Sarah Maddox (1890-1911) - Lovelorn Schoolgirl

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In 1911, Sarah Maddox was a student at the Phoenix Indian School.  She was probably a member of the Hoopa tribe of northern California.   According to her newspaper obituary, she was one of the school’s brightest students and had an interest in the dramatic arts.  Although the sentimental newspaper article portrays her as being sixteen, other sources suggest that she was in fact about 21.

She may have been the daughter of John Wesley Maddux, a white man who owned a saloon in Happy Camp, California, and his first wife, a local Native American woman.  John Wesley Maddux did have a daughter named Sarah, but little else is known about her.

While at school, Sarah apparently fell in love with a young man who was a member of the school’s baseball team.  Being shy, she hoped to attract his attention by appearing on stage in the school’s dramatic productions.  One such performance took place late in February, 1911, and all confirmed that she did an outstanding job.  However, Sarah was bereft to learn that the object of her affections had not even been present to witness her triumph.

Feeling rejected, Sarah swallowed a caustic compound—possibly lye or mercury—and died about two weeks later from the painful effects.  She was buried in Rosedale Cemetery.

It is not known whether the young baseball player ever knew of her interest in him.

- by Donna Carr