Woman from "Restricted District" Commits Suicide

Reno, 1912

YOUNG WOMAN TIRES OF LIFE

After Filing Suit for Divorce She Takes Poison and Passes Away

At Time of Death Was Leading Miserable Life in This City

Bertha Manhart, a young woman who for some months past has been in a house in the restricted district, died in a local hospital last night from the effects of bichloride of mercury poisoning taken Saturday evening in the house in which she lived, and yesterday afternoon a woman of the same name filed a suit for divorce in the district court against Elmer L. Manhart. The attorneys for the woman who filed the suit state that they do not know whether their client is the same person who died last night or not, but friends of the dead woman state that she is the woman who filed the suit and that her husband resides in Salt Lake City or Chicago. They also state that she had a little daughter in Chicago living with her mother and that her sister, who is said to be a vaudeville artist, is on her way from Salt Lake City to Reno to take charge of the remains and to attend to the administration of her estate.

The woman came to this city about eight months ago and entered a house in the restricted district and it is said that she had two bank accounts in the city and that she also sent considerable money to the east. It has been stated that she is a native of Florida, but acquaintances who claim to know something of her life, state that she came to Reno from Salt Lake city and that prior to that time she was a resident of Chicago.

One of her friends stated this morning that the woman took mercury tablets Saturday evening and was taken to a local hospital and last evening death claimed her.

This morning the county physicians performed an autopsy on the body and tomorrow morning Coroner Lee J. Davis will hold an inquest when more facts concerning the unfortunate woman's life may become known. She was known in the tenderloin district as Margaret.

—Reno Evening Gazette, Reno, June 19, 1912, p. 1.