Yukon who is who

Lyonella Murat “Luella” Day McConnell, aka Diamond Lil (d. 1927)

Luella Day was born in Baltimore and set out from Chicago to join the Klondike Stampede. She was a physician who specialized in setting broken bones.¹⁾ She went over the Chilkoot in April 1898 and ended up in Dawson. Day became active in the local community and bought some gold properties that turned out to be successful. Her book recounts her many colourful activities. She met local businessman Ed MacConnell [sic] who built the Melbourne Hotel. She was offered a position with him as he had just completed the hotel; a log building three stories high containing twenty-seven rooms. It cost him $36,000. She worked for MacConnell and was also secretary for several miners.²⁾

Luella was able to buy the hotel for $32,000. She does not mention in her book that she also married him. The manager of the CIBC wanted to buy the hotel, but she was determined not to sell. There are several attempts on her life and she was supposedly intimidated and forced to leave Dawson in the night in 1900. She names names in recounting rampant corruption in Dawson. She ended up in St. Augustine, Florida where she acquired a property and turned it into a world-famous attraction called the Fountain of Youth, still operating in 2010. All this is recounted in The Tragedy of the Klondike (1906).³⁾

Day was known as Diamond Lil in St. Augustine where she founded her tourist attraction and where she arrived with a diamond embedded in her front tooth. “Diamond Lil” became a common name for many things in the United States including an Air Force B-24 plane, a well-known wrestler, a Marvel Comics cartoon character, a hotel in Montana, a rock band, a champion cutting horse, a Seattle casino, and bars and grills in several states. Day’s privately printed book was never distributed in the Yukon.⁴⁾

The McConnells purchased the property on Magnolia Avenue in St. Augustine but Ed McConnell soon disappears from the reports as Luella appears in town minus her jewels, her fortune, and her husband. She was arrested for shooting a horse that walked across her lawn, she ran ads in a local paper wanting information about her missing gardener, and she accused political personalities of conspiracy and murder. She claimed that a friend had been institutionalized and divorced by her husband after he inaccurately accused her of insanity. She handed out flyers in the street of her many grievances.⁵⁾

Luella was killed in a car accident when the car she was driving hit a tree head on. She was instantly killed and a passenger in the car died three days later. McConnell returned to St. Augustine to claim her possessions but there is no record of a memorial service or grave site. She was honoured by the Great Floridians 2000 Program that recognises individuals who made significant contributions to the history and culture of Florida. Her plaque is located at the Fountain of Youth, 11 Magnolia Street. A former employee of the site has brought her story to life in plays and private performances.⁶⁾