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[edit] Personal HistoryBorn in Northern China to impoverished farmers, Lalu Nathoy was sold to bandits during a prolonged drought for two bags of seed and shipped to San Francisco where she was auctioned off as a slave for $2,500 in 1872. Her buyer, Hong King, ran a saloon in Warrens, a mining camp in Idaho, where Lalu—renamed Polly—worked until she won her freedom. As a free woman, Polly ran a popular boarding house in Warrens and lived with Charlie Bemis, a saloon keeper who'd befriended her on her arrival. In 1894 the two married and settled on the River of No Return. Polly, who twice saved Charlie's life and outlived him by ten years, was renowned for her generous hospitality, humor, skill in nursing, and love of animals as well as people. Source: http://www.mccunn.com/PollyBemis.html There is a biography about her life. The title is Thousand Pieces of Gold written by Ruthanne Lum McCunn; 2004 edition. Tombstone image from Find A Grave; Memorial# 20007146. Image Gallery
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