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An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos

Although those who ran houses of ill repute were fined for the illegal activities and the collected fines then passed along to schools and other such public programs, polite society believed their existence had a demoralizing effect on the “moral sentiment of the community” and demanded they be closed. The moral community objected to the streets being “filled with the demi-monde,” but they were opposed to the male prostitutes** “lurking in alleyways,” and disapproved of female gamblers cheating and stealing money from unsuspecting patrons at saloons.

Civic-minded Deadwood residents established courts as soon as they could and set about to gain control of the wrongdoings, but the first, unofficial law enforcement agents proved to be less than honest. The police were in league with the gamblers who ruled the town and the criminals evaded justice. Until strong men of good moral character were hired to bring order to the gold town, chaos ruled. A feature story in the September 11, 1877, edition of Frank Leslie’s Weekly highlighted the lack of law and order in the rough burg.

“Deadwood City, in the Dakota division of the Black Hills region, is one of the liveliest and queerest places west of the Mississippi. It has grown more rapidly than any of the other new mining camps and, in the space of two years, has attained a fixed population of 4,000, and a floating citizenship of 2,000 more.

“All in all, there’s not much law and order in Deadwood. The saloon men refuse to pay their licenses, $100, and defy the law. Claim jumpers and town-lot jumpers have things pretty much their own way. Innocent boys and gentlemanly road agents abound. The man who would cut your throat for a few dollars, or the gentlemanly fellow who would rope you into bunko or other games and call it the square thing to take all they can from you lies in wait. And then there’s the soiled doves and their businesses. The publicity of so many houses of prostitution is out of control.”

To learn more about the soiled doves of Deadwood read An Open Secret

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An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos

In March 1902, police raided several houses of prostitution in the Bad Lands, taking into custody a number of bawdy women who owed the city money. A suffragette submitted a letter to the editor of the Weekly Pioneer Times expressing why she felt the arrests were discriminatory.

“I have wondered why these gentlemen [local politicians] allow wine rooms and dance halls to exist,” Mrs. Florence R. Curruthers wrote on March 6, 1902. “Are they for men only? Do you think women would go there if they didn’t expect the men to be there, and don’t the men expect the women to be there, or take them there? Why are not the men who frequent these places on the same level as the women not fined just the same? Perhaps it would place some of the respected citizens and perhaps an officer of the law in an embarrassing position at times. Because some of these gentlemen have been allowed to enter these places (by mistake, of course) and take a few drops with a gentleman friend. Now if they are allowed to run for traps, fine the men, too, and we could soon have asphalt walks and streets, instead of dilapidated excuses we have at present.

“Prostitution exists among the men as well as the women. Women prostitutes exist because there are men prostitutes. This is not an argument in defense of prostitution among women, but I believe in fair play. If you are going to enforce the law, enforce it, and not only half do it, by excluding the men.”

Owing to the combined efforts of temperance workers, members of the clergy, and concerned parents’ groups, the issue of prostitution became less of a problem between 1903 and 1905. The criminal element which had been omnipresent since Deadwood came into existence, for a time, kept themselves off the main thoroughfares of town and out of sight from polite society.

“Never in the history of Deadwood has the outlook for our city been so bright as the present,” an editorial in the September 28, 1905, edition of the Daily Deadwood Pioneer Times began about the civility that had overtaken the area. “The present tone of public sentient assures us a clean, moral atmosphere, wherein people need not fear to invest their money and build homes.  Business interests have already taken a cue from this improved sentiment and are investing their money in building up the town.  Just let the average man contemplate for a moment the large number of valuable enterprises now under way, or assured in the near future, and then let him ask himself if the change in moral sentiment has been a detriment or a benefit to the city?

“Business instinct in this matter is unerring.  Men do not invest their money, nor people build homes in a town run by pimps, gamblers, and prostitutes.  And just in proportion as we weed out these disreputable elements will our city flourish and become what its location and resources designed that it should be. Labor is all employed, and the crows of loafers which formerly blocked the sidewalks and saloons are conspicuous by their absence.”

In time, the sins that contributed to Deadwood’s reputation as a wild and uncivilized town reemerged from the shadows and the war against the brothels that flourished there raged on another seventy-five years.

To learn more about the soiled doves of Deadwood read An Open Secret

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An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordellos

Legend has it that some of the first fallen ladies in Deadwood arrived in the same caravan with lawman James Butler Hickok, wagon master Charlie Utter, and frontierswoman Calamity Jane in July 1876.  A few of those ladies opened their own brothels, and others went to work for businesses already established in town. Many were employed at hurdy-gurdy houses. A hurdy- gurdy is a musical instrument with strings that vibrate by a resin wheel turned by a crank and shortened at will by keys operated by the fingers of the player. The women that worked at the hurdy-gurdy houses performed high kicking, prancing dances that appealed to lonesome miners. Hurdy- gurdy girls charged the men for each dance and persuaded the men to buy them drinks. The hurdy-gurdy houses, and many of the brothels were located in a section of town called the Bad Lands.

Among the most notable Deadwood soiled doves, or supposed soiled doves, in 1876 and 1877 were Belle McMahon, Jenny Hines, and DiGee, also known as China Doll. Belle was frequently arrested and charged with prostitution. Jenny Hines, also known as Popcorn Jenny, was apprehended several times for operating a bawdy house. An incident that occurred on February 21, 1877, marked the beginning of the end of Jenny in Deadwood.  Police raided her business after a complaint was made by neighbors about the numerous men coming and going from the location at all hours of the day and night.

When the police arrived on the scene, Jenny reluctantly allowed them to enter. Initially, they found no one in the home apart from the sporting gal herself. She assured the officers that nothing unseemly ever transpired in her home and that the idea she was exchanging sex for money was offensive. A further inspection of the premises resulted in a unique discovery made in her kitchen. The room was void of the traditional items one would expect to find. There were no tables, chairs, etc. Instead, on the floor was a mattress and, on the mattress, a man by the name of Joe Hodges. He was under a blanket and curled up in a fetal position, hoping no one could see him. He didn’t stir until the police poked him with a cane. Both Joe and Jenny were arrested and taken to jail.

To learn more about the soiled doves of Deadwood read An Open Secret

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This year’s Will Rogers Medallion Award program was covered by Stuart Rosebrook in the latest edition of True West magazine. Entries are now being accepted for the 2023 WRMA. View guidelines and submission deadlines at www.willrogersmedallionaward.net.

So proud to be the executive director of the program.