Road trip today to beautiful Plumas County to give a book presentation for the National Federation of Republican Women.

The setting was gorgeous.

Next trip is to Colorado and the Tesoro Cultural Center in Morrison.

There’s nothing like Deadwood in the fall. I had a wonderful time at the South Dakota Book Festival and at the Brothel Deadwood Museum. Readers lined up to buy An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos. The incredible staff at Deadwood History Inc. and I will be working on a series of books about the infamous Bad Lands brothels focusing on each decade from the 1870s to 1980.

Maggie McDermott peered into the grimy windows of the Mascott Saloon and eyed the faces huddled around the bar. When she didn’t see who she was looking for, she removed the note tucked in her pocket, tilted it toward the lit oil lamp hanging outside the door, and studied the message. It read, “Frank and I are at the Mascott. Come on. Austie” Maggie exchanged a knowing glance with her friend Hattie Rice as she wadded the note in her hand. Hattie nodded to her, and the women proceeded inside.

The pair weaved through the rowdy patrons in search of Frank and the author of the invitation. The business was crowded. Men and women on a congested dance floor flitted about to a lively song a piano player was pounding out on an instrument badly in need of tuning. Occasionally, the women were stopped and propositioned by men who recognized them as prostitutes from the Gem Variety Theater. After inviting the potential customers to visit them later, Maggie and Hattie continued with their hunt. They asked a busboy for help, and he directed them to a room in the back of the busy tavern.

A gambler named Frank DeBelloy and his date Austie Trevyr a sixteen-year-old soiled dove employed at Madam Belle Haskell’s house of ill repute, were waiting on the other side of the door when Maggie and Hattie entered. The couple was seated at a table, drinking whiskey. Frank offered Maggie a smile, and, before he opened his mouth to speak, a bartender carrying a tray of glasses and a bottle of wine pushed past the two women. When the bartender left the room, Austie set a glass in front of Maggie and poured her a drink. “You have your nerve to ask me to drink with you and Frank when I have more claim on him than you,” Maggie barked at the teenager, “We having been together for the past three years.” Maggie then removed the note Austie wrote that she had wadded up and shoved in her pocket and tore it into pieces.

Austie glared at her rival, cursed at her under her breath, and drank down the last of wine she had poured for Maggie. She then pushed her chair back and stood up, her eyes fixed on Maggie. She reached into the top of her dress and removed a gun. Frightened, Hattie grabbed Maggie’s arm and tried to pull her out of the room. Maggie watched as Austie leveled the .32 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver at her and cocked the weapon. “Well, if I can’t have him you can’t,” she spat. The report of the gun was loud. Hattie screamed, and Maggie grabbed her chest and staggered backwards. Austie was about to shoot Maggie a second time when Frank grabbed her arm and hand. In the scuffle, the gun went off again.

Maggie sank into a chair, crying, “she shot me.” Hattie rushed to her side and tried to help Maggie get to her feet and escorted her to an adjoining room. She barely made it across the doorsill when she fell to the floor screaming, “Oh! Hattie! Oh! Hattie! I’m gone.” Frank quickly picked the injured woman up and laid her on a sofa. Moments later, Maggie was gone. She died on December 17, 1893.

Austie raced out the room and asked one of the owners of the saloon to get the police. She was gone by the time the authorities arrived. She ran to Belle Haskell’s house to grab her hat and shawl. After letting her employer know she’d shot a woman, she returned to the Mascott and confessed her crime to the investigating officer at the scene. When asked where she got the gun, she bragged that Frank had given it to her as a present. On her way to jail, Austie told the police she had intended shooting Maggie, her friend Hattie, and Frank, and that the second shot she fired was meant for Frank. The arresting officer noted in his report later that day that when he placed Austie in the cell she didn’t break down or exhibit any remorse. In his estimation, Austie seemed almost happy she’d killed Maggie McDermott.

To learn more about Maggie McDermott and the woman who murdered her read An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos.

Join me at the Brothel Deadwood Museum on Sunday, September 24 from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. for a tour of the brothel and stories of the many raids on the houses of ill repute in the Black Hills. Visit DeadwoodHistory.com for more information.

It was a warm, mid-July evening in 1913 when twenty-six-year-old Private Fred Koetzle began hurling rocks at Poker Alice Tubb’s brothel in Sturgis, eventually shattering the upstairs windows. Koetzle and several other soldiers with K Company from Fort Meade stood outside the business throwing rocks and cursing at the occupants inside. Moments before the rowdy, intoxicated group had begun pelting the two-story bordello with stones, one of the men had cut the electrical wires leading to the house, casting it into darkness. Owing to their unruly behavior, it was 10:30 at night when Koetzle, Private Joseph C. Miner, and more than fifteen other infantrymen had been evicted from the business by the feisty madam who ran the resort.  Less than two weeks prior, the men had been thrown from the premises for the same reason.

In retaliation, the soldiers had gathered every rock and pebble in sight that July evening and had begun destroying the property. The misguided troops were assaulting the house with another volley of rubble when shots from a Winchester automatic rang out. Koetzle, Miner, and the other men scattered to avoid the spray of bullets.

When the magazine of the gun was empty, all but two of the soldiers emerged unscathed. Private Koetzle had been shot through the head, and Private Miner had been hit in the chest. Both men were transported to the post hospital. Koetzle died shortly after arriving, while Miner was in critical condition and, in time, made a full recovery. Poker Alice was arrested and charged with the shooting death of Private Koetzle. Six prostitutes were also taken into custody. The gun the notorious madam used was found outside the door of her house, and the magazine was found lying on Alice’s bed. A box of shells was found under the bed.

In addition to being charged with killing a man, Alice was charged with violating the state law prohibiting the operation of a house of ill repute. Her bond was set at $1,000. The bond for the women who worked for her was set at $200 each. The five patrons in the brothel at the time Alice opened fire on the soldiers were taken to jail along with the business owner and her employees. Each man was fined $15 for frequenting a house of prostitution.

Alice was scheduled to appear in court in September 1913, but a few weeks before the hearing, state and city authorities decided not to prosecute. The facts of the case laid out for the judge showed that the madam had acted justly in defending her property and life, and she was released. Alice and the women who worked for her returned to their jobs soon after.

To learn more about Poker Alice Tubbs read An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos.

Join me at the Brothel Deadwood Museum on Sunday, September 24 from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M. for a tour of the brothel and stories of the many raids on the houses of ill repute in the Black Hills. Visit DeadwoodHistory.com for more information.