Senorita Rosalie was the Mexican star of the Wild West Show. She was a stunning black-haired woman who had achieved fame as a trick rider. She would jump over walls and ride holding the reins in her mouth while standing on the back of her horse. With her feet firmly placed on the ground, she would spur her horse on and jump on its back. While the animal was in full gallop, she would fling her body in and out of the saddle and dangle precariously off the sides of the horse. She could even lie down in the saddle and retrieve items left on the arena floor.
Senorita Rosalie’s expertise on a horse made her a highly sought after riding instructor. Many Wild West performers benefited from her horse-back riding advice.
A strong gust of wind blew a pair of tumbleweeds into the path of a team of horse hitched to a wagon. It spooked the animals, and they reared and bucked and then bolted. The gray-haired woman holding the reins of the team screamed. The wagon pitched and swayed as the horses jerked it around. The woman cried out for help.
Suddenly a magnificent stallion was hurrying toward the out-of-control wagon. The confident horseback rider, adorned in buckskin britches and a jacket, spurred the stallion along until it caught up to the team. Springing forward, the rider leapt out of the saddle and landed on the back of one of the horses.
The brave rider swerved the team out of the path of a group of townspeople just as they were leaving a church. A shout went up from the onlookers. The lady driving the wagon regained her composure and pulled back on the reins. The daring horseback rider helped quiet the team to a stop.
A thunderous applause echoed around them. The lady in the wagon stood up, removed a gray wig on her head and took a bow. The rider dismounted, removed her cowboy hat, and waved to the crowd of spectators. The audience that had assembled to witness the performance in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show was not disappointed by the expert display of horsemanship exhibited by the high-riding Parry sisters.
“Giuseppina Morlacchi is a beautiful creature, and she came upon the stage like a sudden ray of light. She is of the spiritual order of woman, small, delicate, fiery, with a fine little head and a luminous face, and she dances with her soul as well as with all her body. The New York Tribune – October 25, 1867
The reflection staring back at ballerina Giuseppina Morlacci showed a tired, dark-haired woman with bloodshot eyes and a pale face. She had been up most of the night memorizing her lines for a melodrama she was to appear in entitled “The Scouts of the Prairie.”
The unique Western show would premiere at a massive amphitheatre in downtown Chicago and entertain thousands of spectators. It was December 1872, and all those who hadn’t answered the call to go west were to see a program depicting the wilds beyond the Rockies.
Some of the most poplar cowboys in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show were girls. Cody’s cast of thrill-seeking women captivated audiences in the Unites States and abroad. The numerous female acts offered an array of talent. Some rode bulls or bucking broncos, other roped steers and were trick riders, and one or two exhibited skills with firearms. Young women admired these cowgirls – women who dared to break out of society’s traditional roles, jump aboard a horse, and hold their own in a predominately male profession.
This month you’ll meet a dozen of Buffalo Bill’s female Wild West stars. These gals were an unforgettably spunky cast of characters who saddled up and rustled their dreams.
“Ah, the show and the arena. The cowgirls, the crowd, the cheers. How they loved Cody’s ladies.” Excerpt from the poem “Buffalo Gals” – Anonymous, 1898
Wicked Women is a collection of short, action-filled stories of the Old West’s most egregiously badly behaved female outlaws, gamblers, soiled doves, and other wicked women offers a glimpse into Western Women’s experience that’s less sunbonnets and more six-shooters. During the late nineteenth century, while men were settling the new frontier and rushing off to the latest boom towns, women of easy virtue found wicked lives west of the Mississippi when they followed fortune hunters seeking gold and land in an unsettled territory. Prostitutes and female gamblers hoped to capitalize on the vices of the intrepid pioneers. Pulling together stories of ladies caught in the acts of mayhem, distraction, murder, and highway robbery, it will include famous names like Belle Starr and Big Nose Kate, as well as lesser known characters.
Wicked Women is a collection of short, action-filled stories of the Old West’s most egregiously badly behaved female outlaws, gamblers, soiled doves, and other wicked women offers a glimpse into Western Women’s experience that’s less sunbonnets and more six-shooters. During the late nineteenth century, while men were settling the new frontier and rushing off to the latest boom towns, women of easy virtue found wicked lives west of the Mississippi when they followed fortune hunters seeking gold and land in an unsettled territory. Prostitutes and female gamblers hoped to capitalize on the vices of the intrepid pioneers. Pulling together stories of ladies caught in the acts of mayhem, distraction, murder, and highway robbery, it will include famous names like Belle Starr and Big Nose Kate, as well as lesser known characters.
Tomorrow something wicked comes to Nevada County, California and to bookstores everywhere. Learn all about the hard working wicked on the wild frontier reading Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West.
The national launch of the book Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West will be held on Saturday, February 21 from Noon to 3 p.m. at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum at 5 Kidder Court in Nevada City, California. The public will be treated to exciting tales about the wicked women of the Old West, delicious apple and blueberry tarts and lemonade, they’ll learn how to play three card Monte, and can register for a Wicked Women gift package.
For more information contact 530/470-0902 or visit www.chrisenss.com.
Enter now to win a copy of Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West.
Something wicked comes to Nevada County, California and to bookstores everywhere this week. Learn all about the hard working wicked on the wild frontier reading Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West.
The national launch of the book Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West will be held on Saturday, February 21 from Noon to 3 p.m. at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum at 5 Kidder Court in Nevada City, California. The public will be treated to exciting tales about the wicked women of the Old West, delicious apple tarts and lemonade, they’ll learn how to play three card Monte, and can register for a Wicked Women gift package.
For more information contact 530/470-0902 or visit www.chrisenss.com.
Something wicked comes to Nevada County, California and to bookstores everywhere this week. Learn all about the hard working wicked on the wild frontier reading Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West.
The national launch of the book Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Women of the Old West will be held on Saturday, February 21 from Noon to 3 p.m. at the Nevada County Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum at 5 Kidder Court in Nevada City, California. The public will be treated to exciting tales about the wicked women of the Old West, delicious apple tarts and lemonade, they’ll learn how to play three card Monte, and can register for a Wicked Women gift package.
For more information contact 530/470-0902 or visit www.chrisenss.com.
