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Outlaw Women of the Midwest

A crowd of customers at the Bee Hive Saloon in Fort Griffith, Texas slowly made their way over to the table where Lottie Deno and Doc Holliday had squared off.  They cheered the card sharps on and bought them drinks.  Lottie won most of the hands.  The talented poker players continued on until dawn.  When the chips were added up, the lady gambler had acquired more than thirty thousand dollars of Holliday’s money.

“If one must gamble they should settle on three things at the start…,” Doc said before drinking down another shot.  “And they are,” Lottie inquired?  “Decide the rules of the game, the stakes and the quitting time.”  Holliday smoothed down his shirt and coat, adjusted his hat and nodded politely to the onlookers.  “Good evening to you all,” he said as he made his way to the exit.  Lottie smiled to herself as she sorted her chips.  Holliday sauntered out of the saloon and into the bright morning light.

Historians maintain that it was only natural that Lottie Deno would have grown up to be an expert poker player –  her father was a part-time gambler and who had taught his daughter everything he knew about cards.  She is recognized by many gaming historians as being the most talented woman to play five card draw in the west.

For more of Lottie Deno’s story read the Bedside Book of Bad Girls:

Outlaw Women of the Old West.

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Outlaw Women of the Midwest.

Anyone who knew Anne Cook thought she was cruel, unfeeling and motivated by money.  The brothel she operated in North Platte, Nebraska, inthe late 1920s was a profitable enterprise, but she wanted to amass a fortune and one house of ill repute would not be enough.  No legitimate business alone could make her rich either.  Anne hoped to fulfill her dream with a combination of both.  According to those who knew the Cook family well, Anne’s teenage daughter brought in a substantial amount of income working for her at the brothel.  Clients requested the thirteen year old on a regular basis.

By the time Clara was in her 30s she had fully adopted her mother’s quest for wealth and was equally ambitious.  In addition to entertaining callers, Clara had become a bookkeeper for Anne’s various illegal enterprises.  Among Anne’s nefarious business ventures was bootlegging, gambling, and extortion.  Clara used what she knew about her mother’s criminal behavior to extort money from Anne and grow her own bank account.  The pair often fought over the misappropriation of funds.  Clara misjudged how far Anne would go to maintain the property, money, and power she had acquired.

On May 29, 1934, Clara challenged her mother for the last time.  Family members at the sprawling farm where they lived in Lincoln County, Nebraska, told authorities that the pair had been arguing most of the day.  No one was certain of the nature of the quarrel only that Anne had settled the heated discussion by killing her daughter.

 For more information about Anne Cook read the Bedside Book of Bad Girls:  Outlaw Women of the Old West.

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Women Outlaws of the Midwest

Among the notorious bad guys who robbed, swindled, and murdered Midwesterners from 1824 to 1936 were a number of bad girls who could be just as dishonest and violent.  On September 23, 1895, a  woman with a handkerchief over her face and a revolver in her hand stepped into the Mountaineers Club in Independence, Missouri and robbed the faro game of $525 and made her escape.  She leveled her gun at the men and told them to keep still, and then helped herself to the winnings.  The men in the room were too dazed to give the alarm until the woman had escaped.  On that same date at 10:30 in the evening an attempt was by a woman to blow up a west bound Union Pacific train by placing a stick of dynamite in the tracks at a junction half a mile east of the city.  Nearly the whole train passed over the dynamite before it exploded.  The last coach, filled with passengers, was badly shattered, but no one was injured.  Authorities claim the crimes were committed by “women of easy virtue.”

 To learn more about these female criminals read

The Bedside Book of Bad Girls: Women Outlaws of the Midwest

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Women Outlaws of the Midwest

She began with a hymn book in her hand; she died clutching a gun.  That was “Ma” Barker, mother of four outlaw sons whom J. Edgar Hoover, chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice described as the real “public enemy No. 1.”

Kate Barker – “Ma” as she was known to her criminal associates was the “brains” of the Barker-Karpis gang – kidnappers, bank robbers, and murderers.  And she died as most criminals wanted by the federal government do.  Ma Barker began her public career in Kansas City, Missouri.  In either an attitude or assumed or real piety she was the leader of a small band of religious zealots who used to hold meetings in the street near city hall.  Whenever one of her followers was arrested for picking pockets, vagrancy, or street walking or casual misdemeanor, she would go before the police judge, shed tears and claim that she alone was left in the world to befriend the poor defendant.  In most cases the defendant went back to more and bigger crimes and “Ma” Barker’s friendliness and a slight ability as a defense witness soon became a racket.

“Ma” and her boys were responsible for kidnapping two of the country’s wealthiest men and holding them ransom.  The Barker-Karpis gang murdered police officers and federal agents and any outlaw who double-crossed them.  Ma Barker’s life ended at a home she was renting in Florida on January 16, 1935.  To learn more about the life and violent death of Ma Barker and her sons read The Bedside Book of Bad Girls: Women Outlaws of the Midwest. 

The winner of a free copy of the book will be announced on April 30.

Good luck!