Scandalous Women of the Old West

Chapter 1 The Gambler Doña Tules1

Chapter 2 Stagecoach Mary Mary Fields

Chapter 3 The Sad Story of Two Wives

Augusta Louise Pierce Tabor

Elizabeth "Lizzie" Nellis Bonduel McCourt Doe Tabor (Baby Doe)

Chapter 4 Apache War Shaman Lozen,

Chapter 5 Angel of the Miners Ellen "Nellie" Cashman

Chapter 6 Queen of Denver's Red-Light District Mattie Silks

Chapter 7 Lincoln County War Survivor Susan Hummer McSween Barber

Chapter 8 Chinese Pioneer Polly Bemis

Chapter 9 Anthropologist & Society Maven Elsie Worthington Clews Parsons.

Chapter 10 Mule Pack Train Operator Olga Schaaf Little

Years ago, while researching the 18^th and 19^th century history of New Mexico, I occasionally came across women who had led extraordinary lives or accomplished remarkable things - women I had never heard of or knew only vaguely. I made a point of saving their names for future study.

Over the course of more than a decade, I delved deeply into the history of the American Southwest, with a particular focus on women who lived during the era of Anglo exploration and expansion. Time and again, I uncovered stories of women whose courage, resilience, and originality stood out, yet whose contributions were nearly absent from the historical record.

History, as it's commonly told, has long been written by men and centered on male experiences. This is especially true in the history of the Old West. Newspapers of the time rarely covered women beyond gossip columns or topics deemed "appropriate," such as housekeeping, child-rearing, or fashion. As a result, most women remained invisible in the written record.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to tell the stories of women who defied expectations - those who chose their own paths, often at great personal cost. In an era when women's roles were narrowly defined, the women in this book stood out. They met challenges that placed them outside the boundaries of what society considered acceptable, and they did so with courage and tenacity. A rare few were publicly recognized during their lifetimes, but most were dismissed, misunderstood, or ignored altogether.

In this book, I've tried to let historical sources speak for themselves. I relied heavily on primary materials - newspapers, personal diaries, court records, and long-out-of-print books. Many excerpts are presented just as they originally appeared, preserving the grammar, spelling, and biases of the time.

I've deliberately included more newspaper excerpts than is typical in historical narratives because they offer valuable insight, not only into how these women were perceived, but also into the broader social attitudes of their time. These first-hand accounts are revealing. They document individual actions while also reflecting the cultural norms, prejudices, and values of the era. The tone - whether admiring, dismissive, or openly critical - often says as much about the society that produced the reports as it does about the women themselves.

At the time, society didn't just expect women to marry, bear children, and manage the home - it demanded it. Those who stepped outside these rigid roles were often labeled scandalous and ostracized, sometimes as harshly by other women as by men.