The Lady and the Panda (54 page)

288
During quiet days
“Mrs. Van Loon Is Dead,”
New York Times,
9 Nov. 1958.

288
Ready to pitch
“Mrs. Harkness Dies Suddenly in Pittsburgh,”
Titusville (Penn.) Herald,
21 July 1947.

288
“feeling lousy”
Helen Criswell, diary entry, 12 Oct., 1946, Cornell University archives.

288
Through it all
Harkness to Sioussat, 14 and 27 July 1946, Library of American Broadcasting archives.

288
The problem was extreme
Siglinde Ash, telephone interview by author, 12 Sept. 2002.

288
In the face
Helen Criswell, diary entry, 3 May 1947, Cornell University archives.

288
Harkness ended up
Harkness to Sioussat, July 1947, carries Fulton as the return address, and this is where her sister lived, according to “Woman Explorer, Former Erieite.”

288
famously bohemian Chelsea Hotel
“Explorer's Widow Dies Unexpectedly in Hotel Bath,”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
21 July 1947; and
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,
18, 19, 21, and 24 July 1947. She listed the Chelsea as her address.

288
At almost midnight
“Ruth Harkness, 46, Explorer, Is Dead,”
New York Times,
21 July 1947, dateline Pittsburgh, 20 July. “Woman Explorer, Former Erieite,” says she checked in on Thurs.
Erie Dispatch,
21 July 1947, agrees with Associated Press report—she checked in Fri.
Titusville (Penn.) Herald,
21 July 1947, also says Fri. for check-in.

288
When by midnight
“Woman Explorer, Former Erieite.”

288
Greer used his master key
“Ruth Harkness Death Probed,” Associated Press, dateline 20 July 1947.

288
The bedcovers
“Mrs. Harkness to Be Buried in Union Cemetery,”
Titusville (Penn.) Herald,
22 July 1947.

289
In the opinion
“Harkness Death Probed.”

289
The officers searched
“Mrs. Ruth Harkness Dies at 46; Brought Giant Panda to U.S.,”
New York Herald Tribune,
21 July 1947.

289
suspect foul play Erie Daily Times,
21 July 1947.

289
T. R. Helmbold
“Mrs. Ruth Harkness Dies at 46.”

289
She was cremated
“Woman Explorer, Former Erieite.”

289
The simple services Titusville (Penn.) Herald,
21 July 1947.

289
The family
Copy of funeral bill, Tracy Home of Funerals, 120 E. Main Street, Titusville, Penn.: “Titusville's Finest.”

289
“a heavy loss”
Quentin Young to Harriet Anderson, 5 Mar. 1974, from family archives.

289
Unlike his resilient
Kiefer,
Chasing the Panda
, p. 196.

291
Kiefer would write
Ibid., p. 196.

291
In 1974
Two letters—both to Mary Lobisco, who was working at the time for a U.S. congressman—make this clear. One from Quentin Young, 30 Nov. 1974, the other from the wife of his former boss, Hazel Good, 25 Nov. 1974.

291
He not only presented
Quentin Young letter to the editor,
Smithsonian,
13 Dec. 1983, Harkness family archives.

291
In the first letter
Young to Anderson, 15 Jan. 1974, Ruth Harkness family archives.

292
The two would be
Kiefer,
Chasing the Panda,
p. 210.

293
Just miles away
Schaller,
Last Panda,
p. xi.

293
In Sichuan Province
World Wildlife Fund, 15 Feb. 2001, 40th anniversary report.

294
While dozens of reserves
World Wildlife Fund's China division, correspondence from George Schaller, July 2004.

VICKI CONSTANTINE CROKE
has been covering pets and wildlife for more than twenty years. She wrote the “Animal Beat” column for
The Boston Globe,
which was carried internationally by
The New York Times
News Service.

She has been a contributor reporting for the National Public Radio environment show
Living on Earth
on everything from conservation in Madagascar to a coyote vasectomy. She consults on film and television projects, most recently a two-hour documentary on gorillas for the A&E Channel.

Her highly praised first book,
The Modern Ark: The Story of Zoos: Past, Present and Future,
a comprehensive look at zoos, was published by Scribner's in 1997.

Croke has also written for
Time, People, The Washington Post, Popular Science, Gourmet, Discover National Wildlife, International Wildlife,
and
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
She was also a news writer and producer for CNN in Atlanta.

Copyright © 2005 by Vicki Constantine Croke
Map copyright © 2005 by David Lindroth, Inc.

All rights reserved.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Croke, Vicki.
The lady and the panda: the true adventures of the first American
explorer to bring back China's most exotic animal/
Vicki Constantine Croke.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-53587-0
1. Giant panda. 2. Harkness, Ruth. I. Title.
QL737.C214C76 2005 599.789'092—dc22 2004051356

www.atrandom.com

v3.0