks clinic in
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nineteen sixty one. Michelle was sold
for eight hundred dollars plus the cost of
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a new outfit for her birth mother. Jane followed a few years later,
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she was sold for one thousand,
but with her original birth certificate falsified,
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there was no way for Jane or
any other Hicks Babies, as they came
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to be known, to trace birth
families the usual way. Legitimate adoption agencies
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turned down Jane's parents because her mother
had been previously divorced. Then they heard
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about the Hicks Clinic from a relative
who had purchased a baby. To get
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help with her birth records, Jane
sought the assistance of Fannin County Probate Judge
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Linda Davis. Together they uncovered around
fifty birth records between nineteen fifty five and
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nineteen sixty four, where the registered
birth of place was mccayswell, but the
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parent's usual address was Akron, a
twelve hour drive away. This made no
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sense and suggested that something illegal had
definitely occurred. In nineteen sixty alone,
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six of the fifty babies born in
Fannin County, just over ten percent were
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sold through the clinic to out of
state families. Judge Davis eventually uncovered records
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of at least two hundred infants born
at the clinic and handed out the rear
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of the premises into the waiting arms
of their new families that averages out to
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just over one baby a month.
They often wore little more than a diaper,
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came with no supplies, and were
still covered in Vernex, the waxy
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white substance found coding the skin of
newborn babies. Georgia Superior Court records confirmed
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that none of the babies had been
adopted through the appropriate legal channels. But
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how did so many babies end up
in Ohio and how did their adoptive families
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find out about doctor Hicks. Forty
nine of the two hundred babies were sold
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to couples from Summit County, Ohio, through a woman only known as Ruth.
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Ruth had grown up in Mcaysville and
her family knew doctor Hicks. She
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later moved to Ohio, where she
worked for west Akron Goodrich and bought four
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babies of her own through the clinic. As words spread around Akron that people
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wanting a baby could get one from
Georgia for the right price, Ruth became
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the facilitator. Prospective parents contacted the
clinic, putting their names on a waiting
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list and waiting by the phone for
doctor Hicks's call. Forty seven of the
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Summit County babies went to homes where
the father worked for the Akron Tire company.
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The remaining two newborns were sold to
a doctor in the Ohio city of
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Cayuga Falls. As words spread to
prospective parents, couples from eleven states,
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including Arkansas, New Jersey, Oregon, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and
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Pennsylvania contacted doctor Hicks to arrange the
purchase of a newborn. According to The
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New York Times, Judge Davis believes
most of the adoptive families were not rich,
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but working class. Ruth later refused
to discuss her involvement in what happened.
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If she was alive today, she'd
be one hundred and four, so
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she's likely passed away given how often
the adoptions were happening in such a small
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town. Some later wondered whether doctor
Hicks himself had fathered some of the children,
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but there's no evidence to suggest this
occurred. And don't forget it was
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common for doctor Hicks's obstetric's patients to
come from out of state and interstate.
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Jane Blasio made multiple trips to mcaswell
and search for answers. She suspected it
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would be difficult to get information and
was met with complete stonewalling. People didn't
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want to talk, much less entertained
the thought of their beloved former doctor's reputation
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being besmirched when he wasn't even alive
to defend himself. It became clear that
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doctor Hicks was a man of contradictions
who wore different masks depending on who Jane
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talked to. Some claimed the doctor
couldn't have possibly made a profit, even
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he was covering medical and accommodation costs
for his patients and their babies. I'm
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00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.840
a bygone age of mystery, danger
and romance, and build your very own
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island estate with expansive gardens and beautiful
buildings. I am now in chapter ten,
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where we boarded a train to Italy
on the trail of a killer.
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I can't wait to see where this
leads me. Can you crack the case?
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Download June's Journey for free today on
iOS and Android. In nineteen ninety
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seven, twenty five years after doctor
Hicks's death, the ugly truth was about
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to get extremely uncomfortable for those who
had held him in such high esteem.
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News of Jane's investigative work went public
in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Akron Beacon
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Journal, and the New York Times. Times. Calls started flooding into Judge
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Davis from those who thought they could
be one of the Hicks babies. Many
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of the stunned townsfolk felt that doctor
Hicks's actions had not only saved lives,
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but helped prospective parents who did give
their adoptive babies good homes realize a dream
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they thought would never come true.
Obviously, doctor Hicks was dead by this
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time, but so were many who
could have provided answers about what went on,
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including former nurses, his secretary,
lawyer, and much of his family.
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His surviving granddaughter, Sally Sumpyrac,
claims to not know anything specific about
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what occurred and rejects the assertion that
it was a black market adoption operation,
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but she's supportive of Jane Blazio's quest
to help others find their birth families.
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With no records left behind at the
clinic, there was little to go on,
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but this didn't stop the genetic testing
phase of Jane's work from kicking off.
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Jane became a professional investigator and expert
and black market adoption. With the
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help of Judge Davis, she established
mccaswell's Lost and found a confidential registry and
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support group for those connected to the
former Hicks clinic. She continues to dedicate
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much of her life to facilitating the
connection of other Hicks babies with their birth
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families where possible. In twenty seventeen, Jane identified her own birth father.
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His name is Herbert Kruse, and
he had died in twenty ten. However,
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her birth mother's identity remains elusive.
It was believed her mother could have
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been Kitty Goss, who died in
nineteen eighty seven at age thirty eight.
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Kitty was the oldest of nine children
and lived in poverty. In the mid
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nineteen sixties, she gave up two
babies for adoption. DNA testing involving her
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son Jamie revealed an inconclusive link to
Jane. Jane's advocacy work as not about
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seeking financial restitution, disrupting anyone's life, or said out to violate anyone's privacy.
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It's simply giving people back the right
to connect the dots about their medical
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history, a right taken away by
someone who many believe benefited financially from the
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circumstances. In twenty nineteen, a
six part documentary about the Hicks babies and
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Jane's search for answers, entitled Taken
at Birth, aired on TLC. Two
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years later, Jane released her memoir
of the same name. Many people in
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mccaysville and the adoptive parents are still
alive and staunch in their support of doctor
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Hicks. In twenty fourteen, then
Mayor Thomas Sebolt told the AJC quote,
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everyone accepted that it happened in this
town and they just rather let it go
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on. They maintain he provided a
much needed service during a time when reproductive
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rights and healthcare were largely underground.
They argued that the babies born and sold
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through the clinic went on to grow
up in loving homes with family who wanted
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nothing but the best for their children. And this last part is undoubtedly true.
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Many of the women who gave birth
at the clinic, truly wanting to
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give their child a chance at a
better life, felt they made the right
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decision at that moment in time.
But there's no getting away from the fact
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that doctor Hicks also coerced, confused, and scared vulnerable young women who were
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on the fence about adoption into surrendering
their babies. These women may very well
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have wanted to make it work,
despite the stigma of being a single mother
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or the financial challenges of expanding an
existing family. We can't forget that doctor
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Hicks also lied and stole from other
mothers, mothers who were told that their
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babies, who were very much alive
were still born. This completely contradicts the
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narrative by some locals that the doctor
didn't perform any services that weren't requested by
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a patient. Doctor Hicks went to
great links to prevent people from ever being
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able to trace their birth families for
something as straightforward as medical history was he
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motivated by profit or charity while hoping
to break even in the fees he charged.
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We'll probably never know. The pain
and trauma doctor Hicks cause to generations
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of families are undeniable, and many
argue this is not negated by the overall
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level of care he provided to the
broader community. It's doubtful he was the
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only physician in the South risking being
stripped of their medical license for providing access
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to safe abortions, but it's unlikely
these other doctors went to the links he
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did in deceiving and exploiting patients.
Jane Blasio continues to advocate for open adoption
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and increased safeguards for all parties involved. To date, about fifteen of the
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Hicks babies have found their birth parents
thanks to DNA testing and Jane's help.
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Along with the other Hicks babies,
seven birth mothers have also come forward,
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but time is running out for those
who are still desperate for answers. The
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DNA testing occurred in twenty fourteen and
Tennessee and thirty people turned up from all
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across the country. Ancestry dot Com
agreed to analyze their DNA for free.
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Previous testing was conducted in nineteen ninety
seven, but potential matches were limited due
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to technology at the time. Jane
originally said in nineteen ninety seven of Hick's
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actions, the villain is the circumstance. Today, on her website it appears
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she takes a stronger position by saying
Doc Hicks was no saint, and we
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00:22:45.200 --> 00:22:48.680
recognize his dysfunction, the pain he
caused many and have learned to bear it.
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Will probably never know how many babies
were sold by doctor Hicks. The
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00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:03.240
complexities and complications of his legacy continued
to affect hundreds of people today, not
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00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:07.920
just the Hicks babies themselves, but
their adoptive families and those supporting them in
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00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:12.720
their journey toward restoration. Indeed,
many may still not know they were ever
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adopted through the clinic, if at
all. And then, of course,
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there are those who discovered the circumstances
of their adoption but have since passed away
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00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:30.279
without ever knowing the real story behind
taking their first breath in Mccaysville. If
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00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.279
you or someone you know may be
connected to the Hicks Clinic and is looking
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00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:37.440
for assistance and support in their search. You can reach out to Jane Blazio
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00:23:38.039 --> 00:23:47.160
at Janeblazio dot com. Southern frid
True Crime is hosted and produced by me
277
00:23:47.480 --> 00:23:52.480
Erica Kelly. Today's episode was researched
and written by Jima Harris. Southern Fred's
278
00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:56.599
original music is by Rob Harrison of
Gamma Radio and the original graphic art is
279
00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:00.440
by Coley Horner. Today's episode was
edited and made by Brandon schock Snyder of
280
00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:06.119
Southern Gothic and Erica Kelly. If
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