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An Open Secret: The Story of Deadwood’s Most Notorious Bordello along with a Kindle!
From the beginning, there was a section of Deadwood into which respectable citizens would seldom venture, and, if they did, it was only under cover of darkness. That area of town was known as the “Bad Lands.” Chinese residents were relegated to that section of Deadwood Gulch, as well as most dance halls, saloons, and brothels. The Bad Lands attracted desperate and ruthless men and women convinced their criminal acts would go unpunished; that is at least until law and order could be firmly established in the unmanaged town. Soiled doves were often at the heart of the illegal activities. Some were thieves who stole from other prostitutes who worked with them at various houses of ill repute, some were perpetrators or victims of assault, and others were victims of murder or murderers themselves. The professional women who ran profitable businesses in the Bad Lands were subject to arrest and violence. Only the most brazen attempted to survive and some of them failed in trying.
Belle Haskell had managed her own house, known as the 400, for more than a decade when one of the women in her employ was brutally killed by another prostitute working at the bordello. The well-known madam had opened the bordello in 1880 and, over the years, had been taken into custody for selling alcohol without a license, been beaten by inebriated customers, had her home vandalized and her possessions stolen.
The news that Belle’s employee, Austie Trevyr, had murdered Maggie McDermott came as a shock to her and the other women at the house. The murder took place at the popular Badland’s tavern known as the Mascotte Saloon. Both Austie and Maggie had been keeping company with a gambler named Frank DeBelloy. According to the December 19, 1893, edition of the Daily Deadwood Pioneer Times, DeBelloy and Maggie became intimate in the spring of 1891, and for a time their relationship seemed unshakable. The trouble between the two began when DeBelloy took up with another woman. Maggie was slain by the insanely jealous rival, and the crime made headlines throughout the territory.
