– COURTESY MICHELLE BOWERS –
Ten-year-old Laura Frazier gazed up at the large lady in the open door. “She almost filled the entire doorway,” Laura later remembered. The girl had talked her mother into letting her sell magazine subscriptions to earn money for a scooter. Little did she know, however, that the woman standing before her was Big Bertha, proprietress of the best-known parlor house in Williams, Arizona. “She kind of scared me, but I gave her my best sales pitch,” Laura said. “She opened the door and ‘scooped’ me inside.” Laura followed the madam to the kitchen. “Now honey,” Bertha said, “you just sit down and have a piece of cherry pie while I go find my purse.”
Bertha was kind like that. Born Cordelia “Cordie” Bell Curbow (aka Kirbo) in Georgia in 1881, the future madam moved to Texas as a child. She grew up learning the meaning of true Southern hospitality, a trait she carried with her even after she fled the Lone Star State following a short-lived marriage and the death of a baby. Life on the road was tough for any 17-year-old—especially Bertha, who first embarked on a career of prostitution in New Mexico Territory. While there, the girl shot a man over some unknown skirmish. Afterwards, the authorities “basically ran her out of town because she was underage,” according to Bertha’s great-great niece, Michelle Bowers.
Denne historien er fra July - August 2020-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra July - August 2020-utgaven av True West.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FIREARMS COLT WALKER 47
THE LEGENDARY HANDGUN THAT REALLY WON THE WEST
HERITAGE TRAVE
THE AMERICAN WEST IN ALL ITS GLORY OUR ANNUAL FAVORITES LIST CELEBRATES DESTINATIONS ACROSS THE WESTERN UNITED STATES.
Wild Turkey, and Not the Drinkin' Kind
The actual bird was a favorite of pioneers.
THE PASSION PROJECTS OF THE MODERN WESTERN
A YEAR OF UNDERRATED EXCELLENCE
WESTERN BOOKS THEN AND NOW
THE STATE OF WESTERN HISTORY AND FICTION PUBLISHING IN 2024 IS ONE OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION.
SAMUEL WALKER VALIANT WARRIOR
While a prisoner at the castle of Perote, Walker was put to work raising a flagpole. At the bottom of the hole, Walker placed a Yankee dime, vowing to someday come back and retrieve it, at the same time exacting revenge on his Mexican captors. In the summer of 1847, when Walker's mounted riflemen returned and routed Santa Anna's guerillas, the young captain kept his promise and got his dime back.
THE BATTLE OF CENTRALIA
ON September 27, 1864, Bloody Bill Anderson and about 80 men took over the small railroad village of Centralia, looting stores and discovering a barrel of whiskey that they hauled out into the street. Wild enough when sober, they soon were roaring drunk.
THE MAN WHO SHOOTS THE WEST
Jay Dusard is a living American photographer who has made Arizona his home for over 60 years, seeing it first in 1960 on a visit, moving here for good in 1963.
A TRUE WESTERNER INDEED PHIL SPANGENBERGER 1940-2024
Spangenberger had Nevada trained to bow by the legendary horse trainer, Glenn Randall, who trained Roy Rogers' Trigger, Gene Autry's Champion, Rex Allen's Koko and the Ben Hur chariot horses, among other great equines.
Where Did the Loot Go? - This is one of those find the money stories. And it's one that has attracted treasure hunters for more than 150 years.
Whatever happened to the $97,000 from the Reno Gang's last heist? Up to a dozen members of the Reno Gang stopped a Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis train at a watering station in southern Indiana. The outlaws had prior intelligence about its main load: express car safes held about $97,000 in government bonds and notes. In the process of the job, one of the crew was killed and two others hurt. The gang made a clean getaway with the loot.
