Soiled Doves in a tough old cowboy town
When you think of Tombstone history you probably think of people like Wyatt Earp or Doc Holliday. You probably don’t think of Blonde Mary, Big Minnie or Madam Mustache. But you should.
Women like these were part of the social foundation of Tombstone in the late 1800s. They were business owners and working girls. But their trade wasn’t a glamorous one. It wasn’t silver mining or cowboying. It was prostitution.
Prostitution was an integral part of the building and even funding of Tombstone in its early days. In 1881, Mayor John Clum expanded prostitution, allowing it to exist in residential areas and not just in the red light district, according to a1994 book by Anne Seagraves, “Soiled Doves.” The town catered to miners and cowboys, rowdy men looking for fun. Seagraves writes that Tombstone’s “brothels were among the finest.”
Tombstone joyously celebrates its riotous history like the gunfight at the OK Corral or Helldorado Days. But it’s not so easy though to get Tombstone to come to a consensus on its history of prostitution.
Rusty Atherton (left), guitarist Buck Rhodes (center) and fiddler Jimmy Craighead[/caption]You see Taylor Swift standing on a stage before a thousand adoring fans, singing an upbeat song about never, ever getting back together with an ex-boyfriend. Here at Big Nose Kate’s Saloon on Allen Street, Rusty Atherton sits on a stool in front of the crowded restaurant singing in a deep baritone voice about how all his exes live in Texas.
Tombstone archivist Nancy Sosa manages and restores historic city records[/caption]In a town that defines itself through history, a historian could be in jeopardy.
Some parts of the southwest desert are restless, whether it is Las Vegas with its blinding neon signs shining all night or Tucson with its Circle K’s and 24-hour McDonalds illuminated until dawn cracks.
The Tombstone Epitaph was vandalized late last week when someone left a huge hole after breaking one of the front windows.