The exact illness that caused her death has never been discussed in detail. The official statement was that she died "imprudently bathing while heated". Mark Twain was in Honolulu at the time and wrote favorably of her in his public correspondence to the Sacramento "Daily Union". However, privately in his notebook, he wrote, "Pr. V. died in forcing abortion — kept half a dozen bucks to do her washing, & has suffered 7 abortions" and later described how she kept a harem of "thirty-six splendidly built young native men" who were present at her funeral.