The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-26

the mining camps. and was the belle
of Sacramento. She was the mistress
of Rube Raines. who ran the biggest
gambling saloon in Sacramento. FL
Dorado, while she was the head OF a
dance house, the Palace. Fanny
Raines, as she was now known, was
perhaps as desperate and as quick
with her gun as any man In California
HER FIRST VICTIM.
She was unfortunate in using 1t, how
ever, for one of her victims was Albert
Putnam. one of the most reputable citi-
zens of Sacramento. 1t was at the time
that the law and order movement IN
California was organizing, when the
people of the Pacific coast had grown
tired of the crimes there. and or being
ruled and dOmineered over by gamblers.
murderers, and blacklegs. Mr.. Putnam
was one of those who took lead In the
movement for peace and order, anu
when he was killed by the mistress OF
one of the worst gamblers in the town,
the tragedy so stirred public sentiment
that there seemed every probability
that Fanny Raines in spite OF her sex,
would be lynched. but she had friends
in Sacramento, and. strange to say,
she ran across her missing sister. Saran.
there. who. after marrying men named
Swartout, Mccormack, and Green, was
then living in California, under the
alias of Leah Duell. Her friends hur-
red her aboard a boat, got her away
from Sacramento before the lynchers
could find her. and she started for new
fields, going first to Acapulco. Mexico,
then to Panama, where she met Abra-
ham Hinckley of New York. who was
engaged in business there. He was IN
fatuated with the woman, and he took
her to New York. where he married her,
and she dropped the names Minerva
Seymour and Fanny Smith and became
Maria Hinckley. She enjoyed her sec
ond marriage but q year. She visited
her husband in Panama, travelled to
Cuba and other countries and finally
wound un in New orleans. where she
seemed TO have grown tired of married
life. for she brought suit for divorce
and got II.
Then followed curious episode in her
life which was largely responsible for
the decision of the court giving her
property to the Brown heirs. Maria
Hinckley, after wandering around the
world, and changing her name at every
place to which she went, after going
through the most remarkable proceed
ings to cover up past and lose her orig
inal name, returned to Rome. Ohio. her
birthplace. after an absence of thirteen
years. She came back as respectable
and well-tO-do widow. to find her moth
er dead. She built a handsome ana
expensive monument over her mothers
grave. on which she had carved an en-
tire poem. written by herself. Whether
she was tired of her life of wandering
a1t nt,,c nd aH
down tn quiet. respectable life, no one
except herself could ever say. She un-
fortunately got into quarrel with her
brother-in-law. McVey, whose wife got
half her succession. There were re-
ordinations and lawsuits. In which
Mrs. Maria Hinckley was generally sue
cessful. but they so disgusted her with
her sfamilv that she again shook the
dust from her feet and came back to
New Orleans, where she changed her
name and became Fanny Sweet.
ADVENTURES IN MALE ATTIRE.
1t was Just as the civil war broke
upon the country. Willis G. Stevens se-
cured the contract from the Confed-
crate government to supply the trans
Mississippi department with gunpow-
der. He was to buy 1t abroad, and
started for Europe. via Mexico, as New
Orleans was then blockaded. He had
as partners in the business young Fred
Sweet and a leading merchant Of New
Orleans. After travelling through Tex
as the merchant was surprised to find
that Fred was woman, in fact was
Fanny Sweet. who found male dress
better suited to her adventures. and
who in after life went as often In trOus-
ers as in petticoats. The Confederate
fa n nd
where Stevens was taken dangerously
ill., and was nursed by FANNY Sweet
The nursing did not seem to agree with
him. and when he died and Fanny
came into most of his property she
was publicly accused of numbering
him: but in those times of civil war,
the criminal courts were practically
suspended, and although the charge of
murder was made repeatedly, Fanny
Sweet was never molested. She came
back to New Orleans. said that Stew
ems was largely indebted to her. brought
suit against his heirs. and secured a
large part of his succession. From that
time to her death FANNY Sweet never
left New Orleans. She became a part
of its criminal history. She built on
the famous shell road, just on the edge
of tn city, palatial mansion, sur
rounded by the handSOmest gardens
There the widest revelries went on,
and the police were frequently called
on to restore order: but she had friends
and influence and defied all police reg
ulatiOns. Nothing afforded her more
satisfaction than to drive a handsome
carriage through the city, dressed in
male attire. firing her revolver in the
air. This, however, was mere trifiing,
and there We're several more serious
N he on of hn oh a
house. A young man of conspicuous
family was murdered in her garden,
but the family gladly hushed up the
affair. Then young woman was killed
there, and there were whispers of Fan
ny's wild jealously and ungovernable
temper and her quickness to use her
gun, but it was during a period of the
grossest police corruption. and no one
cared to trifle with Fanny. and the
murder was never made public; 1t was
returned as suicide.
Sixteen years ago Fanny Sweet, then
well beyond fifty. further astonished
the world by marrying the disting-
uished lawyer, William r. Mills. The
marriage shocked Mills friends, but it
seems to have been q happy one, for
when he died. eleven years afterward,
he left his entire property to his be
loved wife, whom he styles Fanny
Minerva Seymour Hinckley," including
large proportion of her aliases. After
that Rachel Brown, Minerva Seymour,
Fanny Smith. Fanny Raines, Maria
Hinckley, Fred Sweet, Fanny Sweet,
or Mrs. Mills, led quiet life soothed
her sorrows with opium, became blind,
and finally died of starvation, insisting
to the last that she was originally an
English barmaid, Minerva Seymour.
FOR over ten months the court has
been Dusty engaged in hearing tcsti-
mony about her career and has
brought out the facts here given, but
there are hundreds of other incidents
Of her career still untold.
QUEEN vICTORlA's CIGARS.
Her Majesty Consumes 1000 Fine