In 1913, she was charged with grand larceny after failing to pay for $150,000 to $250,000 of jewelry she had acquired on memorandum from around ten separate diamond brokers.
When the police came to an office at Park Row Building to place her under arrest, she cried "you'll never take me alive" and swallowed a vial of potassium cyanide, killing herself.
Together, Bonner and Brescher built up a reputation for honesty and punctuality with several New York jewel dealers.
They made use of the memoranda system, then common among diamond merchants, whereby gems were given to agents "on memorandum" and the cash value or the merchandise would later be returned on demand.
Bonner sold jewelry she acquired from Cocks that was worth hundreds to thousands of dollars to clients who she said were wealthy society women.
[6] A grand jury heard the case on November 14, 1913, with Cocks explaining that Bonner and Brescher had taken the jewels on memorandum.
[9] An international manhunt for Bonner and Brescher was conducted by both police and private detectives hired by the diamond merchants.
[3] The pair were held for trail on other indictments, but the charges were eventually dropped after much of the merchandise was recovered from pawn shops.
They arrived at Brescher's offices on the 14th floor of the Park Row Building on March 5, 1920, to arrest her on charges of grand larceny.
[2] Upon her arrest, she wrenched free from the clutches of the detective and cried out "you'll never take me alive" before pulling a vial of potassium cyanide out of her handbag and swallowing the poison.