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True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West
“The Dumont woman was vanity itself. Vain, moustached, always making airs.” San Francisco actor John Henry Anderson, 1869
A pair of miners squinted into the early morning sky as they rode out of the gold town of Bodie, California, toward their claim. Shafts of light poked through scattered clouds a few miles ahead on the rocky road. In the near distance the men spotted what looked like a bundle of clothing lying just out of reach of the sun’s tentacles. They speculated that some prospector must have lost his gear riding through the area, but as they approached the item, it was clear that it was not simply a stray pack. A woman’s body lay drawn in a fetal position, dead. The curious miners dismounted and hurried over to the unfortunate soul.
The vacant eyes that stared up at the men were those of the famed Eleanora Dumont, the Blackjack Queen of the Northern Mines. An empty bottle of poison rested near her lifeless frame, and her dusty face was streaked with dried tears. One of the miners covered her with a blanket from his bedroll while the other eyed the vultures circling overhead.
To learn more about Madame Mustache and other lady card players read
The Lady Was a Gambler: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West
