Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-10-31
BUTTE GIRL SET
A WRITING MODE

Mere than . Ghara Of 3 oemfmry
has passed since Mary MaeA.@me, =
Butte schoolgirl. startled the liter
airy world with her famous beok,
The Story Of Mary MacKane. With
that book she started 3 new school
of literary style. She was only 1S
years old bat her account Of her
life In Butte became . best-seAler
over night. &c was Published In 1892
and within 3 year the youthful
author had received mere than
S20.000 In royalties.
With her newly found wealth Mary
MacLane went east TO receive the ac-
claim which awaited her. She was
greeted with open arms into the in
ner circle Of the literary great. The
famous II. L. Mencken devoted an en-
tire chapter Of one Of his books to her,
calling her the Butte Bashkirtsen and
comparing her work to that Of the IA
nous Russian writer
Gray Butte 10 Gay New York
II Mary MacLsane had succeeded IN
startling the literary world with her
writing, she now proceeded TO keep
newspaper readers In furore with her
actions. She joined the Bohemian ar
lists and writer's set Of New York city
and was soon the leading light in
their gay doings. She was the adored
of the city's newspaper reporters for
her interviews made good feature ma
terial
Mary MacI.ane came back to Butte
frequently and gave the mining city
plenty to talk about One of the Butte
papers had this to say about her In
1917: Red corpuscles viii circulate at
the announcement that Mary MacLane,
the Butte authoress, has written new
book. The new effort is entitled, I,
Mary MacLane. It is now Is years
since Mary MacLane, then q Hedging
schoolgirl Of 10 summers, wrote The
Story of Mary MacI.ane' In a day this
young girl who had never been out of
the gray atmosphere Of Butte was
famous
1.-THE sales Of the book were in keep
ing with the sensation it caused and
Butte was given a lot Of publicity be-
later she brought out a second book but
it did not have the punch Of the in
itial effort and its reception was not
such as to bring her much financial
emOlument.
when Butte awakened to the fact
that outside of W. A. Clark celebrity
was residing in its midst, Mary became
the object Of much attention. The So
ciety women of the city decided that
Mary should be taken into the inner
circle. So they planned great coming
out reception.
Mary Thought Out Loud
Mary, out to be amused, attended.
She was then In the first flush Of her
newly acquired fame Some of the Butte
matrons attempted to patronize her.
She patronized right back with inter
est. She said sharp things to those who
would not know her when she had
been obscure It seems the trouble with
Mary was that she thought out loud.
Some gushing society queen would say:
so you are the little girl who wrote
the book. What Is the name Of the
book? It must be very interesting to
write a book. The next time you write
one / wish you would put me in it,
Then Mary would say what she
thought and her thoughts were not In
every case complimentary. The society
queen, somewhat ruff1ed, would pass
her on TO the next, with the same re-
suit. Oh, it was q great party, that
reception to Mary MacIane. They talk
about 1t yet In Butte. The party. from
the viewpoint Of the society leaders,
was a failure No further functions
were given In honor of the young au-
thoress and 1t was years before some
of the women who had been prominent
IN arranging tine a1fa1r coutu Dear 70
speak Of 1t.
Basked In Spotlight
an the east Mary collected her roy
alties, did few stellar assignments
for the big city newspapers, and
brought out her second book. Then a
few years ago, she returned to Butte
10 visit relatives Dick Kilroy was man
aging the Butte Evening News, Heinze's
publication, at the time. Dick had
fat purse and desire for achievement.
He sought out Mary and offered her
employment on his paper.
at viii work for you MFR. KiToy,
II you viii send me down to Their
mopolis, Wyo., to write up prize fight
that will be pulled off down there next
week. said Mary, who just fairly hated
the spotlight.
Done said Dick.
$50 Mary went to Thermopolis. But
there her gambling blood got the best
Of her. She bet her wad on the short
ender in the fight-land lost. The In