HART

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Friday, July 23, 2010 at 04:46:42 :

The Marin Journal
Thursday, March 10, 1921
Page 1

Mrs. Mary E. Hart Commits Suicide

Mrs. Mary E. Hart, gold miner, newspaper reporter and editor, lecturer and writer, took her own life in Los Angeles last Tuesday by inhaling gas.

Mrs. Hart, when she was not traveling, passed her time at her home in Corte Madera, where she owned considerable property. She was well known in this county.

The story reported from Los Angeles is to the effect that Mrs. Hart was a guest at the home of a friend, Miss Lenore King. She was known to have been suffering recently from ill health. She had been informed by a physician that a serious operation was necessary, and it is believed that fear of the consequences prompted her to commit suicide.

After locking the doors of her rooms in the King home, Mrs. Hart stopped the cracks in the doors and windows with blankets and turned on the gas. Miss King found t he body later and notified the police. The body was removed by the Coroner. Mrs. Hart was 65 years of age.

In the gold rush to Alaska Mrs. Hart was in the van of the great delegation to the northland. She mushed the snow trails and swung a pick and shovel, digging for gold and finding it. Side by side with men, she held her own and emerged from the gold fields with a fortune.

She was known about Nome as the "First lady of Alaska.”