Julia Bulette ~ "The Comstock Courtesan"

Julia Bulette, whose real given name was Jule, was born in 1832 in London, England of French ancestry, although some historians give her birthplace as Liverpool or Mississippi. 

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'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.

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.