Wicked Women

by Enss, Chris

  The Belmont Rest Home in San Francisco, where Rose had just moved, was a sparsely decorated, sterile environment—a stark contrast to the parlor houses she had furnished and managed in her younger years. Rose’s eighty-two-year-old sister, Buena, was lying in a bed a few feet away from her. Buena had lived with Rose her entire life. She wasn’t any more accustomed to her homogenized surroundings than Rose, but she had managed to fall asleep. Rose was grateful for that. Buena was developmentally disabled and seemed least harassed by the challenges of life when she slept.

  As Rose watched her sister’s slow, steady breathing she thought back to the promise she had made her father to take care of Buena. On November 11, 1918, news that the Ellis girls’ father had died sent Buena into shock. Doctors performed a lobotomy on the distressed woman, which left her brain damaged. Rose pledged to care for her only living relative for the rest of her life.

  Old age, lack of funds, and limited options forced Rose to commit herself and Buena to the rest home. Although it was not an ideal situation, Rose was resigned to the living conditions. When doctors informed her that she had very little time to live, she decided to reevaluate the arrangement. The alternative she arrived at was extreme but necessary. It weighed heavily on her heart.

  Lifting herself out of her bed, Rose shuffled over to a large bureau and slowly opened the top drawer. She removed a .38 caliber, nickel-plated revolver hidden under a stack of camisoles. She opened the gun and loaded two bullets into the chamber.

  Taking a deep breath, she made her way to Buena’s bed, knelt down, and kissed her on the cheek. Using all the strength in both her aged hands, she pulled the hammer back and held the weapon to her sister’s ear. A shot rang out and Buena was gone.

  Tears streamed down Rose’s face as she cocked the gun again and pressed it to her own temple. “See you soon, my darling sister,” she whispered to Buena’s lifeless form. The final shot was fired. Rose fell in a heap on the floor, the smoking gun still clutched in her hand.

  Little is known about Rose’s early life. Much of the information on hand at the Searls Historical Library in Nevada City, California, was acquired from one of Rose’s longtime friends, a native historian who worked for the local railroad and assisted Rose with her baggage and transportation to and from her parlor house.

  Rose Aline Ellis was born in 1878. Her father was a wealthy South Dakota miner. Her mother died when Rose and her sister were very young. The father doted on his daughters, giving them every advantage he could afford. In 1910, after learning about the business opportunities on the West Coast, he moved his family to San Francisco. He hoped to earn enough to secure a future for his daughters. Rose was forty years old when he died.

  Left with the awesome responsibility of caring for her handicapped sister, Rose decided to pursue a career in the oldest profession in the world. Prostitution was a lucrative business. Rose was aware of how well the madams in the area did and believed that was the only job that would bring in the funds needed to help Buena. Rose managed parlor houses up and down the Bay Area’s red-light district from 1918 to 1929.

  Texas Tommy, aka Rose Ellis, poses with her dog in 1923.

  Author’s collection

  The economy was suffering throughout the United States in 1930. There were a few businesses that continued to revel in prosperity, one of which was prostitution. After eleven years of working for various brothel owners, Rose decided to go into the prostitution business on her own. She opened her first house in Nevada County. The area boasted the richest gold mine in the state. Nevada City, where her house was located, was the third-largest city in California. Thousands of ambitious miners had descended upon the spot to extract tons of gold ore from the rich earth.

  Rose called her house the Golden Gate Amusement Company. Patrons of the three-story yellow house on Spring Street referred to the vivacious madam as Texas Tommy. To accommodate three shifts of men working in the mines, she kept her doors open twenty-four hours a day.

  Rose used the considerable profits from the house to purchase a grand nightclub that catered to both men and women. It was a fashionable saloon with sparkling chandeliers, red velvet drapes, a large stage, and an orchestra pit complete with instruments. Champagne flowed from fountains and the finest food was served. Six weeks after the Heidelberg Club opened, the building caught fire and burned to the ground. Arson was suspected, but local authorities could not find the culprit. Nevada County residents speculated that a jealous housewife torched the brothel, but no proof of that ever materialized.

  Once the ashes had been swept away, Rose’s attention shifted solely to her brothel. Her house was always busy, especially on payday—so much so that she had to send for extra entertainers to come in and help. Rose charged clients $2.50 for the company of one of her girls. Many of the ladies made as much as $50 a night. Rose received 20 percent of their earnings.

  Madam Tommy is reported to have been quite generous with the wealth she acquired. Not only did she shower Buena with beautiful clothes and gifts, she also contributed funds to help support poor and hungry children. Whenever a miner died from an on-the-job injury, a wagonload of groceries and firewood would mysteriously appear on the widow’s doorstep. Although she never admitted it, townspeople agreed that Texas Tommy was the source of the supplies.

  Madam Tommy always appeared in public immaculately dressed. Her auburn hair was nicely styled and more often than not adorned with a rose. She expected the girls that worked for her to follow her example in keeping a neat and orderly appearance. She believed people treated you with respect if you looked like you respected yourself. On those rare occasions when Rose was treated rudely, she would scold the offender for his actions and warn him to “never let it happen again.”

  A teller at the Nevada County bank refused to cash a dividend check Rose and Buena had received from one of her father’s mines in the Dakotas. The banker’s actions so enraged the madam that she stormed out of the establishment vowing to never do business there again. When she finally did get the check cashed (at an out-of-town bank), she used the money to throw a party in every saloon in town and persuaded all those in attendance to consider ending their association with the Nevada County bank.

  Those close to Texas Tommy noted that she was an extravagant spender. It was not uncommon for her to purchase breakfast for her girls and their overnight guests, rent out entire hotels for wild celebrations, buy expensive presents for children in the neighborhood, and treat railroad baggage handlers to a night on the town. Nevada County, California, historian and railroad employee Bob Paine recalled one such night during an interview he did with the Independent newspaper in Nevada City, California, on October 14, 1981:

  One night in 1936—in the line of official duties of course . . . I went to collect the weekly passenger fares. Texas suggested we paint the town a little bit red. She opened a drawer in her office. I had never seen so much money in my life: $5, $10, and $20 bills to overflowing. On top of the whole pile was a small pearl handled pistol. Texas lifted her satin skirt and stuffed her voluminous bloomers with bills of every denomination and away we went to every saloon in Nevada County.

  Madam Tommy’s Golden Gate Amusement Company remained in operation until 1942, when the US Army forced her to close her doors. Because the country was at war, soldiers were required to wear their uniforms at all times. The order made secret visits to Tommy’s place difficult. Off-duty soldiers from a nearby army post were frequently caught at the parlor house. They were severely reprimanded and told to stay away from the house. The soldiers devised a plan to change into mechanics’ overalls and slip in undetected. After a sharp-eyed reporter at the local newspaper exposed the activity, the military and law enforcement moved in and shut the business down.

  Madam Tommy and her sister returned to the Bay Area in 1943. Rose took care of Buena as long as she was able. Once Rose’s health began to decline, she moved them both into a
nursing home. On April 26,1962, news of the tragic demise of the kindhearted madam and her sister made the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle: “She was driven by an undying devotion to her sister. . . . Even in death Texas Tommy had class and courage. So let’s close this sad story with Jesus’ admonishment in his Sermon on the Mount. ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.’ ”

  Bibliography

  General Sources

  Aikman, Duncan. Calamity Jane and the Lady Wildcats. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1927.

  Anonymous. The Denver Red Book. A Reliable Directory of the Pleasure Resorts of Denver. Denver, CO, 1892.

  Ball, Eve. The Women Who Made the West. New York: Avon Books, 1980.

  Barry, Kathleen. The Prostitution of Sexuality. New York: New York University Press, 1995.

  Bettmann, Otto. The Good Old Days—They Were Terrible! New York: Random House, 1974.

  Brown, Dee. The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958.

  Churchill, C. M. The Social Evil. San Francisco: Bancroft Press, 1872.

  Convis, Charles. Gamblers. Carson City, NV: Pioneer Press, 2000.

  Dary, David. Seeking Pleasure in the Old West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995.

  Gentry, Curt. The Madams of San Francisco. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1964.

  Hoyles, Edward. Hoyles Game: The Standard Authority. New York: Excelsior Publishing House, 1887.

  Kelly, Bill. Gamblers of the Old West. Las Vegas: B&F Enterprises, 1995.

  Nash, Robert Jay. Encyclopedia of Western Lawmen & Outlaws. New York: Paragon House, 1989.

  Neil, Kagen. The Gamblers of the Old West. Richmond, VA: Time-Life Books, 1996.

  Ringdal, Nils Johan. Love for Sale: A World History of Prostitution. Translated by Richard Daly. New York: Grove Press, 2003.

  Seagraves, Anne. Soiled Doves: Prostitution in the Early West. Hayden, ID: Wesanne Publications, 1994.

  Ward, Geoffrey C., and Dayton Duncan. The West: An Illustrated History. Boston: Little Brown & Company, 1996.

  Gertrudis Maria Barceló

  Briggs, Walter. “The Lady They Called La Tules.” New Mexico Magazine, Spring 1927.

  Chavez, Fray A. “Don Tules, Her Fame and Her Funeral.” El Palacio 57, no. 8 (August 1959).

  Horgan, Paul. The Centuries of Santa Fe. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1956.

  Peavy, Linda, and Ursula Smith. Pioneer Women: The Lives of Women on the Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1998.

  Julia Bulette

  Hegne, Barbara. Harlots, Hurdies & Spirited Women of Virginia City, Nevada. Medford, OR: FreeStyle Graphics, 2001.

  Janesville Gazette. Janesville, WI. June 9, 1868.

  Reno Gazette. Reno, NV. November 9, 1955.

  Williams, George III. The Red Light Ladies of Virginia City, Nevada. Carson City, NV: Tree by the River Publishing. 1984.

  Martha Jane Canary

  Aikman, Duncan. Calamity Jane and the Lady Wildcats. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1927.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. July 15, 1876.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. February 8, 1879.

  DuFran, Dora. Low Down on Calamity Jane. Deadwood, SD: Helen Rezatto, 1981.

  Farber, Doris. Calamity Jane: Her Life and Her Legend. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

  Rezatto, Helen. Vignettes of Pioneers and Notables. Northbrook, IL: North Plains Press, 1980.

  Belle Ryan Cora

  Bancroft, Hubert. El Dorado and the Beautiful Bad. Los Angeles: Historic Record Company, 1924.

  Jolly, Michelle. “Sex, Vigilantism, and San Francisco in 1856.” Early Cities of the Americas 3, no. 4 (July 2003). Accessed July 17, 2014. www .common-place.org/vol-03/no-04/san-francisco.

  Richards, Rand. Historic San Francisco. San Francisco: Heritage House Publishing, 1991.

  Florence Mabel Dedrick

  Bell, Ernest A. Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls or War on the White Slave Trade. Chicago: Salvation Army Publication, 1910.

  Dedrick, Florence Mabel. For God’s Sake Do Something. Chicago: Salvation Army Publication, 1910.

  Lottie Deno

  Harold, Lloyd J. Southwest New Mexico History. Deming, NM: Historical Society Publishing, 1971.

  Hunter, Marvin J. The Story of Lottie Deno: Her Life and Times. Santa Fe: The 4 Hunters Publishing, 1959.

  Rose, Cynthia. “Deno, Lottie,” Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed August 1, 2014. www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fde59.

  Rose, Cynthia. Lottie Deno: Gambling Queen of Hearts. Santa Fe: Clear Light Publishers, 1994.

  Stanley, F. The Deming, New Mexico Story. Deming, NM: Historical Society Publishing, 1962.

  Eleanora Dumont

  Aikman, Duncan. Madam Mustache & Other Gaming Ladies. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1927.

  Brown, Dee. The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958.

  Chartier, J., and Chris Enss. With Great Hope: Women of the California Gold Rush. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2000.

  Drago, Harry S. Notorious Ladies of the Frontier. New York: Ballantine Books, 1972.

  Johnson, Russ, and Ann Johnson. The Ghost Town of Bodie. Bishop, CA: Sierra Media, 1967.

  Paine, Bob. “Madame Moustache—A Glimpse of History.” The Mountain Messenger, December 9, 1982.

  Parkhill, Forbes. The Wildest of the West. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1951.

  Perkins, William. Memoirs of William Perkins. Berkley, CA: Perkins Books, 1893.

  Ross, Edward A. Madam Mustache: Pioneer of the Parlor House Circuit. Cleveland, OH: Quirk Books, 1981.

  Seagraves, Anne. Women of the Sierra. Lakeport, CA: Wesanne Enterprises, 1990.

  Zauner, Phyllis. Those Spirited Women of the Early West. Sonoma, CA: Zanel Publications, 1994.

  Rose Ellis

  Janicott, Michelle. Ladies of the Night. Nevada City, CA: Nevada County Historical Society, 1994.

  “Texas Tommy—Was She a Saint or a Sinner?” Independent, Nevada City, CA, August 11, 1982.

  “Whorehouses in the West.” Independent, Nevada City, CA, October 14, 1981.

  Mary Hamlin

  Conrow, Robert. The Great Diamond Hoax and Other True Tales. Boulder, CO: Johnson Books, 1983.

  Harpending, Asbury. The Great Diamond Hoax. London, UK: Fredonia Books, 1877.

  Morgan, Carl H. “Diamond Mary and the Million Dollar Swindle.” Real West Magazine, April 1958.

  Tilton, Cecil G. William Chapman Ralston: Courageous Builder. Costa Mesa, CA: Christopher Publishing House, 1935.

  Wilkens, James. The Great Diamond Hoax and Other Great Stirring Incidents in the Life of Asbury Harpending. Boston: James H. Barry Publishing, 1915.

  Jessie Hayman

  Allen, Robert S. Jessie Hayman: San Francisco’s Other Fire. New York: Vanguard Press, 1947.

  Caen, Herb. Only in San Francisco. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1960.

  The Laws of the Town of San Francisco. San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library, 1947.

  Kate Horony

  Boyer, Glenn. Who Was Big Nose Kate? Vol. 1 of Wyatt Earp: Family, Friends & Foes. Rodeo, NM: Historical Research Associates, 1997.

  Chartier, Joann, and Chris Enss. Love Untamed: Romances of the Old West. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2002.

  Coleman, Jane C. Doc Holliday’s Woman. Clayton, Victoria, Australia: Warner Books, 1995.

  Fiske, Jack. Big Nose Kate. Tombstone, AZ: Big Nose Kate’s Saloon Publishing, 1997.

  Jahns, Pat. The Frontier World of Doc Holliday. New York: Indian Head Books, 1957.

  Robinson, Olivia. She Did It Her Way. New York: Putnam Press, 1946.

  Alice Ivers

  Aikman, Duncan
. Calamity Jane and the Lady Wildcats. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1927.

  Fielder, Mildred. Poker Alice. Deadwood, SD: Centennial Distributors, 1978.

  “Long Cigar—Trademark of Poker Alice.” Lead Daily Call, Lead, SD, July 28, 1967.

  Mezulla, Fred, and Jo Mezulla. Outlaw Albums. Denver: A. D. Hirschfeld Press, 1966.

  “Poker Alice Tubbs Found Gold Plentiful in Deadwood Gulch at the Town Gambling Tables.” Deadwood Pioneer Times, July 28, 1961.

  Rezatto, Helen. Tales of the Black Hills. Rapid City, SD: Fenwyn Press, 1989.

  Kitty LeRoy

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. May 19, 1877.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. June 11, 1877.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. December 7, 1877.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. January 7, 1878.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. February 28, 1878.

  Black Hills Daily Times. Deadwood, SD. November 21, 1881.

  Rezatto, Helen. Vignettes of Pioneers and Notables. Northbrook, IL: North Plains Press, 1980.

  Schell, Herbert S., and John E. Miller. History of South Dakota. Spearfish: South Dakota State Historical Society Press, 2004.

  Madam Harriet

  The Union News. Nevada County, CA. August 12, 1852.

  Laura Bell McDaniel

  Colorado City Iris. Colorado City, CO. May 7, 1909.

  Colorado Springs Weekly Gazette. Colorado Springs, CO. April 30, 1903.

  MacKell, Jan. Brothels, Bordellos, & Bad Girls. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2004.

  Salida Semi-Weekly Mail. Salida, CO. May 20, 1887.

  Rosa May

  Brown, Dee. The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958.