Wicked Women of New Mexico

by Donna Blake Birchell

Overview

New Mexico Territory attracted outlaws and desperados as its remote locations guaranteed non-detection while providing opportunists the perfect setting in which to seize wealth. Many wicked women on the run from their pasts headed there seeking new starts before and after 1912 statehood. Colorful characters such as Bronco Sue, Sadie Orchard and Lizzie McGrath were noted mavens of mayhem, while many other women were notorious gamblers, bawdy madams or confidence tricksters. Some paid the ultimate price for crimes of passion, while others avoided punishment by slyly using their beguiling allure to influence authorities. Follow the raucous tales of these wild women in a collection that proves crime in early New Mexico wasn't only a boys' game.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781626191280
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	03/04/2014
Series:	Wicked
Pages:	128
Sales rank:	674,461
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Donna Birchell is the author of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Caverns, Eddy County" and "New Mexico Wine: An Enchanting History." She developed a passion for history through the inspiration of her history-buff parents, William and Dorothy Blake. While doing research for her other books, New Mexican Donna discovered a lack of combined written history about the slightly tarnished and definitely wicked ladies of New Mexico and thought the oversight should be corrected."

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 11

Introduction 13

I Lady Killers

1 Paula Angel: Hanged Twice for Love 19

2 Dora Dwenger: Black Widow of the Territory 27

3 Bronco Sue: New Mexico's First Serial Man Killer? 33

4 Valentina Madrid and Alma Lyons: Partners in a Crime of Passion 41

5 Ada Hulmes: Territorial Nightingale 51

II Gambling Queens

6 Lottie Deno: Queen of the Pasteboards 61

7 Belle Siddons: Lady Gambler and Spy 69

8 Doña Tules: Queen of Sin 77

9 Belle La Marr: Madam Varnish 83

III Soiled Doves

10 Lizzie McGrath: The Lilly of Copper Avenue1 and the Shady Ladies of Albuquerque 89

11 Madam Millie and the Tarnished Women of Silver City 95

12 Beulah M'Rose and the Spirited Ladies of Phenix 101

13 Sadie Orchard: Lady with a Heart of Gold 107

14 Loma Parda Denizens: Military Disrupters 119

Bibliography 123

About the Author 127