New York in the 1840's was a wild and fascinating burgeoning metropolis with many opportunities, not all good. Mary Rogers was known as "The Beautiful Cigar Girl,' working at a local smoke shop as the owner said her beauty brough in many customers. Mary's mother had opened up her house to boarding after Mary's father died in a tragic steamboat accident. It was mother and daughter trying to get along doing what they needed to do. Mary's beauty was so renowned at the time that James Fennimore Cooper wrote a poem about her that was published in the New York Herald. In 1841 Mary told her mother and fiancee Daniel Payne that she was taking a short boat ride to visit her aunt. But she never returned. She was found 3 days later floating in the Hudson River. What happened to Mary? Her life inspired Edgar Allen Poe to write "The Mystery of Marie Roget," changing Mary's name and making her life in Paris instead of New York Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.