Tragic Night In Paris.

In my book I explain and rule out many theories on Olive Thomas's final hours before making a deadly mistake and meeting her untimely demise.

Here I will explain some things about Jack and Olive's time in Paris.

Olive's Boarding pass from August 6, 1920. 

One thing that was published was that Olive told friends that Jack didn't want her to come to Paris with him, and that when they arrived in Paris, Jack left Olive alone for many weeks. Jack originally planned the trip to Paris with his former brother in-law Owen Moore, to get fitting's for new outfits. It was later that Jack decided that Olive should come with, and when they first arrived Jack had to go to London to get fittings, it was all planned. Jack didn't leave Olive to be mean, he left to do his original plans. Jack and Olive planned it to be a second honeymoon, they had marriage troubles and rarely got to see each other, this was so they could spend some time together.

An unknown "intimate" friend of Olive's told the papers after Olive died that Olive wrote a letter to her saying that she couldn't live any longer with Jack. Stating that further marriage and living together would be impossible. That was published in the Los Angeles Examiner, September 11 1920, just one day after Olive died.

On the evening of September 5, 1920 after a night of partying, Olive and Jack went back to their room at Hotel Ritz. Jack said they arrived at 3 O' clock in the morning, although some employee's at the Ritz hotel said that they saw Olive arrive alone at 1 am and Jack arrived at 3 am. Jack told papers that he went straight to bed and that Olive fussed around for a little bit and wrote a letter to her mother. The letter read: 

"'Mamma dear:  

Well and having a nice time. Leaving here September 11. I will cable you from the boat and will tell you all the news when I arrive.

Olive.

Love to all.'"

Jack then stated that Olive went to the bathroom and then she suddenly shrieked, "My God!"  Jack jumped out of bed, and caught Olive in his arms. He read the label on the medicine bottle she just took pills from, and it read "Poison". He called for a doctor and then forced eggs and water down Olive's throat in order to make her vomit. When the doctor arrived, he pumped Olive's stomach 3 times and then brought her to the hospital. From vomiting the Mercury Bichloride tablets, it burned Olive's vocal chords and stomach. She soon lost sight and hearing. Olive suffered for four days before finally dying on September 10, 1920. 

From Jacks first instinct on making Olive vomit, it caused Olive to live longer only to die with more pain.  On his trip back to America, he planned to jump off the ship and kill himself. But everyone talked him out of it, saying he was a coward if he killed himself.

Many people blame Jack for Olive's death. But in my personal opinion, it was merely just a terrible accident. I think that swallowing mercury was more common than we think. More than five years before Olive's death, another actress swallowed this mercury solution. Actress Nellie Esling swallowed half a bottle of Mercury after a night of partying with friends. That sounds eerily similar to Olive's situation. Now, two actresses make that deadly mistake on accident? That's very suspicious. 

No one knows in today's world if Nellie lived or died, all we have is just a little newspaper clipping of her. Not even a picture of her has surfaced. All we know is that she was unconscious when people found her and when she was some what conscious, she said she swallowed half a bottle of pills on accident. What I don't get is that why would you swallow half a bottle of pills in the first place? Olive thought she took aspirin, why take so much? That would be just as deadly. 

Mercury Bichloride was an extremely common household item. People used it as a cleaning solution. Anyone could buy these pills at local drug stores, sometimes you had to get permission from a doctor. depending on the state you lived in. People either inhaled, injected, or applied it topically. What I don't get is that Olive died from it. Many other people swallowed this and they where fine. Why did she die? 

Perhaps, she died from throwing it up?

Olive and Jack on the ship, just before their trip to Paris. This is one of the last pictures of Olive.