French became involved with Henry Anderson Lafler , an assistant editor on '' The Argonaut '' , and moved to San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake . She quickly made her place within bohemian intellectual circles and endured several unhappy affairs . In 1907 she joined George Sterling and his wife at their home in Carmel , but was unable to overcome her problems . French grew more depressed and on Monday November 11 , tried to kill herself unsuccessfully with a gunshot to the head . The bullet took off a lock of her hair , but Nora missed her mark due to her shaky hand . Two days later , during the night of November 13 – 14 , Nora ended her life in Sterling 's home ( he was absent in San Francisco ) by ingesting cyanide while Mrs. Sterling slept beside her . Nora was twenty-six years old . Newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area sensationalized the tragedy with glaring headlines and reports of Bohemian dissipations as well as recent and frequent visits by prominent '' married '' men , including the artists Charles Dickman , Xavier Martinez , and Charles Rollo Peters
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Nora May French