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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
