Sunday, July 31, 2016
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Alice Abbott ~ "Fat Alice"
Known behind her back as "Fat Alice" or "Big Alice", Alice Abbott was about 6' tall and weighed better than 200 pounds. Before long, she established a very popular brothel at 19 South Utah Street and became known as the queen of the red light district.
Located across the street was Alice's competitor, Etta Clark. It's unclear why the two women first became bitter rivals, though Alice was quoted as having said, "Etta Clark was a whore to niggers" ... the ultimate insult in that prejudicial time period.
On 18 April 1886, an argument took place between Alice and one of her girls, Bessie Colvin, who wanted to leave and work for Etta. Bessie sought refuge in Etta’s parlor, with Alice in pursuit. Alice pounded on Etta’s door with her ham-like fists. When Etta finally opened the door, Alice punched her in the face. With great pain and anger, Etta turned and ran to grab a gun. The incident is reported as follows: "The weapon roared its authority, sending a bullet into Alice’s pubic arch. Clutching her groin, Alice screamed: “My God, I’m shot.” She lurched from the hall and staggered down into the street.” Etta shot again but missed. When Alice looked up, she caught Clark with a smile on her face as she went back in her house.
Alice survived the shooting, despite the risk of blood poisoning and chance of dying. Reported by newspapers as the incident as the "Public Arch Shooting", the widely circulated story caused the public to make fun of Alice, adding to her anger and hatred. To add insult to injury, it only took the jury only 15 minutes to find Etta innocent on grounds of self defense. Alice’s humiliation was now complete.
In the early hours of 12 July 1888 Etta Clark’s parlor house caught fire while she and all her girls were asleep. Everyone managed to escape, but the house and everything in it was destroyed. It was later determined that Alice had hired a couple of drunks to start the fire, but gaps in the evidence led to the acquittal of all accused.
Etta and her girls were reduced to the level of street walkers. Her luck changed with the appearance of J.P. Dieter, one of her adoring clients, who built her a new, huge parlor. His wife divorced him and took their children back east. Etta and Dieter lived as husband and wife without ever becoming married.
In February 1890 Alice leased her brothel to Tillie Howard. Alice died of a heart attack on 7 April 1896. She was buried in El Paso's Evergreen Cemetery. Her death went unreported in the papers because of widespread interest in a boxing match and municipal elections.
In 1904, Etta became ill and decided to run her business from the third floor of the Mayar Opera House, which caught fire and burned down in 1905. Etta barely escaped alive and suffered complications from smoke inhalation. In 1908, as a result of those complications, she died during a trip to see her sister in Atlanta.
Saturday, July 23, 2016
Laura Bullion ~ "Rose of the Wild Bunch"
Data in the 1880 Federal Census suggests she might have been born on a farm in the township of Palarm, Faulkner, Arkansas and might have grown up in Tom Green County, Texas. The 1900 Federal Census shows a 23-year-old Laura Bullion, born October 1876 in Arkansas and notes her occupation as "housekeeper" living with her grandparents E. R. & Serena Byler, her aunt Mrs. Mary Allen and her three children at the Byler homestead in Commissioner's Precinct Number 4, Tom Green County, Texas.
In an arrest report dated 6 November 1901, her age is mentioned as 28. If the birth year of 1876 is correct, she would have been 24 or 25 years of age at that time. Her death certificate states Laura's age as 74 and her date of birth as October 4, 1887. If the birth year of 1876 is correct, she would have been 84 or 85 years of age at the time of death. The certificate is issued under the name Freda Bullion Lincoln, a false identity she assumed when she moved to Memphis, claiming to be the war widow of Maurice Lincoln and making herself about ten years younger than she was.
Laura's father had been an outlaw and was acquainted with outlaws William Carver ("News Carver") and Ben Kilpatrick ("The Tall Texan"), both of whom Laura met when she was around 13 years old. Her aunt, Viana Byler, married Carver in 1891 but she died from fever soon after the marriage. At age 15, Laura began a romance with Carver.
She also worked as a prostitute for a time, until reaching the age of either 16 or 17. It's believed she returned to prostitution from time to time, working mostly in the brothel of Madame Fannie Porter in San Antonio, Texas ... a frequent hideaway for gang members.
When she first became involved with Carver, he was riding with the Tom "Black Jack" Ketchum gang, and Laura wanted to join him. However, he would not allow it at first, and they only saw one another between robberies. While in Utah and on the run from lawmen, Carver became involved with the Wild Bunch gang, led by Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay.
In the early 1890s, she became involved romantically with Ben Kilpatrick ("The Tall Texan"), after Carver began a relationship with a prostitute named Lillie Davis, whom he had met while at Fannie Porter's brothel in San Antonio, Texas. As the gang robbed trains, Laura supported them by selling stolen goods, and making connections that could give the gang steady supplies and horses.
Laura became a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang in the 1890s; her cohorts were fellow outlaws, including the Sundance Kid, "Black Jack" Ketchum, and Kid Curry. For several years in the 1890s, she was romantically involved with outlaw Ben Kilpatrick ("The Tall Texan"), a bank and train robber and acquaintance of her father. Members of the Wild Bunch nicknamed her "Della Rose", a name she came by after meeting Della Moore. She was also referred to as the "Rose of the Wild Bunch".
By 1901, she was again involved with Carver, as well as occasional involvement with other members of the gang. When Carver was killed by lawmen on 1 April 1901, she was back with Kilpatrick again, and the two fled to Knoxville, Tennessee. Della Moore and Kid Curry met up with them there, and the four stayed together for a number of months, until October, when Della was arrested for passing money linked to one of the gangs robberies.
After the Great Northern Train robbery in 1901, she and Kilpatrick fled east to evade the law and traveled under the names "Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Arnold".
On 6 November 1901, she was arrested on federal charges for "forgery of signatures to banknotes" at the Laclede Hotel in St. Louis. She had $8,500 worth of robbed banknotes in her possession, stolen in the Great Northern train robbery. In the arrest report, Laura's name is filed as "Della Rose" and her aliases are stated to be "Clara Hays" and "Laura Casey & [Laura] Bullion". Her profession as prostitute.
According to a New York Times article, she was "masquerading as "Mrs. Nellie Rose" at the time of her arrest. The same article also mentions the suspicion that she, "disguised as a boy", might have taken part in a train robbery in Montana. The paper cites Chief of Detectives Desmond: "I wouldn't [sic] think helping to hold up a train was too much for her. She is cool, shows absolutely no fear, and in male attire would readily pass for a boy. She has a masculine face, and that would give her assurance in her disguise."
On 12 December 1901, Kilpatrick was arrested. Curry escaped capture on 13 December 1901, killing two Knoxville policemen in the process. Laura and Kilpatrick were both convicted of robbery, with Bullion being sentenced to five years in prison, and Kilpatrick receiving a 20-year sentence. She served three and a half years before being released in 1905. Kilpatrick was not released from prison until 1911.
Kilpatrick stayed in contact with Bullion through letters. By the time of his release from prison in 1911, she had become involved with at least four other men, but they never reconnected nor did they ever see one another again. Kilpatrick was killed robbing a train on 13 March 1912. By that time, all the members of the Wild Bunch gang were either in prison, dead or had served a prison sentence and moved on to other things in their lives.
In 1918, Laura moved to Memphis, where she spent the remainder of her life working as a householder and seamstress, and later as a drapery maker, dressmaker and interior designer. In Memphis she used the names "Freda Lincoln", "Freda Bullion Lincoln" and "Mrs. Maurice Lincoln", claiming to be a war widow and her late husband had been Maurice Lincoln. She also made herself ten years younger, claiming to have been born in 1887.
According to her obituary, Bullion died of heart disease at the Shelby County Hospital at 6:45 p.m. on December 2, 1961. The memorial service was held two days later, at 11:30 a.m. on December 4. She is buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee). She was the last surviving member of the Wild Bunch gang. Her bronze grave marker has a border of embossed rose vines and reads:
Freda Bullion Lincoln
Laura Bullion
The Thorny Rose
1876 - 1961
For a number of years prior to her death, Laura was one of only three people who had actually known the mysterious Etta Place, girlfriend to the Sundance Kid. Place simply disappeared in 1909, following his alleged death in Bolivia. At that same time, a woman named Eunice Gray began operating a brothel in Texas, Gray was often speculated to be Etta Place. Only Laura Bullion, Ann Bassett, and Josie Bassett could have confirmed otherwise.
Milinda May Bryant ~ Mollie May
Found at Colorado Central Magazine / November 2014
Mollie May - Early Sweetheart of Leadville
by Jan MacKell Collins
By 1878, Mollie was in the new boomtown of Leadville. Mollie staked her claim at 555 5th Street in a section of the expansive red-light district. With her was her old friend, Jim McDaniels, who shipped an amazing 40,000 pounds of theater scenery to Leadville and opened a new place called McDaniels’ New Theater.
Mollie did well in Leadville. In 1880 she employed ten girls and two men at her brothel. She also had the only telephone in town. One night, longtime Leadville resident Lewis Lamb “committed suicide” in front of a neighboring bordello. The only witness was a bully Lamb had known from childhood, former marshal Martin Duggan, who had just attempted to run over Lewis with a sleigh he was delivering. It was widely suspected that Lewis had not committed suicide at all, but was actually shot to death by Duggan.
Mindy Lamb, Lewis’ wife, swore revenge on Duggan, promising him: “I shall wear black and mourn this killing until the very day of your death and then, Goddam you, I will dance upon your grave.” The quote was widely circulated, and a few days later Mollie May stopped Mindy on the street. “You don’t know me,” she told Mindy, “but I wanted to tell you that what happened to a decent man like your husband was a dirty rotten shame and I’m really sorry for you.” The women remained friends, often chatting right in front of Mollie’s place.
Also in 1880, Mollie’s old enemy Fannie Brown surfaced. After traveling with Dick Brown during 1878, the couple separated and Fannie – like many other “Black Hillers” seeking greener pastures –wound up in Leadville. In 1879 she performed at McDaniels’ New Theater, an event that reached the newspapers at Deadwood. Perhaps fearing Mollie, Fannie left Leadville shortly after her performance. Mollie also made the papers again when a raid netted seventeen prostitutes on the row and two young men jumped from her second-story window to avoid arrest.
Mollie also had altercations with other prostitutes, including her neighbor, Sallie Purple. The Leadville Democrat reported that the women got into an argument. Insults were exchanged between their brothels, then gunfire. The battle ended two hours later with no injuries. “Both parties are resting on their arms,” chortled the Democrat, “and awaiting daybreak to resume hostilities.”
They say Mollie sold her house in about 1881 to the city, which used it for a city hall. Mollie’s new brothel was among the finest houses in town, and silver millionaire Horace Tabor was rumored to be a silent partner. Mollie continued dealing with the everyday issues of her profession. In 1882, she charged Annie Layton with stealing a dress. The argument escalated in court when Annie accused Mollie of running a house of ill fame, and Mollie retaliated by revealing that Annie was employed as a prostitute. Ultimately, all charges were dropped.
Next, Mollie became the subject of yet another scandal when news circulated that she was buying a nine-month-old baby named Ella from a couple known as Mr. and Mrs. Moore. The madam stayed silent until a local newspaper voiced concerns about her intentions. In May, Mollie contacted the Leadville Herald and gave an exclusive interview, explaining that the child belonged to a decent woman who was too poor to care for her. Mollie was caring for the baby until the mother could contact relatives for assistance. She ended the interview by angrily reminding the general public of all the charities she donated to on a regular basis.
Despite Mollie’s claim, Ella’s mother never reclaimed her child and Mollie adopted her. She was called Ella Moore, even though Mollie said the Moores were not the child’s parents. As soon as she reached school age, Ella was sent off to St. Scholastica’s Institute in Highland, Illinois. Her guardian was listed as one Robert Buck.
Mollie May died April 11, 1887 from what the Leadville Weekly Chronicle called “neuralgia of the heart.” Her funeral was one of the largest processions in Leadville, and even Mindy Lamb insisted on attending. The services took place in Mollie’s brothel before a $3,000 hearse and eight carriages accompanied Mollie to Leadville’s Evergreen Cemetery. Her obituary, which circulated as far away as Pueblo, stated, “She was a woman who, with all her bad qualities, was much given to charity and was always willing to help the poor and unfortunate.”
Mollie’s estate was valued at $25,000, with $8,000 in diamonds. Her personal property sold for $1,500, and her house was purchased by one Anna Ferguson for $3,600. The papers speculated the money would go to six-year-old Ella Moore, but little else is known about the child. In 1901, the Leadville Herald published an article about 20-year-old Lillian Moore, adopted daughter of Mollie May, who attempted suicide in Leadville. Doctors saved her life and she was last seen on a train headed to Denver where, like so many others, she disappeared without a trace.
Jan MacKell Collins is an author and historian who writes about the West. She currently lives in Arizona and is working on a new book about prostitution history in Prescott.
Mollie May - Early Sweetheart of Leadville
by Jan MacKell Collins
It is no secret that prostitutes were some of the most mobile pioneers of the West. The law, family members and lust for money enticed thousands of women to traipse from state to state, town to town, camp to camp. One of the most prominent, well-traveled prostitutes in the West was Mollie May. Born Milinda May Bryant to German and Irish immigrants in about 1850, Mollie was said to have lost her virginity to a “lustful suitor.” By the 1870s, she was working as a prostitute and performer at Jim McDaniels’ Theater in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1876, she and McDaniels moved to Deadwood, South Dakota.
The Black Hills Gold Rush and Deadwood were just beginning. In the “Badlands District,” Deadwood’s euphemism for its red-light district, one of Mollie’s admirers was Jim May, a local Black Hills freighter whose brother was the notorious bounty hunter Boone May. Boone and Jim once had an altercation over Mollie at the Gem Theater near the “Badlands.” One brother shot at the other, missed, and hit Mollie instead. Thankfully the bullet hit a steel rib in Mollie’s corset, saving her life.
In her book, Old Deadwood Days, Estelline Bennett describes a similar account of a shoot-out between prostitute Lou Desmond and an unidentified woman. As in Mollie’s story, a bullet struck one of the girls but deflected off her corset. Whether these two events really happened or became a part of one another in the telling is unknown.
[Pictured Right] Leadville’s expansive red-light district included State Street, pictured here around the time Mollie May was in town. Photo courtesy Jan MacKell Collins.
In her book, Old Deadwood Days, Estelline Bennett describes a similar account of a shoot-out between prostitute Lou Desmond and an unidentified woman. As in Mollie’s story, a bullet struck one of the girls but deflected off her corset. Whether these two events really happened or became a part of one another in the telling is unknown.
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| State Street, Leadville |
It is known for sure that during another skirmish, part of Mollie’s ear was bitten off by another Gem Theater prostitute, Fannie Garretson. The dispute was over “Banjo” Dick Brown, who married Fannie in November 1876. The ear-biting incident apparently happened while Mollie, Fannie and Dick were jaunting along in a closed carriage.
Perhaps the fight with Fannie Garretson made Mollie decide to move to Colorado. Upon her arrival, she almost immediately gained a bad reputation in Silver Cliff and Bonanza for running around with an outlaw named Bill Tripp. She also spent some time in Pueblo, where she became known as the girl of gambler Sam Mickey. Sometimes Mollie went by the name "Jennie Mickey."
Perhaps the fight with Fannie Garretson made Mollie decide to move to Colorado. Upon her arrival, she almost immediately gained a bad reputation in Silver Cliff and Bonanza for running around with an outlaw named Bill Tripp. She also spent some time in Pueblo, where she became known as the girl of gambler Sam Mickey. Sometimes Mollie went by the name "Jennie Mickey."
By 1878, Mollie was in the new boomtown of Leadville. Mollie staked her claim at 555 5th Street in a section of the expansive red-light district. With her was her old friend, Jim McDaniels, who shipped an amazing 40,000 pounds of theater scenery to Leadville and opened a new place called McDaniels’ New Theater.
Mollie did well in Leadville. In 1880 she employed ten girls and two men at her brothel. She also had the only telephone in town. One night, longtime Leadville resident Lewis Lamb “committed suicide” in front of a neighboring bordello. The only witness was a bully Lamb had known from childhood, former marshal Martin Duggan, who had just attempted to run over Lewis with a sleigh he was delivering. It was widely suspected that Lewis had not committed suicide at all, but was actually shot to death by Duggan.
Mindy Lamb, Lewis’ wife, swore revenge on Duggan, promising him: “I shall wear black and mourn this killing until the very day of your death and then, Goddam you, I will dance upon your grave.” The quote was widely circulated, and a few days later Mollie May stopped Mindy on the street. “You don’t know me,” she told Mindy, “but I wanted to tell you that what happened to a decent man like your husband was a dirty rotten shame and I’m really sorry for you.” The women remained friends, often chatting right in front of Mollie’s place.
Also in 1880, Mollie’s old enemy Fannie Brown surfaced. After traveling with Dick Brown during 1878, the couple separated and Fannie – like many other “Black Hillers” seeking greener pastures –wound up in Leadville. In 1879 she performed at McDaniels’ New Theater, an event that reached the newspapers at Deadwood. Perhaps fearing Mollie, Fannie left Leadville shortly after her performance. Mollie also made the papers again when a raid netted seventeen prostitutes on the row and two young men jumped from her second-story window to avoid arrest.
Mollie also had altercations with other prostitutes, including her neighbor, Sallie Purple. The Leadville Democrat reported that the women got into an argument. Insults were exchanged between their brothels, then gunfire. The battle ended two hours later with no injuries. “Both parties are resting on their arms,” chortled the Democrat, “and awaiting daybreak to resume hostilities.”
They say Mollie sold her house in about 1881 to the city, which used it for a city hall. Mollie’s new brothel was among the finest houses in town, and silver millionaire Horace Tabor was rumored to be a silent partner. Mollie continued dealing with the everyday issues of her profession. In 1882, she charged Annie Layton with stealing a dress. The argument escalated in court when Annie accused Mollie of running a house of ill fame, and Mollie retaliated by revealing that Annie was employed as a prostitute. Ultimately, all charges were dropped.
Next, Mollie became the subject of yet another scandal when news circulated that she was buying a nine-month-old baby named Ella from a couple known as Mr. and Mrs. Moore. The madam stayed silent until a local newspaper voiced concerns about her intentions. In May, Mollie contacted the Leadville Herald and gave an exclusive interview, explaining that the child belonged to a decent woman who was too poor to care for her. Mollie was caring for the baby until the mother could contact relatives for assistance. She ended the interview by angrily reminding the general public of all the charities she donated to on a regular basis.
Despite Mollie’s claim, Ella’s mother never reclaimed her child and Mollie adopted her. She was called Ella Moore, even though Mollie said the Moores were not the child’s parents. As soon as she reached school age, Ella was sent off to St. Scholastica’s Institute in Highland, Illinois. Her guardian was listed as one Robert Buck.
Mollie May died April 11, 1887 from what the Leadville Weekly Chronicle called “neuralgia of the heart.” Her funeral was one of the largest processions in Leadville, and even Mindy Lamb insisted on attending. The services took place in Mollie’s brothel before a $3,000 hearse and eight carriages accompanied Mollie to Leadville’s Evergreen Cemetery. Her obituary, which circulated as far away as Pueblo, stated, “She was a woman who, with all her bad qualities, was much given to charity and was always willing to help the poor and unfortunate.”
Mollie’s estate was valued at $25,000, with $8,000 in diamonds. Her personal property sold for $1,500, and her house was purchased by one Anna Ferguson for $3,600. The papers speculated the money would go to six-year-old Ella Moore, but little else is known about the child. In 1901, the Leadville Herald published an article about 20-year-old Lillian Moore, adopted daughter of Mollie May, who attempted suicide in Leadville. Doctors saved her life and she was last seen on a train headed to Denver where, like so many others, she disappeared without a trace.
Jan MacKell Collins is an author and historian who writes about the West. She currently lives in Arizona and is working on a new book about prostitution history in Prescott.
Dora Bolshaw ~ "Black Hills Madam"
Dora Bolshaw, later known as Dora DuFran, was the daughter of Joseph John and Isabella Neal (Cummings) Bolshaw. She was born on 16 November 1868 in Liverpool, England. Dora emigrated to the United States with her parents around 1869. The family settled first at Bloomfield, New Jersey and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1876-1877.
An extremely good looking woman in her youth, she got her start in prostitution around the age of 13 or 14. She then became a dance hall girl, calling herself Amy Helen Bolshaw.
The gold rush hit Deadwood, South Dakota when she was around 15. It was there that Dora promoted herself as a Madam and began operating a brothel. She coined the term "cathouse" after having Charlie Utter bring her a wagon of cats.
In early 1876, Utter and his brother, Steve, took a 30-wagon wagon train of prospectors, gamblers, 180 prostitutes and assorted hopefuls from Georgetown, Colorado to the gold rush in Deadwood, South Dakota. Like many wagon trains, the wagons were Shutler wagons which were notable for "gaudy paint jobs". In Cheyenne, Wyoming Wild Bill Hickok became partners with Utter in the train, and in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, Calamity Jane also joined up. The train arrived in Deadwood in July 1876, and Utter began a lucrative express delivery service to Cheyenne, charging 25 cents to deliver a letter and often carrying as many as 2,000 letters per 48-hour trip. Dora picked up several girls from Charlie's train.Dora picked up several girls from Charlie's train and, from time to time, Old West personality Martha Jane Burke (Calamity Jane) was in her employ. Dora's main competition in Deadwood was Madam Mollie Johnson.
She had several businesses over the years and demanded that her girls practice good hygiene and dress well. Her most popular brothel was called "Diddlin' Dora's", located on Fifth Avenue in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Diddlin' Dora's advertised itself as 'Three D's ... Dining, Drinking and Dancing ... a place where you can bring your mother.' Though the cowboys frequented the popular place, most just wanted to 'get down to business,' with at least one man remarking, 'I wouldn't want my mother to know I had ever been there.' Dora's other brothels in South Dakota and Montana were located in Lead, Miles City, Sturgis and Deadwood.
While in Deadwood, Dora married Joseph DuFran, "a personable gentleman gambler" who helped grow her business. After her husband's death, she moved the business to Rapid City, South Dakota where she continued having success as a brothel owner. She died of heart failure on 5 August 1934. Her pet parrot Fred and husband Joseph are buried with her at Mount Moriah.
The Bird Cage Theatre
Once inside, customers could buy a drink at the long bar. The bar was made in Pittsburgh, PA, shipped on the Star of India around the tip of south America to Mexico, then by wagon train the rest of the way. There's a 45 caliber bullet hole with the bullet still intact in one of the posts in the bar.
Across from the bar hung a painting of Fatima, a buxom belly-dancer in an exotic Oriental outfit. The painting was given as a thank-you gift from Fatima to the Bird Cage Theatre for helping her to start her career. It is still hanging on the wall across from the bar. The canvas has six bullet holes and a knife slash in it.
The main hall contained an orchestra pit and a 15' x 15' stage about 5' above the main floor. The stage was lit by a row of gas jets along the front side. There were 14 cages or boxes on two balconies located on either side of the main hall. These boxes, also known as cribs, featured drapes that patrons could draw while entertained by prostitutes. A dumbwaiter at the end of the bar was used to hoist up the whiskey, beer and cigars to the male customers in the cribs.Between acts, the dancing girls in short dresses and low-cut necklines served drinks and offered sex. Beer was 50 cents on the main floor and $1.00 in the cages. The ladies received a percentage of all the drinks they sold.
In the basement, a poker room was the site of the longest-running poker game in history. Played continuously 24 hours a day for eight years, five months and three days, legend has it that as much as $10,000,000 changed hands during the marathon game, with the house retaining 10%. Some of the participants were Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Diamond Jim Brady, George Hearst and Adolphus Busch of the Busch Brewery. The basement also had two more ornate and expensive bordello rooms with more high dollar escorts. Josephine Sarah Marcus worked as both a performer and escort in the bordello room. That is where she met Wyatt Earp and they began their love affair. She eventually became his third wife and they were together for over 47 years.
The Bird Cage Theatre operated continuously, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 8 years, from 1881 to 1889. It's reputation prompted the New York Times to report in 1882 that "the Bird Cage Theatre is the wildest, wickedest night spot between Basin Street and the Barbary Coast". More than 120 bullet holes are found throughout the building.
One of the first acts at the Birdcage was Mademoiselle De Granville (real name, Alma Hayes), also known as the "Female Hercules" and "the woman with the iron jaw". She performed feats of strength, specializing in picking up heavy objects with her teeth. Other acts included the Irish comic duo Burns and Trayers (John H. Burns and Matthew Trayers), comic singer Irene Baker, Carrie Delmar, a serious opera singer, and comedian Nola Forest. Lizette, "The Flying Nymph", flew from one side of the theatre to the other on a rope. One of the more elaborate acts featured "The Human Fly" in which women dressed in theatrical tights and brief costumes walked across the stage ceiling upside down. This act lasted until one of the clamps supporting the performers failed and she fell to her death.
Entertainment included masquerade balls featuring cross-dressing entertainers like comedians David Waters and Will Curlew who appeared in outrageous female costumes, sang vulgar ballads and performed outlandish antics, bawdy skits. Each evening entertainment began with a variety show at 9:00 p.m. and lasted until 1:00 a.m. or later. When the stage show ended, the wooden benches where the audience sat were stacked on the side. The orchestra performed and the audience danced and drank until the sun rose. Miners could drink and dance all night if they chose.
In March 1882, miners in the Grand Central Mine hit water at 620'. The flow wasn't at first large enough to stop work, but constant pumping with a 4" pump was soon insufficient. The silver ore deposits they sought were soon underwater. Hutchinson sold the Birdcage to Hugh McCrum and John Stroufe and they sold it again in January 1886 to Joseph W. "Joe" Bignon and his wife, Matilda "Big Minnie" Quigley.
Bignon had managed the Theatre Comique in San Francisco and performed as a black face minstrel and clog dancer. He refurbished the building and renamed it the Elite Theatre. He hired new acts interspersed with the bawdy entertainment the miners were used to. Matilda was 6' tall and weighed 230 pounds. She wore pink tights, sang, danced, played the piano, and sometimes acted as madam to the prostitutes in the cribs and bouncer.
The large Cornish engines brought in by the mine owners kept the water pumped out of the mines for a few more years, but on 26 May 1886, the Grand Central Mine hoist and pumping plant burned. When the price of silver slid to 90 cents an ounce a few months later, the remaining mines laid off workers. Many residents of Tombstone left and the Bird Cage closed in 1892.
The building was not opened again until it was purchased in 1934. The new owners were delighted to find that almost nothing had been disturbed in all those years. It has been a tourist attraction ever since, and is open to the general public year-round.
The large Cornish engines brought in by the mine owners kept the water pumped out of the mines for a few more years, but on 26 May 1886, the Grand Central Mine hoist and pumping plant burned. When the price of silver slid to 90 cents an ounce a few months later, the remaining mines laid off workers. Many residents of Tombstone left and the Bird Cage closed in 1892.
The building was not opened again until it was purchased in 1934. The new owners were delighted to find that almost nothing had been disturbed in all those years. It has been a tourist attraction ever since, and is open to the general public year-round.
Jennie Bauter ~ "Belgian Jennie"
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| Center / In Black Dress |
Mary Ann Boyer ~ "Madam Damnable"
She eventually moved to the village of Seattle, where she hooked up with Leonard Felker, Captain of the brig Franklin Adams, and became the boss of his hostelry. She ran an efficient hotel with clean sheets and good food. During the day she rented out unused rooms for the Territorial Court.
Her salty language became legendary, not only in Seattle but among West Coast travelers. It was said that her profanity was equally colorful in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Portuguese and German. Mary Ann's reputation grew and Felker establishment became known as "The Conklin House". In later years she earned the name "Madame Damnable" because she ran a brothel in the upstairs of her hotel. (Mary Ann's hotel burned to the ground in the Great Seattle fire of 1889.)
At the time of the Battle of Seattle (26 January 1856), sailors from the sloop-of-war U.S. Decatur wanted to improve Seattle's defenses by building a road that passed her hotel and incidentally threatened the bushes that assured the discretion of her well-to-do customers. According to memoirs of the sloop's navigator, later Rear-Admiral Thomas Stowell Phelps:
"...the moment our men appeared upon the scene, with three dogs at her heels, and an apron filled with rocks, this termagant would come tearing from the house, and the way stones, oaths, and curses flew was something fearful to contemplate, and, charging like a fury, with the dogs wild to flesh their teeth in the detested invaders, the division invariably gave way before the storm, fleeing, officers and all, as if old Satan himself was after them."
Mary Ann died in 1873 and was buried in the Seattle Cemetery. In 1884, its graves were removed to other cemeteries and the site was turned into Denny Park. According to legend, when her coffin was dug up, it was unreasonably heavy. When the lid was removed, it was found, it was found that her body had somehow "turned to stone" with all features intact. The authenticity of this legend is difficult to verify. You decide ...
“Removing the Dead.” August 22, 1884. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
A reporter of the Post-Intelligencer called upon Mr. O.C. Shorey, the contractor for removing bodies, monuments and stone work from the old city cemetery to the new burying ground, adjoining the Masonic cemetery, and asked him for anything of interest in connection therewith that has so far come under his observation. Mr. Shorey said: “I have been at work about three weeks, and have removed so far 120 bodies together with most of the monuments and stone work, and have, I think, over half of the work done. I have been laying off for a few days, waiting for the Catholics to get their grounds in readiness for the reception of the bodies of those of that faith. I have also delayed some in order to give all friends of deceased persons an opportunity to select new lots, and to give all such friends an opportunity to be present during the removal of the remains of their friends and loved ones.
“Last week among the remains taken up and removed were those of Mrs. Mary Conklin, who died and was buried eleven years ago, at the age of 70 years and 10 months. During her life she was known by the old settlers as ‘Mother Damnable,’ and many will remember her by that name. We discovered that the coffin was very heavy, weighing at least 400 pounds and it took six men to lift it out of the grave. On removing the lid to the coffin we found that she had turned to stone. Her form was full sized and perfect, the ears, finger nails and hair being all intact. Her features were, however, somewhat disfigured. Covering the body was a dark dust, but after that was removed the form was as white as marble and as hard as stone.
When we took up the coffin under the headstone marked “William Carnes,” who will be remembered as a large butcher, who died some ten years ago, we found the form of a small, delicate woman, with her clothing on and watchchain about her neck. The way I account for this is as follows: Some time after Carnes died, his friends had a stone made to mark his grave, and the parties employed to set the stone placed it over the wrong grave.
When the remains of James McKay, the tanner, who died ten or eleven years ago, were taken up, they were found well preserved, though the features were unrecognizable. All the graves, at certain seasons of the year, are full of water and the coffins float in their boxes. The action of the water has turned most of the bodies black. In a greater number of the coffins there is nothing but a few bones. The coffins are mostly sound, and before removing them we place them in new cedar boxes. So far we have found nothing of an offensive nature so far as smell is concerned, most of the bodies having been buried so long that the flesh has either all turned to dust or been eaten by the worms. I shall take up and remove all the bodies that can be found, including those who sleep in unmarked graves within the Pottersfield, but shall not interfere with the Chinese graves, as the Chinamen desire to take up the bones of their dead and ship them to the Flowery Kingdom.
Many graves have been sadly neglected, and I fear that some will be consequently overlooked. I wish you would tell the people again that I am anxious to hear from all those who have friends buried in the old cemetery, and have them point out the graves to me, especially those that are unmarked. A forest fire ran through the cemetery two years ago, and burned up a number of wooden grave marks, which adds to the difficulty of finding some of the graves. The new cemetery is located on a fine site between the two lakes, and can be made a beautiful burying ground with proper care and attention.”
Julia Bulette ~ "The Comstock Courtesan"
At an early age she emigrated with her family to New Orleans, where she later married a man named Smith, but they separated. In about 1852 or 1853, she moved to California where she lived in various places until her arrival in 1859 in Virginia City, Nevada, a mining boomtown since the Comstock Lode silver strike that same year.
As she was the only white woman in the area, she quickly became sought after by the miners. Going by the name "Julia" took up prostitution, charging $1000 a night for her services. She was described as being a beautiful, tall and slim brunette with dark eyes and was refined in manner with a humorous, witty personality.
Julia lived and worked out of a small rented cottage near the corner of D and Union streets in Virginia City's entertainment district. An independent operator, she competed with the fancy brothels, streetwalkers and hurdy-gurdy girls for meager earnings. Contemporary newspaper accounts of her gruesome murder captured popular imagination. With few details of her life, 20th chroniclers elevated the courtesan to the status of folk heroine, ascribing to her the questionable attributes of wealth, beauty and social standing. In reality, she was ill and in debt at the time of her death. The brutal attack that ended her life pointed to the violence that surrounded the less fortunate members of Victorian-era society.
Julia lived and worked out of a small rented cottage near the corner of D and Union streets in Virginia City's entertainment district. An independent operator, she competed with the fancy brothels, streetwalkers and hurdy-gurdy girls for meager earnings. Contemporary newspaper accounts of her gruesome murder captured popular imagination. With few details of her life, 20th chroniclers elevated the courtesan to the status of folk heroine, ascribing to her the questionable attributes of wealth, beauty and social standing. In reality, she was ill and in debt at the time of her death. The brutal attack that ended her life pointed to the violence that surrounded the less fortunate members of Victorian-era society.
Julia's Palace
With her earnings, Julia was able to build a magnificent brothel in the rococo design. Named "Julia's Palace," it was the largest, most prosperous brothel in Virginia City. She staffed it with beautiful girls imported from San Francisco, served French cuisine and wines and dressed herself and her girls in the latest Parisian fashions. She appeared regularly in the streets of Virginia City, clad in costly sables and jewels, driving a lacquered brougham which bore a painted Escutcheon on the panel which was four aces crowned by a lion couchant.
Julia was also a good friend to the miners, who adored her. One described her as having "caressed Sun Mountain with a gentle touch of splendor". She stood by her miners in times of trouble and misfortune, once turning her Palace into a hospital after several hundred men became ill from drinking contaminated water. She nursed the men herself. Once when an attack by Indians appeared imminent, Julia chose to remain behind with the miners instead of seeking shelter in Carson City. Julia also raised funds for the Union cause during the American Civil War.
Her greatest triumph occurred when the firefighters made her an honorary member of Virginia Engine Number 1. On 4 July 1861, the firemen elected her the Queen of the Independence Day Parade, and she rode Engine Company Number One's fire truck through the town wearing a fireman's hat and carrying a brass fire trumpet filled with fresh roses, the firemen marching behind. She donated large sums for new equipment and often personally lent a hand at working the water pump.
Her greatest triumph occurred when the firefighters made her an honorary member of Virginia Engine Number 1. On 4 July 1861, the firemen elected her the Queen of the Independence Day Parade, and she rode Engine Company Number One's fire truck through the town wearing a fireman's hat and carrying a brass fire trumpet filled with fresh roses, the firemen marching behind. She donated large sums for new equipment and often personally lent a hand at working the water pump.
Murder
On the morning of 20 January 1867, Julia's partially nude body was found by her maid in her bedroom. She had been strangled and bludgeoned to death, and robbed of her valuable jewel collection, clothing and furs. Virginia City went into mourning for her, with the mines, mills and saloons being closed down as a mark of respect. On the day of her funeral, January 21, thousands formed a procession of honor behind her black-plumed, glass-walled hearse; first the firemen, who were followed by the Nevada militia who played funeral dirges. She was buried in the Flower Hill Cemetery.
A little over a year later, Julia's murderer was caught and hanged for the crime. He was a French drifter whose name was John Millain; and on 24 April 1868 he went to the gallows, swearing he was not guilty of having killed Julia, but had been only an accomplice in the theft of her jewels. Millain's hanging was witnessed by author Mark Twain.
Louisa Bunch ~ "Madam Lou"
Around the turn of the nineteenth century when gold ran fast and heavy through the mountain community of Central City, Colorado, Pine Street was home to Central City's red light district. Madam Lou Bunch ran the most successful brothel in town, housing four ladies of the evening. Business must have been good, as it was reported that she weighed around 300 pounds.
In 1910, the U.S. Census recorded only two women residing with Lou who were listed officially as "housekeepers." When an epidemic swept through the area (possibly the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1919), she and her sporting girls gave nursing care to sick and dying miners.
Lou died on 19 January 1935 and was buried at Denver's Fairmont Cemetery, sharing space with two of her fellow madams from Central City. After 75 years in an unmarked grave, Dean DiLullo, General Manager of Fortune Valley Casino arranged for the casino to donate the money for her headstone.money was raised to provide her headstone.
Each June, Central City celebrates her contributions with "Lou Bunch Days" ... a raucous and slightly bawdy festival replete with party goers dressed in period costumes along with bed races, parade and contests. The festivities close with the Madam's and Miner's Ball.
Gertrudis Barcelo ~ "Madame La Tules"
MarÃa Gertrudis Barceló ~ “Doña Tules”
By Orae Dominguez / New Mexico History
Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló, she preferred the name "Madame La Tules," was well known as an expert card dealer. Her fame as the best Monte dealer spread throughout the territories. She was literate, shrewd, and an independent businesswoman who had amassed wealth and power as a Mexican woman. Doña Tules expressed the view of her life and her acquisition of her considerable wealth and property as being "accumulated by my own labor and exertions."
Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló was a very significant and fascinating woman who lived during the Mexican and Euro-American transition in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the early to mid 1800s. Little is recorded about the origins of Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló some early accounts stated that she was born in Sonora, Mexico, around the year 1800. The church registers at Tomé, a small village about thirty miles south of Albuquerque, contain this information on the family. On August 6, 1823 Don Pedro Pino, bachelor of the town of Valencia, married Doña Dolores Herrero widow of Juan Ignacio Barceló. Dolores and Juan’s had one son Trinidad and two daughters Maria de la Luz Barceló who married Rafael Sanchez on November 3, 1822, the son of Manuel Sanchez and Gertrudis Chavez, and Doña Gertrudis Barceló who married one Don Manuel Antonio Sisneros, son of Hermenegildo Sisneros and Rita Juliana Lucero on June 23, 1823. The reference of "Don" and "Doña" indicated the high social standing of the couple at the time. This would suggest that myths of La Tulas spread by Josiah Gregg, as starting out lowly and gaining the prestigious title of Doña in Santa Fe by her "sinful" practices and acquired wealth are alluring, but untrue. Further records show that La Tulas and her husband had two legitimate sons Jose Pedro and Miguel Antonio Sisneros who both died in infancy. The death of her babies may have led Doña Tulas to change her roll as mother, to that of businesswoman. They relocated to Santa Fe, where her mother was living. The parlor games she may have played as a child became an extra source of income, for her and her husband.
Many chronicles wrote of Doña Tules. One said, "When I saw her, she was richly, but tastelessly dressed, her fingers being literally covered with rings, while her neck was adorned with three heavy chains of gold, to the longest of which was attached a massive crucifix of the same precious metal." Susan Magoffin described her (in 1846) as "a stately dame of a certain age, the possessor of a portion of that shrewd sense and fascinating manner necessary to allure the wayward, inexperienced youth to the hall of final ruin." Magoffin and Gregg represent a Victorian and Puritanical point of view, intolerant of cultural standards dissimilar to theirs and unable to view Mexicans as equals. Other authors wrote that Doña Tulas Barceló was charming, beautiful, fashionable, shrewd, witty and also brilliant.
Politically she appeared quite influential and she conceded that U.S. occupancy meant survival for her people. As Mexico's power diminished, the United States invaded the Mexican department of New Mexico in 1846. General Kearny gave Doña Tulas a military escort to the Victory Ball at the La Fonda Hotel. It was a lavish event attended by the cream of Santa Fe Society. Many modern historians give great credit to Doña Tulas for the cultural bridge her Salaprovided accustoming Euro-Americans to the Nuevo-Mexicano lifestyle.
La Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló died on January 17, 1852, at the age of forty-seven. She had written a will the year before, she left her residence and most of her property to her “beloved sister,” she also gave to her brother Trinidad, and her two adopted daughters. Before she died she received the Sacraments of Penance, Extreme Unction, and Eucharist, by the priest Don José de Jesus Lujan (Santa Fe Bur.-53). She was given an elaborate church funeral (100-400.00) with all the luxury she deserved according to custom, for she was a rica (a rich woman) and gave liberally to her church and to the poor. She was the last person to be buried beneath Santa Fe's La Parroquia Church (now rebuilt as the St. Francis Cathedral) on this day.
Madame La Tules was the proprietor and owner of a gambling house in Santa Fe the building she procured was a block long in length on Burro Alley between Palace Avenue and San Francisco Street. The inside decorations she created produced the most distinguished gambling house in the entire Southwest. La Tules had the all floors covered with the finest thick European carpets. Elegant etched glass mirrors illuminated the entire setting. Crystal chandeliers, rich drapes and imported furniture were brought across the Santa Fe Trail by wagons from St. Louis, Missouri.
Madame La Tules was very skilled with the game of Monte. She knew the betting habits of every player. Her manner never revealed emotions. She played with the expression of demure loveliness. A lonesome man could easily imagine himself in love with this amazing woman. Many were curious about the game and would try their luck. Some came only with the desire to see the beautiful red haired, green-eyed, fair complected woman. Their eyes would stare unashamedly at her beautiful features. Many felt homesick for the women they left behind. The men who came to gamble gathered around the rich wood grained tables covered with red or green cloths that were divided in squares. The Spanish game of Monte, named from the mountain of cards left after a certain number had been dealt, is a simple gambling game played with a traditional old Spanish deck of 40 cards not having the eights, nines and tens, made up of four suits: coins, cups, swords and clubs, each dedicated to the four parts of the world: America, Asia, Europe and Africa. In each suit there are three court cards (King, Knight and Jack) and seven pip cards. Any number of players may participate. Five cards are turned up in a particular order on the squares. If the fifth card matches the suit of any of the first four, those who staked a bet on that card would win. It has been said, the mysteries of Monte could be learned only by losing at it. Doña Tules soon became very wealthy. Her finances were above her greatest expectations, and her establishment was the place to be for travelers and townsfolk alike.
Sources:
Chavez, Fray Angélico."Doña Tulas: Her Fame and Her Funeral," El Palacio, Vol. 57 #8 Aug, 1950, (authoritative source).
Gregg, Josiah. Commerce on the Praires, New York 1844, Vol.1 (source for tall tales and gossip).
Magoffin, Susan. Down the Santa Fe Trail, New Haven, 1926 reprint, pp.120-121.
By Orae Dominguez / New Mexico History
Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló was a very significant and fascinating woman who lived during the Mexican and Euro-American transition in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the early to mid 1800s. Little is recorded about the origins of Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló some early accounts stated that she was born in Sonora, Mexico, around the year 1800. The church registers at Tomé, a small village about thirty miles south of Albuquerque, contain this information on the family. On August 6, 1823 Don Pedro Pino, bachelor of the town of Valencia, married Doña Dolores Herrero widow of Juan Ignacio Barceló. Dolores and Juan’s had one son Trinidad and two daughters Maria de la Luz Barceló who married Rafael Sanchez on November 3, 1822, the son of Manuel Sanchez and Gertrudis Chavez, and Doña Gertrudis Barceló who married one Don Manuel Antonio Sisneros, son of Hermenegildo Sisneros and Rita Juliana Lucero on June 23, 1823. The reference of "Don" and "Doña" indicated the high social standing of the couple at the time. This would suggest that myths of La Tulas spread by Josiah Gregg, as starting out lowly and gaining the prestigious title of Doña in Santa Fe by her "sinful" practices and acquired wealth are alluring, but untrue. Further records show that La Tulas and her husband had two legitimate sons Jose Pedro and Miguel Antonio Sisneros who both died in infancy. The death of her babies may have led Doña Tulas to change her roll as mother, to that of businesswoman. They relocated to Santa Fe, where her mother was living. The parlor games she may have played as a child became an extra source of income, for her and her husband.
Many chronicles wrote of Doña Tules. One said, "When I saw her, she was richly, but tastelessly dressed, her fingers being literally covered with rings, while her neck was adorned with three heavy chains of gold, to the longest of which was attached a massive crucifix of the same precious metal." Susan Magoffin described her (in 1846) as "a stately dame of a certain age, the possessor of a portion of that shrewd sense and fascinating manner necessary to allure the wayward, inexperienced youth to the hall of final ruin." Magoffin and Gregg represent a Victorian and Puritanical point of view, intolerant of cultural standards dissimilar to theirs and unable to view Mexicans as equals. Other authors wrote that Doña Tulas Barceló was charming, beautiful, fashionable, shrewd, witty and also brilliant.
Politically she appeared quite influential and she conceded that U.S. occupancy meant survival for her people. As Mexico's power diminished, the United States invaded the Mexican department of New Mexico in 1846. General Kearny gave Doña Tulas a military escort to the Victory Ball at the La Fonda Hotel. It was a lavish event attended by the cream of Santa Fe Society. Many modern historians give great credit to Doña Tulas for the cultural bridge her Salaprovided accustoming Euro-Americans to the Nuevo-Mexicano lifestyle.
La Doña Maria Gertrudis Barceló died on January 17, 1852, at the age of forty-seven. She had written a will the year before, she left her residence and most of her property to her “beloved sister,” she also gave to her brother Trinidad, and her two adopted daughters. Before she died she received the Sacraments of Penance, Extreme Unction, and Eucharist, by the priest Don José de Jesus Lujan (Santa Fe Bur.-53). She was given an elaborate church funeral (100-400.00) with all the luxury she deserved according to custom, for she was a rica (a rich woman) and gave liberally to her church and to the poor. She was the last person to be buried beneath Santa Fe's La Parroquia Church (now rebuilt as the St. Francis Cathedral) on this day.
Madame La Tules was the proprietor and owner of a gambling house in Santa Fe the building she procured was a block long in length on Burro Alley between Palace Avenue and San Francisco Street. The inside decorations she created produced the most distinguished gambling house in the entire Southwest. La Tules had the all floors covered with the finest thick European carpets. Elegant etched glass mirrors illuminated the entire setting. Crystal chandeliers, rich drapes and imported furniture were brought across the Santa Fe Trail by wagons from St. Louis, Missouri.
Madame La Tules was very skilled with the game of Monte. She knew the betting habits of every player. Her manner never revealed emotions. She played with the expression of demure loveliness. A lonesome man could easily imagine himself in love with this amazing woman. Many were curious about the game and would try their luck. Some came only with the desire to see the beautiful red haired, green-eyed, fair complected woman. Their eyes would stare unashamedly at her beautiful features. Many felt homesick for the women they left behind. The men who came to gamble gathered around the rich wood grained tables covered with red or green cloths that were divided in squares. The Spanish game of Monte, named from the mountain of cards left after a certain number had been dealt, is a simple gambling game played with a traditional old Spanish deck of 40 cards not having the eights, nines and tens, made up of four suits: coins, cups, swords and clubs, each dedicated to the four parts of the world: America, Asia, Europe and Africa. In each suit there are three court cards (King, Knight and Jack) and seven pip cards. Any number of players may participate. Five cards are turned up in a particular order on the squares. If the fifth card matches the suit of any of the first four, those who staked a bet on that card would win. It has been said, the mysteries of Monte could be learned only by losing at it. Doña Tules soon became very wealthy. Her finances were above her greatest expectations, and her establishment was the place to be for travelers and townsfolk alike.
Sources:
Chavez, Fray Angélico."Doña Tulas: Her Fame and Her Funeral," El Palacio, Vol. 57 #8 Aug, 1950, (authoritative source).
Gregg, Josiah. Commerce on the Praires, New York 1844, Vol.1 (source for tall tales and gossip).
Magoffin, Susan. Down the Santa Fe Trail, New Haven, 1926 reprint, pp.120-121.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Etta Clark
Located across the street from Etta's sporting house was her competitor, Alice Abbott, known as "Fat Alice". It's unclear why the two women first became bitter rivals, though Alice was quoted as having said, "Etta Clark was a whore to niggers" ... the ultimate insult in that prejudicial time period.
[Photo: This photo of Etta was crossed out, but the fact it was in Alice's album indicates they were friends at an earlier date.]
On 18 April 1886, an argument took place between Alice and one of her girls, Bessie Colvin, who wanted to leave and work for Etta. Bessie sought refuge in Etta’s parlor, with Alice in pursuit. Alice pounded on Etta’s door with her ham-like fists. When Etta finally opened the door, Alice punched her in the face. With great pain and anger, Etta turned and ran to grab a gun. The incident is reported as follows: "The weapon roared its authority, sending a bullet into Alice’s pubic arch. Clutching her groin, Alice screamed: “My God, I’m shot.” She lurched from the hall and staggered down into the street.” Etta shot again but missed. When Alice looked up, she caught Clark with a smile on her face as she went back in her house.
Alice survived the shooting, despite the risk of blood poisoning and chance of dying. Reported by newspapers as the incident as the "Public Arch Shooting", the widely circulated story caused the public to make fun of Alice, adding to her anger and hatred. To add insult to injury, it only took the jury only 15 minutes to find Etta innocent on grounds of self defense. Alice’s humiliation was now complete.
In the early hours of 12 July 1888 Etta Clark’s parlor house caught fire while she and all her girls were asleep. Everyone managed to escape, but the house and everything in it was destroyed. It was later determined that Alice had hired a couple of drunks to start the fire, but gaps in the evidence led to the acquittal of all accused.
Etta and her girls were reduced to the level of street walkers. Her luck changed with the appearance of J.P. Dieter, one of her adoring clients, who built her a new, huge parlor. His wife divorced him and took their children back east. Etta and Dieter lived as husband and wife without ever becoming married.
In 1904, Etta became ill and decided to run her business from the third floor of the Mayar Opera House, which caught fire and burned down in 1905. Etta barely escaped alive and suffered complications from smoke inhalation. In 1908, as a result of those complications, she died during a trip to see her sister in Atlanta.
Bessie Colvin ~ "Contrary Mary"
Inside History
Clash of the Mad Madams
Alice Abbott Vs. Etta Clark. The War Over Beautiful, Busty Bessie Colvin
April 18, 1886
The beautiful Bessie Colvin is fed up. After a year of arguing over “extracurricular activities” and bad accounting, the star attraction at Alice Abbott’s bordello in El Paso, Texas, is quitting to seek better working conditions elsewhere.
Bessie’s also drunk. Sashaying through the brothel parlor, the angry soiled dove swears at the customers, telling them how foolish they are for shopping at “Fat Alice’s Belly Bazaar.” At the front door, Bessie informs everyone within hearing that the “prime cut will soon be found across the street.”
Storming out the front door, Bessie crosses Utah Street, heading for Etta Clark’s sporting house. Passing a trio of amused men, she mutters, “I’m not going to stay in that damned hooker shop any longer.”
After hearing her tale of woe, Etta Clark readily agrees to hire the raving beauty. With gainful employment assured, Bessie marches back across Utah Street to retrieve her belongings. As Bessie packs her trunk in her room, Madam Alice Abbott comes in and demands to know what’s going on. Hearing Bessie’s avowed defection, Alice flies into a rage and tries to slap her, but Bessie ducks the blow and flees the premises.
Alice first sends two of her girls to retrieve her errant prostitute, but when they return empty-handed, she crosses the street and climbs onto Etta’s porch. Banging on the front door, Alice demands to be let in.
Etta opens the door a crack. For protection, she is wielding a yard-long, brass gas lighter that she has been using to adjust the gas jets in her house.
“What do you want?” Etta asks.
“I want to see Bessie,” Alice barks.
“Don’t let her get me!” Bessie pleads from behind Etta. “She’ll hurt me if she gets ahold of me. She’ll beat me to death!”
“She doesn’t want to see you,” Etta tells her rival. “Get out of my house.”
“It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference whether she wants to see me or not,” Alice bellows as she flings her hefty body against the door, sending Etta staggering backwards.
With the door flung open, Alice starts for Bessie. Etta takes a swing at her rival with the gas lighter. Deflecting the blow, Alice says, “I owe you this anyhow,” and punches Etta in the face, sending the madam sprawling into her bedroom.
Alice grabs the hysterical Bessie by the wrist and begins dragging her out the door. Screaming and kicking, Bessie manages to break free and runs back inside.
Retrieving a bone-handled .44 caliber Iver-Johnson “Bulldog” revolver from her dresser drawer, Etta reenters the parlor. “Miss Alice,” Etta says, aiming the piece directly at her rival, “I want you to leave my house.”
“I’ll leave your house,” Alice jeers sarcastically as she advances on her smaller foe.
“I’ll kill the damned bitch!” Etta cries as she pulls the trigger.
Clutching her groin, Alice screams: “My God! I’m shot!”
Alice staggers down the porch steps and collapses in the street. Etta steps onto the porch and fires again but misses. Three of Alice’s girls rush across the street to carry their employer back inside her house. The fight is over.
Aftermath: Odds & Ends
The summoned Dr. A.L. Justice determined the bullet had penetrated to the right of Alice’s pubic arch and passed through her body. No vital organs were hit.
The next day’s El Paso Herald mistakenly told readers that Alice had been shot in the “public arch.” Long after she recovered, Alice was often asked, “How’s your public arch feel today?” The phrase later became a part of Western folklore.
Etta Clark turned herself in to the police and was charged with attempted first-degree murder. On May 13, a jury found Etta not guilty on grounds of self-defense. Incredibly, after the dust had settled and the wounds healed, Alice Abbott sweet-talked Bessie Colvin into returning to work at her brothel.
Dueling Madams
Alice Abbott kept a photo album of her days as an El Paso madam. On the first page of the album, Alice staked the claim as the “Best House Keeper . . . U.S.A.” The fiery and hefty madam (reportedly, she tipped the scales at 230 lbs.) also put the letter “A” surrounded by a heart on numerous photos in the album, possibly denoting customers and girls who were extra special to her (some believe the “brand” suggests lesbian status).
The photo of Etta Clark was crossed out by Alice, but the fact that the photo was in Alice’s album suggests they were friends at an earlier date. Evidently, Etta was an equal opportunity madam.
We recommend: The Gentleman’s Club: The Story of Prostitution In El Paso, by H. Gordon Frost, 1983, Mangan Books. This classic book is out of print, yet still in high demand.
The beautiful Bessie Colvin is fed up. After a year of arguing over “extracurricular activities” and bad accounting, the star attraction at Alice Abbott’s bordello in El Paso, Texas, is quitting to seek better working conditions elsewhere.
Bessie’s also drunk. Sashaying through the brothel parlor, the angry soiled dove swears at the customers, telling them how foolish they are for shopping at “Fat Alice’s Belly Bazaar.” At the front door, Bessie informs everyone within hearing that the “prime cut will soon be found across the street.”
Storming out the front door, Bessie crosses Utah Street, heading for Etta Clark’s sporting house. Passing a trio of amused men, she mutters, “I’m not going to stay in that damned hooker shop any longer.”
After hearing her tale of woe, Etta Clark readily agrees to hire the raving beauty. With gainful employment assured, Bessie marches back across Utah Street to retrieve her belongings. As Bessie packs her trunk in her room, Madam Alice Abbott comes in and demands to know what’s going on. Hearing Bessie’s avowed defection, Alice flies into a rage and tries to slap her, but Bessie ducks the blow and flees the premises.
Alice first sends two of her girls to retrieve her errant prostitute, but when they return empty-handed, she crosses the street and climbs onto Etta’s porch. Banging on the front door, Alice demands to be let in.
Etta opens the door a crack. For protection, she is wielding a yard-long, brass gas lighter that she has been using to adjust the gas jets in her house.
“What do you want?” Etta asks.
“I want to see Bessie,” Alice barks.
“Don’t let her get me!” Bessie pleads from behind Etta. “She’ll hurt me if she gets ahold of me. She’ll beat me to death!”
“She doesn’t want to see you,” Etta tells her rival. “Get out of my house.”
“It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference whether she wants to see me or not,” Alice bellows as she flings her hefty body against the door, sending Etta staggering backwards.
With the door flung open, Alice starts for Bessie. Etta takes a swing at her rival with the gas lighter. Deflecting the blow, Alice says, “I owe you this anyhow,” and punches Etta in the face, sending the madam sprawling into her bedroom.
Alice grabs the hysterical Bessie by the wrist and begins dragging her out the door. Screaming and kicking, Bessie manages to break free and runs back inside.
Retrieving a bone-handled .44 caliber Iver-Johnson “Bulldog” revolver from her dresser drawer, Etta reenters the parlor. “Miss Alice,” Etta says, aiming the piece directly at her rival, “I want you to leave my house.”
“I’ll leave your house,” Alice jeers sarcastically as she advances on her smaller foe.
“I’ll kill the damned bitch!” Etta cries as she pulls the trigger.
Clutching her groin, Alice screams: “My God! I’m shot!”
Alice staggers down the porch steps and collapses in the street. Etta steps onto the porch and fires again but misses. Three of Alice’s girls rush across the street to carry their employer back inside her house. The fight is over.
Aftermath: Odds & Ends
The summoned Dr. A.L. Justice determined the bullet had penetrated to the right of Alice’s pubic arch and passed through her body. No vital organs were hit.
The next day’s El Paso Herald mistakenly told readers that Alice had been shot in the “public arch.” Long after she recovered, Alice was often asked, “How’s your public arch feel today?” The phrase later became a part of Western folklore.
Etta Clark turned herself in to the police and was charged with attempted first-degree murder. On May 13, a jury found Etta not guilty on grounds of self-defense. Incredibly, after the dust had settled and the wounds healed, Alice Abbott sweet-talked Bessie Colvin into returning to work at her brothel.
Dueling Madams
Alice Abbott kept a photo album of her days as an El Paso madam. On the first page of the album, Alice staked the claim as the “Best House Keeper . . . U.S.A.” The fiery and hefty madam (reportedly, she tipped the scales at 230 lbs.) also put the letter “A” surrounded by a heart on numerous photos in the album, possibly denoting customers and girls who were extra special to her (some believe the “brand” suggests lesbian status).
The photo of Etta Clark was crossed out by Alice, but the fact that the photo was in Alice’s album suggests they were friends at an earlier date. Evidently, Etta was an equal opportunity madam.
We recommend: The Gentleman’s Club: The Story of Prostitution In El Paso, by H. Gordon Frost, 1983, Mangan Books. This classic book is out of print, yet still in high demand.
Sarah Jane Creech ~ "Sadie Orchard"
Sarah Jane Creech was born in London, England in 1865. It's said she arrived in the Sierra County, New Mexico mining district in 1885 or 1886. It was here that she married a man named Orchard and later became somewhat famous as "Sadie Orchard."
One source described her husband as a "sad sack"; another as chronically unemployed and reported that Sadie started a stagecoach line ... two Concord Coaches and a freight wagon ... to provide him with a job. A third source noted that because of Orchard's slothful outlook on life, she finally ran him off and was obliged to drive the coaches herself from time to time when she couldn't hire drivers.
Perceptions of Sadie vary widely, some leaving the image of a masculine woman, along the lines of "Calamity Jane" Cannary of Deadwood. But the only thing Sadie shared with Calamity was an extensive vocabulary of vulgarities. Sadie was described as small, no more than 100 pounds, and shapely, with black hair and blue eyes. She dressed in high fashion and was proud of her tiny feet and waist.
While she was part owner of the stage line, her main business was prostitution. She started with a house in Kingston (on Virtue Ave.) and the demand for her services, and those of her employees (colorfully named Tugboat Annie, Big Sal, Rosarita and Missouri Lil), was great. There was nothing second-rate about the way she conducted her business. She insisted her soiled doves be "good lookers" and that they dressed well, in the fashion of the day. Sadie was civic-minded, too, organizing a fund raising drive to raise money for a church in Kingston.
By the late 1880s, Kingston was fading, but Hillsboro continued to flourish. So she relocated her business there. She never opened a bordello in Lake Valley, but it's reported that her stagecoaches delivered it's miners to the doorstep of her Hillsboro brothel. She also built the Hillsboro Hotel, described as palatial with "The Best Table in Hillsboro."
The fortunes of Hillsboro faded, but Sadie continued in business until WWI when her business declined. It was during that time when Hillsboro was hit hard with the Spanish Flu Epidemic. Sadie shed her finery and busied herself with the sick, giving solace to the dying and help to the living. She acted as nurse and cook for the stricken and helped lay out and bury the dead.
Sadie remained in Hillsboro for the rest of her life. She died there in 1943 and was buried in Hot Springs. The fortune she had earned was gone; when her possessions were sold, and her funeral expenses deducted, only $45.00 remained.
Thelma Copeland ~ "Queen Madam of Ketchikan"
"By the time I was 18 or 19, I realized that I could make a lot more money from the attention of men than I could waiting on tables." ~Dolly Arthur
Her next move was to Ketchikan, where she changed her name to Dolly Arthur. In 1919 she bought a house on 24 Creek Street and set up her business. Miners, fishermen, loggers and townspeople gathered to carouse, drink and visit the clapboard bordellos built along the boardwalk. Though drinking was against the law (a law few folks took seriously) prostitution was legal, and the "sporting women" of the red light area of Creek Street, registered their businesses with the city police.
In her book Dolly's House, June Allen provides a look into Dolly's persona ... revealed during several interviews in the early 1970s. Allen mentions that while still in her early twenties Dolly had an unhappy love affair in Vancouver. Perhaps a poignant reminder of that ill-fated romance was the words to a 1915 song found among her mementos:
"I want you when I'm bright and cheery, need you when I'm sad and weary, Always to be near me dearie, for I want you all the while."
The last man in her life was "Lefty," a longshoreman who lived with her sporadically over a period of 26 years. He was a charming rake who flitted about town surrounded by a coterie of admiring women. "He fooled around," Dolly is reputed to have said, "but he always came back." She bailed him out of financial scrapes on several occasions, not out of blind infatuation, but because she genuinely liked him and considered him a good friend.
Dolly continued to live in her house on Creek Street after the brothels were closed down in the late 1950s and the area assumed a mantle of respectability. She grew increasingly frail as she aged and spent the last year and a half of her life in a nursing home. When she died in July 1975 at the age of 87, all the major newspapers on the West Coast carried her obituary, paying tribute to a woman whose indomitable spirit exemplified the tough, roistering years of Ketchikan's early history. She is buried in the Bayview Cemetery (plot 4949).
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Pearl DeVere
She migrated to Denver, Colorado while in her teens and was known in Denver as "Mrs. Martin", though it's not believed that she was married at the time. By the age of 14 or 15 she was a working prostitute in Denver ... when business slowed, she moved to the new boomtown of Cripple Creek, Colorado, in 1893.
Cripple Creek would be the last great Colorado gold rush. Almost overnight, a city sprang up from a small community. The need for prostitutes in a land where men far outnumbered women was great. "Mrs. Martin" changed her name to Pearl deVere, and began working as a prostitute there. Within months, she had started her own brothel, with several girls in her employ.
Cripple Creek would be the last great Colorado gold rush. Almost overnight, a city sprang up from a small community. The need for prostitutes in a land where men far outnumbered women was great. "Mrs. Martin" changed her name to Pearl deVere, and began working as a prostitute there. Within months, she had started her own brothel, with several girls in her employ.
Pearl purchased a small frame house on Myers Avenue, from which her business operated. At the time, she was described as being 31 years of age and a pretty woman with red hair and a slender build. She also was said to have been a good businesswoman, strong willed and smart. Her girls were instructed to practice good hygiene, dress well and have monthly medical examinations. She chose only the most attractive girls for employment and paid them well for their services.
She catered to the most prosperous men in Cripple Creek, and her brothel soon became the most successful in town. She was well known for wearing lavish clothing in public, and for never being seen twice in the same clothes. In 1895, she met and married businessman C. B. Flynn, a wealthy mill owner. The two had been married only a matter of months before a fire raged through Cripple Creek's business district, destroying most of the businesses, including his mill and her brothel.
In order to recover financially, Flynn accepted a position as a smelter in Monterrey, Mexico. Pearl remained in Cripple Creek, rebuilding her business. She had a two-story brick building constructed in 1896, decorating it with lavish carpets, hardwood furniture and electric lamps. The house was equipped with two bathtubs with running water. Each of her girls had her own bedroom, used for entertaining her guests, complete with a dresser, changing screen and large bed. She also supplied each of her girls with a large trunk that could be secured with a lock, for their personal items.
When a client entered the establishment, if he could not decide on a particular girl, he could enter what was referred to as the viewing room. In this room, located through a small door on the second floor, the clients could look down through a large window into the parlor where all the girls were gathered. Once the client decided on a woman, she would be brought up to the viewing room, where she would remove all her clothing so that the client could make a final decision.
She named her newly opened business "The Old Homestead", where she held parties to bring in clients and charged $250 per night for them to stay over. On 4 June 1897 she held a large party, serving the the best wine and caviar. It was sponsored by a wealthy admirer who brought her an imported Parisian chiffon gown that had cost him $800. The two reportedly had an argument, after which the gentleman stormed back to Denver. Pearl told her girls that she was going up to bed.
During the night, she was found in bed by one of her girls ... unconscious and draped in the chiffon gown. Finding her breathing heavily and unable to wake her, a doctor was summoned. But it was too late. At the age of 36, she was pronounced dead the early morning of June 5. The doctor stated that he believed she died of an accidental morphine overdose, though that was never confirmed. (It was known that she often did take morphine to help her sleep.)
After being notified by the funeral parlor, her sister made the long journey to Cripple Creek from Chicago. There she discovered Pearl was a madam at the most notorious brothel in Cripple Creek and not the well-respected millinery owner her family was led to believe. Her sister refused to have anything to do with the funeral and remains and left immediately for home.
Though Pearl's business was successful at the time of her death, she didn't have enough money for a proper burial. She had spent all her income on the lavish furnishings for both she and her house. Some of her clientele suggested selling the expensive gown she was wearing when she died, using the proceeds to pay for her ceremony. Being well-liked by many of the townspeople and miners (she had been known for being somewhat of a philanthropist to the town), they personally made arrangements for the funeral procession. Meanwhile, a letter arrived in the mail from the gentleman who gave Pearl her gown. The letter asked that she be buried in the gown and included a check for $1,000 to pay for her funeral (about $36,000 in today's money).
Pearl had the most lavish funeral procession in Cripple Creek's known history. All the bands in town played the appropriate somber tunes on the way to the cemetery while nearly everyone in the town came to watch - either out of respect, or just plain curiosity. After her burial, they continued to play while heading back to town, lightening the mood and making it more of a celebration by playing more upbeat tunes including, There'll be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight.
At least one newspaper reported that she committed suicide, which could not be confirmed. She was buried in a large ceremony in Mt. Pisgah cemetery, where her grave was marked with a wooden marker. By the 1930s, her grave site had been all but forgotten. However, as tourism for Cripple Creek picked up, her grave marker was replaced with a marble stone. The original wooden headstone can now be seen hanging on the wall in the Cripple Creek District Museum.
Eleanor Dumont ~ "Madam Moustache"
"Madame Moustache" was the nickname of Eleanor Dumont (also known as Eleonore Alphonsine Dumant), a notorious gambler on the American Western Frontier during the California Gold Rush. Her nickname was due to the appearance of a line of dark hair on her upper lip.
She arrived in San Francisco in 1850, claiming to be the only daughter of a French Viscount who’d returned to the South of France after Napoleon’s fall to find his estate and finances in ruins. To restore the family fortune, the Viscount supposedly arranged her marriage to an overbearing husband. After an affair with a Lieutenant ended in her virtual imprisonment in a French chateau, she contrived to escape and, following a series of adventures which she never disclosed, found herself in California where she presented herself as Emiliene Dumont and took a job dealing cards at the Bella Union.
In Nevada City, California, she opened up the gambling parlor named "Vingt-et-un" on Broad Street. Only well-kept men were allowed in, and no women save herself. All the men admired her for her beauty and charm, but she kept them all a nice distance away. She was a very private lady, so she flirted, but only to keep the boys coming. Men came from all around to see the woman dealer - this was rare then - and considered it a privilege. The parlor found much success, so she decided to go into business with Lucky Dave Tobin, an experienced gambler. They opened up Dumont's Place, which was very successful until the gold started to dry up in Nevada City. But Tobin was no gentleman; he beat her and tried to take over the gambling parlor. She eventually came to her senses, fired him, sold the business and decamped to Virginia City, Nevada.
Over the next few years, Eleanor rarely stayed long in one place, moving from boomtown to boomtown. She was described as “a small woman, one of the kind who would be called little, with a form almost perfect and with a grace of movement rarely equaled. Her complexion was strongly brunette, her hair being jet back, and her eyes, though large, as is common with the women of southern France, were wholly lacking in that dreamy expression associated with the daughters of the south, both on the contrary were sparkling in their jetty blackness.”
At her gambling parlor in Banneck, Montana, she earned the nickname 'Moustache Madame' from a disgruntled miner who’d lost his temper and a bundle at her table. The nickname didn’t prevent cattleman Jack McKnight from winning her affections. With Eleanor's capital, the two bought a cattle ranch outside of Carson City, Nevada. But McKnight didn’t stick around very long; he was gone a few months later, after cleaning out Eleanor's bank account and taking all her jewelry and selling the ranch. When McKnight was found a few weeks later filled with bullets from a double barreled shotgun, the local sheriff didn’t investigate too closely.
The 'Moustache Madame' was now penniless. She moved around from city to city, gambling and building up her money again. But, as her age started to increase, the beauty that once entranced miners faded. The lovely petite brunette of the 1850s turned into a dowdy dowager, the mustache grew and got darker, and it was no longer her good looks that brought men to her card table. She still drew crowds, though, and had a long-standing reputation for dealing fair.
She added prostitution to her repertoire during the later years and became a "madame" of a brothel in the 1860s. To promote her business, she would parade her girls around the town in carriages, showing off their beauty in broad daylight, much to the gasping of the 'proper' women.
Her last stop was Bodie, California. On 7 September 1879, a friend loaned Eleanor $300 to stake her in a card game. But she misjudged a play and suddenly owed a lot of money. Despondent, she wandered into the desert and was found dead the following morning of a morphine overdose, an apparent suicide.
Eleanor's grave still stands in Bodie, California. Her funeral was attended by friends from as far away as Carson City.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Laura Evans
Learn the Inside Story of Laura Evans, Local Madam
Arlene Shovald / The Mountain Mail / June 24, 2015
Evans was born May 31, 1871, in St. Louis, Missouri. As often happens over time, there is some discrepancy as to her birth date and the spelling of her name. On her tombstone in Fairview Cemetery, the date is 1874 and the name is spelled Evens. No one knows why. In almost every existing document, including her death certificate, the name is spelled Evans.
Author and historian June Shaputis surmises the spelling was an error on the part of the funeral director. Possibly it may have been the engraver’s error, since the Stewart Mortuary, which conducted her services, spelled the name Evans (with an “a”) on the death certificate and in all of the information related to her burial, right down to the gray dress she wore for her interment.
She became a prostitute in the 1890s, allegedly deserting husband and daughter and changing her name. Prior to taking up residence on Front Street (now West Sackett Avenue) in Salida around 1896, she worked in St. Louis, Denver and Leadville.
She loved practical jokes, swore a lot, rolled her own cigarettes, liked expensive clothes and surroundings, collected dolls and was quite outspoken, all of which (except the doll collection) were frowned on for a woman in her time. But Evans didn’t care. She wasn’t particularly beautiful, but she was attractive in her younger years with a slim figure and long dark hair, often pulled up in a bun or tied back at the nape of her neck.
Her house of ill repute, in early documents, is often referred to as a “boarding house for women.”
Young women went into prostitution for a number of reasons. Some were victims of white slave rings. Often a girl would answer an ad looking for household help or some other respectable occupation, spend everything she had to relocate and take the job, only to discover it was not as advertised and there was no way to escape.
One house of prostitution in Florence, Wisconsin, for example, advertised for maids, and once a woman accepted the job, she was kept in a house guarded by vicious trained German shepherds and could not leave. Often these young women had no family support or resources to get out of their situation.
Other young women hated poverty and were willing to do anything to get out of it, and prostitution seemed to be a lucrative venture.
Prostitution was and still is a thriving profession, but it was particularly so in Victorian times when sex was unspeakable in proper society and birth control was very limited and often didn’t work.
Consequently sexual relations, for “decent women,” were always tinged with the fear of pregnancy, whether it be a single woman (who would be scorned as an unwed mother) or a married woman who feared an unwanted pregnancy.
However, the life of a prostitute was never easy. By night they were hired lovers, but by day they were not acknowledged by the men they slept with.
Evans moved from Leadville to Salida in about 1896. Legend says she lost favor in Leadville after she smuggled the payroll to miners who were still working during a strike. She carried the $27,000 under her skirt and rode sidesaddle into the mines, allegedly to provide her services to a “friend” who could not come to town. The delivery of the payroll broke the strike, but the miners who were on strike were angry with her for helping the mine owners, and her popularity in Leadville took a dive.
Moving to Salida provided the opportunity to leave the “line” of working girls and open her own house on Front Street. As a madam, her business thrived. She is said to have had the prettiest girls working for her and was respected, at least in one way, for her business success. Six years after moving to Salida she expanded and opened a row of “cribs” across the street.
She was said to be “tough as nails” in many ways but have a “heart of butter” in others. Many stories tell of benevolent acts such as providing milk, coal or groceries for families when the father was out of work or injured, or of paying for a young person’s college education.
During the flu pandemic of 1918, Evans sent her girls out into homes in the community to care for the sick, even providing them with nurses’ uniforms so the folks on the receiving end of their care would not know who they were.
One minister who was among the most adamant about closing down the red light district was stunned when he learned the “nurse” who had taken care of his wife was one of Evans’ girls and that girl went back to the “parlor” when the epidemic was over. The minister then dropped his crusade to close the houses.
Evans’ daughter, however, was not as inclined to forgive. In 1940 she distributed a “defamatory circular,” which brought federal G-men to Salida to investigate. The circular made charges against a local bank official, a lawyer, an undertaker and a widowed hotel employee, stating that an estate had been mishandled.
Evans’ daughter, Lucille, later identified herself as the author of the circular, saying she wanted the people named in it to be smeared because she was angry that she was not accepted in Salida social circles. In her letter she expressed contempt for her mother and the fact that she was a neglected child. “Even a rattlesnake will take care of its young,” she said.
Evans’ life was a composite of “the good, the bad and the ugly.” She was fascinating to many, scorned by others, respected by some and, through it all, fiercely independent, outspoken and often shocking.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Mary Gain ~ Queen of Duluth's Underworld
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| Image: Zenith City Press |
[Pictured Left] Duluth’s “Tenderloin” district in 1905. The indicator “FB” on insurance maps meant “Female Boarding Shanty,” code for bordello.
Sunday, July 17, 2016
Mary Haley ~ "Squirrel Tooth Alice"
Libby soon took up with an older man who didn't care about her past, but James Haley found the idea of an older man taking advantage of his daughter so objectionable that he shot and killed the suitor. Libby’s reputation was soiled even further.
At the age of fourteen, Libby ran away from home in search of a fresh start. She wound up in Abilene, Kansas, but a young woman alone had few options so she became a dance hall girl and prostitute. In Abilene she hooked up with a gambler and part-time cowboy named Billy Thompson, brother of the notorious Ben Thompson. In 1870, the couple left Kansas for Texas and for the next couple of years Billy punched cows along the Chisholm Trail while Libby continued working as a dance hall girl in various towns across the southern prairie.
In 1872, at the age of seventeen, Libby was plying her trade in the cattle town of Ellsworth, Kansas, while Billy worked the gambling halls. By spring 1873, however, the couple was back out on the prairie with a spring cattle drive. Libby bore her first child on the open prairie and, to make the child legitimate, she and Billy got married that year.
That summer, Billy, in a state of drunkenness, shot and killed Ellsworth town sheriff Chauncey Whitney. He was arrested but got the cattle company he worked for to bail him out. Because he was fearful of being shot himself by vengeful family members, Billy and Libby ran. The couple wound up in Dodge City, where Billy gambled and Libby worked as a dancer and prostitute. It was here that the Thompsons made the acquaintance of Wyatt Earp and his paramour, Mattie Blaylock.
After Dodge City, the Thompsons drifted to Colorado but by 1876 they had moved to Sweetwater, Texas, which became their permanent home. In Sweetwater the couple purchased a ranch outside of town and a dance hall in town. Libby ran the dance hall which was a front for a brothel. Libby was not embarrassed by her profession, and it was as a madam in Sweetwater that she became known for keeping her pet prairie dogs. These, along with a gap in her teeth, gave her the nickname, "Squirrel Tooth Alice."
In 1897, after twenty-four years of marriage and nine children, Billy Thompson died of consumption. Libby Thompson continued running her Sweetwater brothel until she retired in 1921 at the age of sixty-six. Although most of her sons had turned to crime and her daughters followed her into prostitution, Libby spent her elderly years living in Palmdale, California, among her various children’s homes. On 13 April1953, Libby died at the Sunbeam Rest Home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of ninety-eight.
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