The Wages of Sin

[Ginny Morgan]

Wichita's Dixie Lee


The Civil War provided the most popular alias adopted by prostitutes in the old west, Dixie Lee, not because the ladies were Southern but because these were the two most "romantic" names which they could adopt after the war. Wichita's Dixie Lee was the most popular madam in town, despite the fact her establishment could not rival the house at 33 Water St., the brothel of Besse Earp, wife of Jim Earp, elder brother of Wyatt.

Wichita was prospering, along its red light district and it's "soiled doves." Dixie Lee enjoyed a short but prosperous reign, dying in 1875 from "galloping consumption" and leaving behind an estate estimated between fifty and one hundred thousand dollars. Her alias clouded all knowledge of legal heirs and only after a considerable search had ensured did her lawyers locate her father. A country minister from Southern Missouri, his religious beliefs did not appear to present a problem in accepting the inheritance, even though he expressed shock over the manner in which the fortune had been amassed. As Whitey Rupp, owner of the famous Keno House, wryly noted, "The wages of sin are a damned sight better than the wages of virtue."

http://moondance.org/1997/summer97/shorts/western.htm#Cripple Creek's Old Homestead

[Gay Mathis]

Inez Griffing Becomes "Dixie Lee"--2 parts
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http://www.griffingweb.com/inez_griffing,_part_1.htm

http://www.griffingweb.com/inez_griffing,_part_2.htm

[Ginny Morgan]

Thanks for the links, Gay...I guess what I posted was somewhat skewed...LOL oh well...it is a good anecdote

[Steve McCarty]

As a soldier in S.E. Asia during the VN activities we used to from time to time find ourselves in places where the ladies were painted and their morals were questionable.

I suspect that the "sporting houses" of the Old West were similar, the sport being about the same. If you watch the old movie "The World Of Suzie Wong" you'll get a pretty good picture of what those places were like. Some looked like the bar in "The Sand Pebbles".

I've considered writing a book about those places and what went on inside, both in front of and behind closed doors. They were a society within a society and no one can really understand what they were like unless one was there. Interestingly the head girls were some of the most prestigous women in town and many were famous throughtout the entire seventh Fleet. Who, who was there can forget the Tiger Lady and the infamous Miss Thunder Thighs. All were young and because of the dangers from many sources I doubt they lived very long.

They appeared to be happy places, but under the veneer they were dark and gloomy, with terror just outside of earshot. Usually.