Wicked Women
Page 13
Bored with the mundane life of gambling and waiting on tables, Jenny joined up with Smith and his men. The lifestyle suited her, providing her with a level of excitement and adventure she had never known. Smith had the brawn to back up his criminal acts but lacked the brains to plan regular attacks. Jenny had a talent for organization and in a short time transformed Curly’s band of second-rate criminals into a determined gang of thieves. The Smith gang began making routine attacks on lone riders and stagecoaches traveling to and from Nevada City and Sacramento. When they weren’t robbing prospectors and pioneers, the bandits were hiding out at a solitary spot in a copse of trees near the Bear River.
While Jenny was on a shopping and gambling spree in San Francisco in October 1860, Curly and his men ventured into the town of Grass Valley for a drink and a turn at the cards. Just before they reached the mining camp, they met an outbound stage and decided to attempt an unscheduled holdup. In the process of separating the passengers from their worthy possessions, they were recognized. Once the stage reached its destination, the authorities were notified and set out to apprehend the gang.
An unsuspecting Curly and his cohorts continued into Grass Valley, where they proceeded to celebrate the holdup at a saloon. Smith and a few of his men staggered out of the bar before daylight and while en route to their hotel accosted a Chinese man. Although the man was severely beaten, he managed to fight back. During the scuffle he pulled a knife from his pocket and stabbed Smith to death. The victim’s actions were considered heroic, and he was commended for killing a known outlaw.
Jenny learned of her lover’s demise after she returned to the Gold Country. She used the money she had made at the faro tables in San Francisco to pay for a lavish funeral. The arrangements included a silk-lined coffin, which was escorted to the cemetery by a horse-drawn hearse. Given Smith’s reputation and occupation, she was unable at first to find a clergyman willing to officiate. She appealed to one of Nevada City’s leading citizens, Orlando Stoddard, to help her. Moved by her impassioned request, he agreed to do what he could. Stoddard, his wife, and his sister-in-law attended the service and offered a few words on the deceased’s behalf.
Jenny Rowe’s whereabouts after Smith’s funeral are a mystery. Historians maintain that due to her association with Smith’s gang, she was forced to relocate and change her name. In November 1860 Orlando Stoddard reported that someone attempted to hold him up while he was traveling on business.
“As I passed through the place Smith and his boys were known to congregate,” Stoddard relayed to a newspaper editor, “I was ordered off my horse and told to stand and deliver. Just before I dismounted I heard a woman’s voice say, ‘No, it’s Stoddard.’ ” The editor indicated that “Stoddard recognized the voice as Jenny Rowe’s. That was the last account ever of ‘Jenny on the Green.’ ”
Florence Mabel Dedrick
Our Sister of the Street
“She is heart and soul in the work and has been wonderfully blessed in her efforts.”
Comment about Florence Dedrick made by the superintendent of Midnight Missions, Ernest A. Bell, 1910
As the Wild West became more civilized, tolerance decreased for prostitution and the women who owned and operated houses of ill fame. Morally upright citizens spoke out against the trade, politicians drafted legislation that made the profession illegal, and missionaries ventured into parlor houses and cribs to reform the soiled doves.
Sister Florence Mabel Dedrick, a missionary from the Moody Church in Chicago, was dedicated to rescuing women from the “underworld.” She believed she had been called by God to “serve her fallen sisters and persuade them to repent.” She authored several articles about her experiences in helping to save women from the perils of “evil living.” Their salvation was a burden that weighed heavily on her heart.
In 1910 Sister Florence wrote that she was “more than happy to share her experiences with readers everywhere.” The following excerpt is from a publication she wrote entitled For God’s Sake Do Something.
What are we doing for our tempted sisters? Are we going to let the business of prostitution have free and undisputed sway without a word of protest, blighting and ruining the homes in this fair land of liberty and freedom? Are we going to let evil exist and triumph and not rise up in arms against it?
The question, What are we doing for our sisters came up as far back as Solomon’s time, but has an answer been found? No! It was only when Jesus met the woman at the well did a new life open for our unfortunate sisters. I plead with you do not draw away your skirts for fear of contamination. Remember, the Master Himself allowed a fallen woman to wash His feet with her tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head. It was a fallen woman who was first to see the omissions and deficiencies of hospitality forgotten by others. Are not fallen women included within the scope of the Master’s great commission?
A woman may fall lower than a man, but this is due to her sensitive moral nature. With the conviction that she is past redemption, doors closed, no one loving her, people, yes, her own sex, ostracizing her—she becomes hopeless, desperate, and reckless. Can you blame her? Again, let me recall to your mind, Jesus Himself forgave and renewed repentant ones. Even when a woman had fallen to the depths of sin and degradation He still called her “woman.”
Not every girl who leads a life of sin and shame is by any means a free person. They are in a sense a slave to sin and God is no respecter of persons and the same judgment will be hers unless she hastens home to her Father’s House, where room and warm welcome awaits her. Not many doors await in her world.
An example of this is found in the case of a young girl in Colorado who, ruined, went from door to door to find someone who would befriend her. Some have one excuse, some another. All said: “We cannot take you in.” Tired, discouraged, only one door open and that is the brothel door from whence she once came.
Many ask: “Who are these girls who go astray?”—having an idea that it is only the ignorant class who are down in sin. It is not so, and let me undeceive everyone on this point, though many, many of the ignorant class do go astray also. Satan is claiming our best, our VERY best girls of education, refinement, advantages and religious training. In one of the most notorious and elegant resorts, known in the red light district of Texas, there are college girls, who have had every advantage. Only lately, as I have done personal work there, did I learn that these very girls were at times in such despair as to threaten to commit suicide.
Some girls come to me when in these resorts and say: “I used to sing in Moody Church Choir.” Others will tell you they went through every department of the Sunday school, some were Sunday school teachers. Members of almost every church you will find among them. When these facts are considered one cannot help but realize the need for action.
A sad incident occurred in one of Colorado’s churches. Seven or eight boys, whom everyone considered pure, were found, upon investigation, to have caused the ruin of thirteen girls. One girl, in telling me how she had been led astray said she had been getting $3.50 a week for her lifestyle.
When it comes to reform there must be cooperation on the part of the state, the home and the church. What we need is a practical salvation, something more than saying: “Be ye saved.” The church can do what the state cannot, and vice versa. Not only present, but future generations are in danger. Vice and crime are being flaunted, as it were, and advertised in our very faces. Every man, woman and child has a place in the battle.
It’s girls whose ages are from 13 to 22 who are going astray, even as young as 9 years; deceived, betrayed, led away by the promise of making a fortune selling themselves. The conscience of these girls is by no means dead. Upon giving one my card, she said: “If I had only known it before; many tell me about being a Christian, and another world, but I never could understand it.” The cry of another sin sick girl was, amid sobs and tears: “Oh! It is awful and sin has done it!”
Belle Starr
The Outlaw Gambler
“Shed not for her the bitter tear, nor give the heart in vain regret. Tis but the casket that lies here, the gem that filled it sparkles yet.”
Inscription on Belle Starr’s tombstone, 1889
Belle Starr checked to make sure the pair of six-guns she was carrying was loaded before she proceeded across a dusty road toward a saloon just outside Fort Dodge, Kansas. When she reached the tavern, she peered over the top of the swinging doors of the establishment and carefully studied the room and its seedy inhabitants. Her thin face and hawk-like nose were illuminated by a kerosene lantern hanging by the entrance.
She stepped inside the long, narrow, dimly lit room and slowly made her way to the gambling tables in the back. A battery of eyes turned to watch her walk by. Four men, engrossed in a game of five-card draw, barely noticed the woman approaching them. A tall man with an air of foreign gentility sat at the head of the table with his back to Belle, dealing cards. She removed one of the guns from her dress pocket and rested the barrel of the weapon on the gambler’s cheek.
“You took $2,000 off a friend of mine,” she calmly informed the cardsharp.
“I’m not in a habit of taking things, madam,” the man responded. “I’m an exceptional card player.”
“So is my friend,” Belle offered, “and I have serious doubts that he could have been deprived of his fortune honestly.”
The three other card players at the table pushed away from the scene. Belle kept her gun on the gambler.
“How do you hope to right the wrong you believe your friend has endured?” the man inquired with a sneer.
“I’ll just take what’s in the pot,” Belle stated without hesitating.
She dropped her hand into the center of the table, and one of the other players moved as if to stop her. She removed the second six-shooter from her dress pocket and leveled it at him. No further attempts were made to keep her from raiding the pot, which amounted to more than $7,000.
“There’s a little change due, gentlemen,” she said as she collected the money. “If you want it back, come down to the territory where me and my boys are and get it.”
Belle inched the gun away from the gambler’s face but kept it cocked and ready to fire at anyone who stood in the way of her appointed goal. She tossed a saddlebag full of money over her shoulder and backed out the saloon, smiling a sly smile of contentment.
John and Eliza Shirley had wanted better for their daughter than to be a gun-toting champion of a band of outlaws that included the likes of Cole Younger and the James brothers. Belle was a headstrong woman with a penchant for crime and amoral adventures.
She was born Myra Maybelle Shirley on February 5, 1848, near Carthage, Missouri. Her father was a well-educated, wealthy innkeeper with a background in judicial affairs. His friends referred to him as “Judge,” and he was sought after by many important political figures for advice on campaign support and laws that would further civilize the state.
Both John and Eliza came from genteel Southern stock. They were well-mannered people who raised their daughter and two sons to behave accordingly. As education was important in the Shirley household, Belle and her brothers were required to attend school and participate in other areas of learning as well. Belle was enrolled at the Carthage Female Academy and was taught the basic subjects along with horseback riding and music. She was a gifted piano player and had natural talent with a gun.
Being raised at a busy inn exposed Belle to a variety of rough characters and provided a less than savory education. She learned how to chew and spit tobacco, curse, and play cards. She excelled at the games of blackjack and faro. By the time Belle was fifteen, she was working several hours at the inn’s tavern either playing the piano or dealing faro. Belle was a polite young woman with an innocent face, qualities that often led newcomers who challenged her to a hand to think she could be easily bluffed. The misconception enabled her to win more poker games than she lost.
A noted gunslinger among the ranks of the lady gamblers of the Old West was the horse thief Belle Starr. The tough-as-nails bandit wasn’t shy about retrieving money from unsavory dealers who cheated her friends out of their winnings. Here she is pictured with her lover Blue Duck.
Western History Collections, University of Oklahoma Libraries, Rose 2124
Rumors of an impending civil war caused a great deal of unrest with many Carthage families, and the Shirleys were no exception. Belle’s brother, Edward, joined the Confederate guerilla forces and fought in a few skirmishes against free soil sympathizers before the actual war began. Belle was as strong a Southern supporter as the rest of her relatives. She wanted nothing more than to lay down her cards, pick up a gun, and fight.
When the War Between the States was declared, Edward was assigned to William Clarke Quantrill’s savage military unit. It was then that Belle got her chance to serve. Quantrill’s gang craved any information about the enemy. Belle was more than happy to help acquire what they needed. She rode about the town and surrounding farms under the guise of making friendly calls on neighbors and acquaintances. What she was doing, however, was gathering news from Union supporters about Yankee regiments in the area. She was learning about the supplies and artillery they had and what their movements were.
No one suspected the perky, pleasant-looking Belle of passing whatever news she learned about the Yankees on to the Rebels. Quantrill and his men called Belle their “little secret.” Belle’s actions did not go undetected for long. In the winter of 1862, she was arrested as a spy. She was held for a short time and then released.
Undaunted by the experience, she sneaked off to warn her soldier brother about what had happened and that the Union forces were nearby and threatening to capture all of Quantrill’s troops. Belle’s warning gave Quantrill’s men the head start they needed to elude the Yankees.
During the time Belle was “scouting” for Quantrill, she was introduced to a few of the soldiers serving alongside her brother. Cole and Bob Younger and Jesse and Frank James were the most notable. The future outlaws applauded her efforts, and she basked in the attention they gave her. Her days of spying for the unit reached an end when the men moved on to the northeastern section of Kansas. Belle would meet up with the Youngers and the Jameses again at the conclusion of the war.
When the South surrendered to the North at Appomattox in 1865, John Shirley’s business was near financial collapse. That same year he decided to sell the property and move to Texas. Eighteen-year-old Belle went with him. The Shirleys settled on an eight-hundred-acre ranch southeast of Dallas. Much to her parents’ chagrin, Belle spent most of her time in Dallas playing cards. Her gambling skills were sharper than ever, and she was a regular winner. She was able to help support her family monetarily as a regular faro dealer.
Some of Belle’s earnings were no doubt used to help feed renegades from Quantrill’s unit who were in trouble for attacking Union sympathizers. The war was over, but many rebel soldiers could not accept the outcome. Some fled to Texas and because of their association with Edward Shirley, used the Shirley home as their rendezvous point. The James and Younger boys were frequent guests. Belle helped care for the men by cooking, enterta
ining them with her piano playing, and engaging them in multiple games of poker.
In 1866 Belle dealt a hand of cards to a former Confederate soldier turned bandit named Jim Reed. She was instantly smitten with the big man in his early thirties who had a weather-beaten face and a great crag of a jaw. The two were married within twenty-four hours of meeting. In spite of her father’s objections and pleas for Belle to remain with him, she traveled to Missouri with her new husband. Jim made his living stealing from Union families. His illegal activities eventually brought on the law, and he was forced to run. Belle made frequent trips from their new home to visit him in his hideouts. They were now the parents of a little girl, but that responsibility did not transform the thief into a law-abiding citizen.
While Belle worked at a saloon dealing cards, Jim ran with a gang of desperados led by a violent Cherokee Indian named Tom Starr. Belle paid close attention to the players at the saloon, picking up on tips about gold and payroll shipments. Any information she had she passed on to Jim and his bunch so they could perpetrate more crimes.
In 1870 Jim murdered a man, and a warrant was quickly issued for his arrest. Believing that the law was fast on his heels, he headed for California to avoid being apprehended. Belle went back to Texas. John helped his daughter and grandchild make a new life for themselves on a nine-acre ranch down the road from the Shirley homestead.
Jim eventually sneaked back into Texas and onto Belle’s plot of land to visit his wife and child. When word got out that he was hanging around, he made his way to Fort Smith, Arkansas, before authorities could catch him. Jim wasn’t the only fugitive hiding out at the location. Many of Quantrill’s one-time followers and a host of new renegades resided at Fort Smith as well.