The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1912-09-17
WHITE WIFE Of
PRIZE FIGHTER
AN OUTCAST
STORY OF LIFE AND
DEATH OF WOMAN WHO MAR.
RiED THE NEGRO CHAMPION
EVEN THE coLoRED WOMEN
STUNNED HER-WAs DIVORCE,
WIFE OF MILLIONAIRE TURF.
MAN.

The following special from Chicago
tells something OF the tragic details of
the life and suicide of Jack Johnson's
white wife:
Eta johnson, once a famous beauty
who had slipped through the social
scale from her place as the wife of
Clarence Duryea, millionaire and So
ctally prominent Long Island turfman,
until she became the wife Of Jack
Johnson, negro heavyweight pusilist,
DIED in hospital early this morning
from self-infiicted bullet wound. In
the later years of her life negroes were
the only associates she could command,
and negroes alone inquired after her
at the hospital.
God pity poor woman who is lone
ly" were her words q moment before
she shot herself in her apartments
over the negros saloon, from which
the sounds Of gaming and revelry
came. A minute before she had knelt
and prayed at her bedside, with her
arms around her two negro maids, who
Joined in her applications.
AS they arose, Mrs. Johnson cried
out against her loneliness and then
sent the maids out of the room on err
rands. In a moment they heard a shot
and rushing into the bedroom, found
the grief stricken social outcast lying
on the floor, with bullet wound in
her head. She was unconscious.
She was rushed to Provident hospital
and her negro husband was summoned.
Doctors found that there was no hope
for her. When the negro appeared, lie
ordered everyone out of the room, and
the doctors complied. He locked the
door and raised such a commotion that
hospital attendants forced the lock and
Quoted him, in fear that his actions
would hasten the woman's death. She
continued unconscious until her death,
at $3.50 o'clock this morning. A Ro-
man Catholic priest administered ex-
treme JUNCTION.
On the recent trip to Las Vegas,
when the negro fought Jim Flynn, Mrs
Johnson Is said to have remarked to
friends that everyone Stunned her De-
cause she had married negro, and
that she was unhappy. She had con-
tended for a time after her marriage
that she was part negro, but this story
was disproved when 1t became known
that she was divorced from Duryea.
Her condition, 1t was said, was an at
tempt to win favor with the negro
women, who Stunned her also
A short time before she shot herself,
she said to a neighbor:
IT am a white woman and am tired
of being a social outcast. deserve all
of my misery for marrying black
man. Even the negroes don't respect
me: they hate me. I intend to end 1t
ALL"
At the time Of the shooting the ne
gro had gone downtown to arrange for
tickets for Las Vegas, where the wom-
an was to go for her health. Soon af-
ter he left she called his sister, Mrs.
Veanie Rhodes, and asked her to come
over at once. When she arrived Mrs.
Johnson had been taken to the hos
pital.
Mrs. Johnson, who was 81 years old,
was the daughter Of Mrs. David Terry
of Brooklyn, N. 7. After her divorce
from Duryea, which swept away her
luxury and social position, she met
Johnson, on his return from Australia,
and they were married. Her life with
him had been particularly stormy.