Day 4 of the WordCrafter “The Rock Star & The Outlaw” Book Blog Tour #booktour #readingcommunity

Today, I am delighted to welcome author and poet, Kaye Lynne Booth, to Roberta Writes for the Day 4 stop on her The Rock Star & The Outlaw book blog tour.

Tour Schedule

The Rock Star & The Outlaw, by Kaye Lynne Booth – September 18 – 22

Monday – Sept. 18 – Opening Day – “Amaryllis & The Pretty Reckless” – Writing to be Read

Tuesday – Sept. 19 –“Writing with music and LeRoy McAllister & Review” – Carla Loves to Read

Wednesday – Sept. 20 – “The characters of Nick and Monique” – Writing to be Read

Thursday – Sept.21 – “Prostitution in the American West and the character of Maggie” – Roberta Writes/Robbie’s Inspiration

Friday – Sept. 22 – Closing Post – “Writing the Villian & Juan Montoya” – Writing to be Read

Prostitution in the American West & the character of Maggie

The character of Maggie Louise O’Flaherty was interesting to write. She was inspired by a visit to the Old Homestead Museum in Cripple Creek, Colorado, where I learned some surprising things about the ladies of the night in Colorado mining towns in the late 1800s.

History Lesson

The Homestead House was Cripple Creek’s most illustrious house of prostitution. Built in 1896, the house was operated by Madam Pearl DeVere, who created a high-class parlor house for the rich and powerful. A visit to this house required an application process and was by appointment only. Anyone who did not hold millionaire status need not apply. Appointments were pricey, to say the least. Refer to Note 3

At the time, Cripple Creek boasted 56 bordellos, none of a stature of Homestead House, of course, but there were offerings for gentlemen seeking female companionship of all occupations. There were also girls not affiliated with any house, who worked the street along Meyers Avenue, which housed Cripple Creek’s red-light district. Refer to Note 2

Although high priced houses like Homestead House were not typical of mining towns across the American west, the number of bordellos is not surprising. Money flowed in mining towns, and although prostitution was tolerated, and the law found clever ways to look the other way. In the town directory, the house would be listed as a boarding house and the women who lived and worked there, as boarders. Although prostitution was illegal, much needed funds were provided in taxes and fines leveled on the women, so the local law overlooked their profession, and concentrated on lesser infractions which could be fined, such as doing their shopping on the wrong day of the week, when the respectable ladies were out. (They may as well of worn large scarlet A’s on their chests.) For the parlor houses to be taxed as businesses, they were listed as boarding houses, and the ladies were listed as boarders.

Most mining towns thrived with number of saloons, gambling houses and bordellos, and prostitution was one of the few occupations for single women in the west. (Other occupations single women might undertake included seamstress, laundress and selling baked goods.) It is reported that in the California Gulch area, near Leadville, Colorado there were 36 women to 2000 men. In general, men outnumbered women by at least 3 to 1 in the mining towns of the west. Yet another reason for the law to look the other way – coming down on the industry would likely cause an uprising from the local population.

Prostitution was not an easy life. Soiled doves were required to have a clean bill of health before they were allowed to practice their trade and they underwent frequent checks by the local doctor. They stuffed themselves into tightly bound corsets, often laced tight enough to break ribs, and often cut off their air, causing them to feint. This is why the feinting couch was a standard furnishing in parlor houses. Scarlet ladies fell pray to venereal diseases, pregnancies resulting in abortions under dangerous conditions, drug use and overdoses, and they underwent poor treatment from their customers, often resulting in beatings or even death. Many bordellos hired in house muscle to enforce house rules and make sure the women weren’t harmed. Even in the high-end houses, depression and alcohol and drug usage were not uncommon. Believed to be accidental, the Madame of Old Homestead, Pearl DeVere, succumbed to an overdose of laudanum after a lover’s spat. Refer to Note 3

Although some women found themselves there due to life circumstances and a lack of alternatives, others were there by choice. Working in a brothel or saloon was a means of providing a living for women who would otherwise have little other choices. “Many saloon or ‘dance-hall girls’ made more money dancing with the men than they could as a prostitute.” Refer to Note 4. For some, it was a means to a better life. Many of the smarter, business minded women succeeded in working their way up to operating their own houses, or investing in a store or restaurant, and escaping the business altogether. Notes 3 and 4. Still others found husbands and quit the life.

”Prostitutes of the American West were far from fallen women—many were savvy entrepreneurs. Often, sex workers saw the West as a place of opportunity, one where they could work their way out of the profession entirely due to high demand and high revenues.” Note 1

The Character of Maggie

I am enthralled by the prostitutes of the west and the lives that they chose. Call them soiled doves, ladies of the night, fallen women, or whatever you will, they were strong women who chose to establish their independence with determination. Especially the saloon keepers and madams, who were early entrepreneurs, and often served as a mother figure for the women who worked for them. Although they get a bad rap and are frowned upon in today’s society, they were a vital part of frontier society. Refer to Note 4. So, when Amaryllis and LeRoy find themselves in 1887 and in need of funds, there had to be Maggie for them to turn to.

Maggie isn’t a bonafide madam. She operates a saloon and dance hall called Maggie’s Place. It isn’t a high-class brothel like the Old Homestead. In fact, hers is a struggling business which she’s trying to build up, and she has competition from the Silver Leaf Saloon across the way, where the owner has lots of money to sink into it, where Maggie does not. But she manages to provide a roof and a bed to the women who work for her hustling drinks and dancing, and employs a piano player to provide the music. She dresses the part, and the girls look up to her and respect her.

Although she keeps to the shadows and we don’t see a lot of her, her role is key to the story. She looked after LeRoy when he was a boy, and is there to offer advice and help when needed, thus reinforcing the motherly aspect of her character. Maggie is the woman who is there when our protagonists need her, providing needed employment, assistance in plans for a jailbreak, medical attention for gunshot wounds, understanding and moral support.

About the Author

For Kaye Lynne Booth, writing is a passion. Kaye Lynne is an author with published short fiction and poetry, both online and in print, including her short story collection, Last Call and Other Short Fiction; and her paranormal mystery novella, Hidden Secrets; and book 1 of her Women in the West adventure series, Delilah. Kaye holds a dual M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing with emphasis in genre fiction and screenwriting, and an M.A. in publishing. Kaye Lynne is the founder of WordCrafter Quality Writing & Author Services and WordCrafter Press. She also maintains an authors’ blog and website, Writing to be Read, where she publishes content of interest in the literary world.

References

1. Erin Blakemore. (5/5/2016). What Red Light Ladies Reveal About the American West. JSTOR Daily. Retrieved from https://daily.jstor.org/red-light-ladies-in-the-american-west/

2. Women of the Cabins: The Female Sex Workers of Lake County. Freight Leadville. Retrieved from https://freightleadville.com/women-of-the-cabin

3. Homestead House Tour. (June 2023). In person account.

4. Saloon Girls: The ‘Soiled Doves’ of the Old West. (1/28/2019). Curious Historian. Retrieved from https://curioushistorian.com/saloon-girls-the-soiled-doves-of-the-old-west

Find Kaye Lynne Booth

WordCrafter Services

Writing to be Read

Join Kaye Lynne Booth & WordCrafter Press‘ Readers Group  and sample her works with a free copy of my short story collection Last Call and Other Short Fiction.

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