Early San Francisco had more than its share of colorful characters. The bold, ruthless and adventurous flooded in after gold was discovered in 1848. Among those early pioneers was David Smith Terry, known as Terry the Terrible, the Supreme Court Justice who fought the duel that ended dueling in California. Another was William Sharon, King of the Comstock, a millionaire and a United States Senator. And then there was the notorious Mary Ellen Mammy Pleasant, a woman whose story still mystifies and enthralls historians, who has been praised as the mother of California civil rights and has been called a swindler, voodoo priestess, murderer and more.By the 1880s, these legendary figures had already seen a lot of fast living. If they were looking forward to their quiet golden years, they must have been greatly disappointed at the turn life took when the tempestuous Sarah Althea Hill came to town. She swept through the city, scattering destruction in her wake. When the chaos was over, some people recovered, others did not, but Sarah herself would suffer one of the saddest fates of all.She was beautiful, talented and intelligent. She set off the scandal of the Gilded Age. And then she was forgotten. Until now.