Random Most Notorious Prostitutes And Madams Of The Wild West (12 items)

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  (#8) Julia Bulette Was The Original Sex Worker With A Heart Of Gold

  Julia Bulette arrived in Virginia City, NV, in 1859. She was described as being a beautiful and witty woman who was sought by many of the miners in town. Soon after arriving in Virginia City, Bulette decided to become a self-employed sex worker. Bulette was said to have a heart of gold. She was made an honorary firefighter because of her numerous charitable contributions to the townspeople.

  In 1867, Bulette was brutally slain in her bed by a French drifter. She was found in her bedroom strangled and bludgeoned.
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  (#3) Big Nose Kate Broke Doc Holliday Out Of Jail

  Mary Katharine Haroney, or Big Nose Kate, is probably best known for her on-again, off-again relationship with famous gunslinger Doc Holliday. Haroney ran away from her foster home and became a sex worker shortly after. She met Holliday when she moved to Texas and the two started their lengthy and rocky relationship. It is said that Haroney and Holliday would have heated arguments that would become aggressive whenever Haroney drank too much.

  Despite their unhealthy relationship, Haroney once broke Holliday out of jail by starting a fire and pulling a piece on the guard. Holliday was so grateful that he promised to give up gambling. Haroney also promised to live a clean life, giving up sex work. However, both of their promises were short-lived and their rocky relationship continued until Holiday’s passing.
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  (#7) Mary Ellen Pleasant Was An Abolitionist Hero

  Mary Ellen Pleasant, who was also known as Mistress Pleasant and was called the Mother of Civil Rights in California, was a busy woman. Perhaps a former enslaved person (though her early past is not entirely known), she was heavily involved in the abolitionist movement. Along with her husband, James Smith, Pleasant helped free enslaved people via the Underground Railroad.

  When suspicions arose about her involvement with John Brown and Harpers Ferry, she escaped the East Coast and moved to San Francisco where she was able to pass as white (despite being African American or perhaps of mixed race) and secure herself a position as an adviser to Thomas Bell, a Bank of California director.

  It is said that, at one point, she was one of the richest Black women in America. She made her money in a number of ways. Some reports say she owned and ran a number of lucrative bordellos where she would set up her girls with rich white men. Others say she would groom and train the girls to marry these men. On the abolitionist front, she gave $30,000 to help fund John Bell’s rebellions and won a court case against a company when she was refused a seat in one of their streetcars.
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  (#2) Fannie Porter Entertained Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid At Her Brothel

  Fannie Porter ran one of the more high-end brothels in Texas, one that was said to have “fine glass fixtures, silk sheets and plush carpeting.” Special guests, like the members of Butch Cassidy’s crew of bandits (known as the Wild Bunch) were given chilled Champagne. Despite being a classy lady, she was no pushover, and was known to chase law enforcers off her property with a broom.

  Porter's "boarding house" "served as a rest stop, hideout, rendezvous, and headquarters" for Butch Cassidy and his crew. It’s said that the Sundance Kid met his later girlfriend and partner-in-crime Etta Place while she was working at Fannie’s brothel. The last time the Wild Bunch showed up to Fannie’s place, intent on going their separate ways, she treated them like real VIPs, throwing them an elaborate going-away party.
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  (#5) Pearl de Vere Charged Her Clients $250 Dollars A Night

  Pearl de Vere’s gaming parlor in Cripple Creek, CO, catered to the more prosperous gentleman in the area. de Vere’s girls fared better than other women in the business - they received regular medical exams, wore fine clothing, and were paid well.

  Like Mollie Johnson, de Vere liked to parade around the town in her carriage. She wore a new luxurious outfit each time she went out, seducing men as she made her daily rounds. She built The Old Homestead, an incredibly decadent parlor which featured fine furnishings, a crystal electric chandelier, and a telephone. (The latter two were considered luxuries during the period.) The Old Homestead exclusively catered to rich clientele, asking for $250 a night, which would be around $6500 today.
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  (#9) Dora Dufran Became A Madam At 15

  Dora Dufran started off as a dance hall girl and, at the age of 15, quickly promoted herself to madam. Dufran had several prostitution houses in Deadwood, the most popular of which was called Diddlin’ Dora’s. The brothel promised its patrons “The Three D’s - Dining, Drinking, and Dancing” and called itself  “a place where you can bring your mother.”

  During her time in Deadwood, she befriended Calamity Jane, and the two women remained friends well into their forties. They reconnected later in life when Jane, suffering from the effects of alcoholism, came to Dufran looking for work. She gave Jane a job at her brothel as a cook and laundrywoman. Jane passed shortly after.

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