Helen Woodford Ruth

Ruth died in a house fire in 1929, the circumstances of which sparked controversy at the time and, to an extent, remains so today.

At the time, Helen was a waitress at Landers Coffee Shop, and Ruth said she served him when he had breakfast there.

[1] Ruth soon began to court Woodford and eventually proposed to her during a coffee shop visit a few months after their first meeting.

Once the season concluded, Helen married Ruth on October 14, 1914, at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Ellicott City, Maryland.

[5] As Ruth's fame grew, Helen began hearing more about his extramarital affairs and felt neglected.

The final straw was when Ruth fell in love with his secretary Claire Hodgson, whom he met in 1923.

[8] At some point after her separation, Ruth met Edward Kinder, a dentist, when she came to work for him as a housekeeper.

She was discovered on the floor of her bedroom by Captain John Kelly of the Watertown Fire Department and was taken to her neighbor's home, where she died of her injuries twelve hours later.

Initially, the Boston Post reported Ruth's death as that of the wife of a "prominent Watertown dentist" and her funeral was arranged under the name "Helen Kinder".

The case was also examined by Waltham District Court Judge Michael J. Connolly who concluded: "On all of the evidence I find that Helen W. Ruth met death through suffocation and burns between 6:30 and 11 p.m.

"[9] This claim is contradicted by both the official reports and the fact that Ruth made regular payments to Helen and was visibly distraught by her death.

Nevertheless, three months after Helen's death, Ruth married his longtime mistress Claire Merrit Hodgson.