Alice Abbott ~ "Fat Alice"

When the railroad first reached El Paso in the 1880s, it brought a variety of good people and an abundance of savory characters. Among them many "Ladies of the Night".

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.

Laura Bullion ~ "Rose of the Wild Bunch"

Laura Bullion, daughter of Henry Bullion (a Native American) and Fredy Byler, was born about October 1876 (the exact day is unknown). Most sources indicate she was born in Knickerbocker, Irion, Texas. 

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

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.

State Street, Leadville

[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. 

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."

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.