The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-10-11
esrAB.OvER HAlFA CENTURY
KLONDlKE'SFIRSTWOMAN SUES
ACTION REVEALS ROMANCE or
ALASKA GOLD STRIKE.
Mrs. Belinda CarbOnreau Demands Sl5..
saA for Jewels and Furs Which Fell
Into Hands Of Her Husband-Tihany
and RevilIOn Freres Defendants.

Suits we're filed yesterday against
tiffany & Co. and Revillon Freres in be-
| half OF Mrs. Belinda Carbonneau, de-
scrited as Queen of the klondike and
as the first woman to go to Alaska at the
| time Of the gold discoveries. Shc sues
through an assignee to recover Sli,a5l
worth Of jewclry and se.iOO OF furs and
other wearing apparel said to have been
lost through the negligence OF the de-
PENDANTS.
1t was explained in behalf Of Mrs
Carbonneau last night that tho articles
sued for were lost because the defendants
gave them up to her husband. who called
himself Count Carbonneau at times,
but whose real name is Charles r. Car
bonneau. She has been searching for
him for some years to recover the furs
and jewelry. and failing in this she
brought suit against the custodans OF
the articles just before her claim would
have been outlawed.
In tho complaint against tiffany Co.
it is alleged that articles to the value OF
Sll ,i5i were deposited on June 49,. 1904.
with the understanding that they would
be kept safely until the owner called for
them. She called for them on November
/. 1905. but they we're not returned be-
cause they had been cared for So negli-
gently that they had been lost.
The list Of the jewelry attached to the
complaint included diamond bowknot
with large pearl in centre. 81 o00; gold
nugget belt, made in Dawson City. $500:
gold mesh purse set in diamonds. enier-
aids and rubies. 81 900; diamond solitaire
ring. $1,000; klondike pioneers badge.
with diamond setting. 500; two nugget
rosaries. $3.50. and two nugget chains, $40.
The complaint against kevillon Freres
contained the same dates, and the same
allegations of carelessness. and the list
of articles included q sable lined fur coat
So .OO0 seal lined coat 500; robe of eagle s
feathers, lined with lavender cloth, S7o,
and ermine stole. $50.
Mrs Carbonneau was the first woman
to go to the klondike.' said lawyer
speaking in her behalf last night. She
was Belinda Mulrooney. and lived in a
little town in Pennsylvania when the gold
discovery was made. When she got to
Dawson City she not only opened a store
there but she staked out some claims that
proved rich and before long a man calling
himself the Count Carbonneau came
along. He learned that she was rich.
made love to her and married her. Soon
: Mrs. Carbonneau decided the man had
ltl lbi IeI tioiltS ltlt nun
there and came to New York in the fall
of 1904.
"On her arrival here Mrs. Carbonneau
went to the Fifth Avenue Hotel Not
long afterward her husband reached here
end as soon as she learned of it she took
her jewe'ry end furs and deposited them
with Tiffany and with Revillon's 8 to keen
them from her husband Then she left
for Alaska to look after her business and
mining cleims, end returned in November,
/ 1905. Whom she went 10 get her property
she was told that the furs and jawlry
had been delivered 10 her husband She
he's been trying ever sim 10 find him
and recover her properly b L has failcd "
Carbonneau turned up IN Philadelphia
in September 1905. when he was arrested
at the Bellevue -Stratford for kidnapping
his sister-in-law, Agnes Mulrooney. The
girl, who WAS IS yearsold, had been tend
ing convent at Chestnut Hill and Car
bonneau said he had seized her and took
her in his auto because he saw her in the
arms of young man The young man
notified the police and Carbonnea,l was
| traced to the hotel where he had taken
the young woman. The girl said that her
sister had been supplying Carbonnea,,
with money but was then getting divorce
from him
Carbonneau described himself as a
commissioner in banking securities with
offices in Paris. New York and London.
He said that the Klondike mines were
his own and that he had been paving for
his slster-in-law's s tuition.