Stella Campbell

“BICHLORIDE OF MERCURY POISON” was listed as the cause of death for Stella E. Campbell, who died at the Miners Hospital on August 4, 1909. What the death certificate does not record is that Stella was the successful half of a failed suicide pact.

Stella—known to friends as “Brick”—was twenty-three years old and worked as a chorus girl at the Big Casino, where she also roomed upstairs. Little is known of her life before Tonopah. It was believed she may previously have worked as a stenographer for the Pacific Railroad in Ely. In Tonopah, as in most mining towns of the era, “chorus girls,” “dancers,” and “entertainers” were often prostitutes as well, and Stella was likely no exception.

On Friday morning, July 23, Stella, her coworker Birdie Kelly, and Big Casino orchestra drummer Ed Drake awoke around 7:00 a.m. and began drinking heavily. They continued to do so throughout the day. During his testimony at the coroner’s inquest, Drake stated that Stella appeared despondent and cried frequently as the day wore on.

At approximately 7:00 p.m., while Drake was combing his hair and tying his necktie in preparation for his shift, he heard Stella say, “Ed, here’s regards.” He turned in time to see her drink the contents of a pewter cup. Almost immediately, the corrosive poison began burning its way through her digestive tract. Stella convulsed and writhed on the bed as the mercury took hold.

Dr. E. K. Smith was summoned. While awaiting his arrival, Drake and Birdie Kelly—joined by dancer Aria Lorimer—attempted to save Stella’s life by force-feeding her olive oil, mustard, egg whites, and milk, all of which were considered antidotes at the time. When Dr. Smith arrived, he used a stomach pump and administered additional treatments. Stella was taken to the Miners Hospital around 10:00 p.m.

She did not die quickly.

Stella Campbell lingered for more than ten days before finally dying at 4:55 a.m. on August 4, 1909.

The other party to the suicide pact was Birdie Kelly—the same woman who worked frantically to save Stella’s life. Birdie lost her nerve and never followed through. She brooded over the decision for eight months, making several unsuccessful attempts to kill herself, including turning on the gas in her room. Finally, after a day of heavy drinking, she shot herself in her room at the Big Casino. She survived the gunshot wound, left Tonopah, and relocated to Oakland, California.

Walter Decker, an employee of the Nye and Ormsby County Bank who was infatuated with Birdie, followed her to Oakland. When she rejected him, he shot himself and succeeded. In his suicide note, Decker wrote that he “meant to take her with him,” but that she failed to meet him at the appointed time.

The complete coroner’s inquest into Stella Campbell’s death is preserved at the Central Nevada Museum

Stella lies in Old Tonopah Cemetery—another young woman whose suffering was prolonged, documented, and ultimately reduced to a single line on a death certificate. Her grave, like her life, is easy to overlook unless someone chooses to stop and remember.

NOTE: The complete coroner’s inquest into Stella Campbell’s death—including testimony, timelines, and medical details—is preserved in the archives of the Central Nevada Museum.