Journal Notes

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

Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) Gunsmoke

Kate Elder (Linda Darnell)  My Darling Clementine

Stella  (Linda Hunt)  Silverado

Goldie (Marie Winsor) Support Your Local Gunfighter

Dora DuFran  (Angelica Houston)  Buffalo Girls

Belle Watling (Ona Munson) Gone With the Wind

Frenchy  (Marlene Dietrich)  Destry Rides Again

Joanie Stubbs  (Kim Dickens) Deadwood

Kate Elder  (Jo Ann Fleet) Gunfight at the OK Corral

Constance Miller (Julie Christie) McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Women in that line of work in Deadwood from 1876 to 1980 will be the topic of discussion at the Brothel Deadwood on September 26 and 27 from 11 A.M. to 6 P.M.

To learn more about the history of the trade read

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

Enter now to win a copy of

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

Ottoman and Johanne Gotsch never knew what led their daughter Anna to a life of prostitution in the Black Hills. Born on December 2, 1859, in Saxony, Germany, she was a precocious child who enjoyed spending time with her five brothers and four sisters and possessed a talent for painting. The Gotsch family moved to America when Anna was four years old, and they settled in Iowa. For a time, Anna considered becoming a teacher, then she met a soldier from Illinois named Edward Piergue and decided to be a wife. The couple traveled from post to post between 1873 and 1879. Their son Lawrence was born in October 1879 in St. Joseph, Missouri, and their daughter Josephine in 1882 in Humboldt, Iowa.

Not long after the birth of their second child, Edward decided to abandon his military career and take up prospecting. Gold had been discovered in Idaho, and Edward believed he could find a fortune. He left Anna and their children behind at her parents’ home. Within weeks of Edward leaving, Anna set off on her own. By the spring of 1884, she was working at a house of ill repute in Deadwood.

Anna Piergue changed her name to May Brown, and, in time, she earned enough working for various madams in town that she went into business for herself. May’s house was small but a favorite of many men in the area. It wasn’t long until she opened a brothel in Rapid City. The local newspapers reported the numerous departures and arrivals via stage May took traveling back and forth between businesses. She often made the journey with fellow courtesans Lottie Bright and May Melville.

Lottie, Mattie Smith, May Melville, Flora Hogan, and May Brown were all members of the same profession and good friends as well. They had a reputation for hosting wild parties where alcohol was in abundance. After an all-night celebration in early May 1886, the women decided to literally paint the town red. They paraded up and down the streets with paint brushes and buckets of red paint and marked various buildings with the scarlet color. When May thought the behavior of the group she was with had gotten too far out of control, she attempted to put a stop to the frivolity by leveling her pistol at them and firing a couple of shots. The police responded to the gunfire and arrested the four. May paid a $10 fine for discharging her weapon in public. The others had to pay a similar amount for drunk and disorderly conduct.

To learn more about Madam May Brown read

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

Enter now to win a copy of

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

The discovery of gold in the southern Black Hills in 1874 set off one of the great gold rushes in America and Deadwood was born. Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules and attracted outlaws, gamblers, and gunslingers along with the gold seekers.

In the beginning the ratio of men to women was as high as 8 to 1. Hordes of prostitutes and madams came to Deadwood to capitalize on the lack of women. But the mid-1880s, there were more than a hundred brothels in the mining community.

During the 1920s, more than forty years after the town was founded, prostitution was still big business in Deadwood. One of the most popular madams there was a woman of German descent named Pauline Longland. She came to South Dakota in 1910 and opened two bordellos located at 616 and 618 Main Street. When she was arrested for running a disorderly house in August 1920 and paid a sixty-dollar fine for the crime, the court warned her against further offenses. Pauline’s line of work was so lucrative she wasn’t inclined to leave the profession for any reason.

On May 16, 1921, authorities raided her business and she was taken into custody and charged with “keeping a house of ill fame.” Between 1922 and 1930, she was arrested four more times for the same violation and three times for possessing and selling alcohol. In 1929, Pauline was sentence to ninety days in jail on various liquor offenses and ninety days for maintaining a public nuisance.

Her bordellos remained open until her death in February 1931.

To learn more about Deadwood’s most notorious bordellos read An Open Secret

If you’re traveling to Deadwood the week of September 23,

stop by the Brothel Deadwood Museum for a

presentation about the history of the trade in the Black Hills.

Tumbling Tumbleweeds starring Gene Autry

Young Buffalo Bill starring Roy Rogers

Son of Paleface starring Bob Hope

The Fighting Kentuckian starring John Wayne

Ride Ranger Ride starring Smiley Burnette

The Oregon Trail starring Fred MacMurray

Git Along Little Dogies starring Gene Autry

Johnny Guitar starring Joan Crawford

Rootin’ Tootin’ Rhythm starring Gene Autry

Gun Lords of Stirrup Basin starring Bob Steele

Gail Russell in the arms of John Wayne

To learn more about the many films made by the small, but mighty studio read

Cowboys, Creatures, and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures.

The Kellys travel with me next to South Dakota. Can’t wait to be back in Deadwood.

American gangster George Kelly Barnes (1895 – 1954), aka Machine Gun Kelly, with his wife Kathryn at their trial for the kidnapping of businessman Charles F. Urschel, at the Federal Court in Oklahoma City, 9th October 1933. Kelly has a bump on his head after being hit with a pistol butt during an altercation on his arrival at court. Kelly and his wife pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life imprisonment. (Photo by FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Machine Gun Kelly’s real name was George Kelly Barnes – he was born on July 18, 1895, in Memphis, Tennessee.

He earned his nickname from his favorite weapon – a Thompson submachine gun (“Tommy Gun”), which Kathryn reportedly encouraged him to pose with to build his gangster reputation.

Kathryn Thorne Kelly was born Cleo Lera Mae Brooks in 1904 in Oklahoma, later changing her name after multiple marriages and adopting the “Kathryn Thorne” persona.

Kathryn played a major role in shaping Kelly’s criminal image – she bought him the Tommy gun and spread stories to inflate his notoriety, ensuring he was feared in the underworld.

The couple’s most infamous crime was the 1933 kidnapping of oil tycoon Charles Urschel in Oklahoma City, for which they demanded and received a $200,000 ransom (equivalent to several million dollars today).

Urschel’s intelligence helped the FBI track them down – despite being blindfolded, he carefully noted details about his captivity (like airplane sounds, farm chores, and even the weather), which agents used to locate the hideout.

Machine Gun Kelly was captured without a fight – on September 26, 1933, FBI agents surprised him in Memphis, where he allegedly shouted “Don’t shoot, G-Men! Don’t shoot!” (helping popularize the term “G-Men” for federal agents).

Both Kelly and Kathryn were convicted of kidnapping and sentenced to life in prison under the newly strengthened Federal Kidnapping Act, also known as the Lindbergh Law.

Machine Gun Kelly spent much of his sentence at Alcatraz before being transferred to Leavenworth, where he lived out the rest of his life until his death from a heart attack in 1954.

Kathryn Thorne Kelly was released from prison in 1958 after serving nearly 25 years. She largely disappeared from public life afterward, dying quietly in 1985.

To learn all about the gangster duo read

Meet the Kellys: The Story of Machine Gun Kelly and his Moll Kathryn Thorne.

Join award-winning author Chris Enss at Las Vegas Books in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, August 23, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, as she signs copies of her riveting book, Meet the Kellys: The True Story of Machine Gun Kelly and His Moll Kathryn Thorne.

“I’m fat, fair, and plan on losing no weight. Am a No. 1 lady, well fixed with no encumbrance: am in business in city, but want a partner who lives in the West.” Matrimonial News Ad #245

“A girl who will love, honest, true and not sour; a nice little cooing dove, and willing to work in flour.” Matrimonial News Ad #292

“A few lady correspondents wanted by a bashful man of 36, of fair complexion, 5 feet 5 inches tall, weight 130 pounds. Would prefer a brunette of fair form about five feet, between 18 and 25 years of age. Object, improvement, and if suited, matrimony.”  Matrimonial News Ad #282

“I am fond of fun, age 18, height 5 feet 5 inches, weight 140 pounds, have auburn hair, dark eyes; I want a gentleman correspondent, from 20 to 25. Object fun and perhaps matrimony if suited.” Matrimonial News Ad #225

“An intelligent young fellow of 22 years, 6 feet height, weight 170 pounds. Would like to correspond with a lady from 18 to 22. Will exchange photos; object, fun and amusement, and perhaps when acquainted, if suitable, marriage.” Matrimonial News Ad #287

“Two good looking men in a Missouri town, having money at their disposal would be pleased to correspond with two jolly young ladies. Object, a quality time and its results.” Matrimonial News Ad #268

“I move in the best society, am 28 years of age, weight 168 pounds, height 5 feet 8 inches, light complexion, heavy mustache, and would like to correspond with some young lady, object matrimony.” Matrimonial News Ad #252

“A lady, tall, young and handsome, wishes to marry and have a home of her own; she is amiable, and would make a bright and happy home for any man.” Matrimonial News Ad #173

“A lady, 22, tall, fair, and very handsome, with $500 a year, wishes to marry.” Matrimonial News Ad #169

“I am a widower 5 feet 7 inches, 35 years old, weight 150 pounds. I am merrily disposed and would like to make the acquaintance of some honorable lady 30 to 35 years, who would like to share a pleasant home, a kind companion, widow preferred.”  Matrimonial News Ad #229

To learn all about the risky business of mail-order matchmaking on the Western frontier read

Object Matrimony. 

Available wherever books are sold.

“Aim for the high mark and you will hit it.  No, not the first time, not the second time and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally, you’ll hit the bull’s- eye of success”  Annie Oakley

“If you win, be gracious, if you lose be gracious.”  Vera McGinnis

“I think there are always many women who are living a social butterfly existence who would dearly love to go in for something worthwhile.”  Adele Von Ohl

“If we never had any storms, we couldn’t appreciate the sunshine.”  Dale Evans

“If I could start over again, I’d marry the other cowboy who asked me.”  Anne Jeffers

“Let any normally healthy woman who is ordinarily strong screw up her courage and tackle a bucking bronco, and she will find the most fascinating pastime in the field of feminine athletic endeavor.  There is nothing to compare, to increase the joy of living, and once accomplished, she’ll have more real fun than any pink tea or theatre party or ballroom dance every yielded.”  May Lillie

“A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.”  Texas Guinan

“Handle your horse and your husband the same way.” Pauline Goodard

“I certainly do get angry when I hear someone say, “I bet she didn’t do that herself.”  Helen Gibson

“You’ll learn nothing’ if only good things happen to you.”  Mary C. Clayton

To learn more about the daring and iconic women of the rodeos, films, and Wild West Shows read Along Came a Cowgirl.

Available wherever books are sold.