Belle Siddons
- At March 21, 2019
- By Great Quail
- In Characters, Deadlands
4
She went to the wildest excesses in dissipation. When not sitting behind her gambling table she was eating or drinking. But she was never known to drink in her gambling hall. There she would sit, silent and brilliant, coldly shuffling the cards, or carelessly turning her roulette table. Women she despised and seldom spoke to or of them. She never quarreled or exchanged words of anger. Her prompt argument was her pistol, which always lay beside her stacks of money. Her favorite costume was red or black velvet, ornamented with a profusion of gaudy jewelry, mostly diamonds and rubies. Her luxuriant black hair usually hung carelessly looped over her shoulders with gold and diamond clasps. This sensational costume, she said, was a part of her stock in trade. “It excites curiosity and draws in the suckers,” she said.
—San Francisco Examiner, 1881
Belle Siddons, a.k.a. Madam Vestal, a.k.a. Luraine Monteverde (1842–1881)
Statistics
AGL d8, SMT d10, SPT d10, STR d6, VIG d6, PAR 5, TGH 5, Cha +4. Rank: Hero, Fate Chips 3, Wounds 3/I. Hindrances: Addiction (Opium), Overconfident. Edges: Alertness, Brave, Connections, Eidetic Memory, Elan, Jack-of-all-Trades, Professional (Gambling), Trademark Weapon (Frank Wesson derringer), Trademark Weapon (Leech & Rigdon), Unique Edge (Pretty Persuasion), Very Attractive. Skills: Fighting d6, Gambling d12+1, Healing d8, Knowledge (Religion) d6, Language (Cherokee) d4, Language (French) d6, Language (Russian) d4, Medicine d6, Notice d12, Persuasion d12, Riding d6, Shooting d6, Stealth d8, Streetwise d10, Surgery d6, Talent (Music) d10, Attack: Knife, 1d4+1d6 STR; Frank Wesson Derringer, Cal .22, Cap 2, RoF 1, DAM 2d6; Leech & Rigdon revolver, Cal .36, Capacity 6, Rate of Fire 1, DAM 2d6.
Description
Fence and fixer, procuress and spy, Belle Siddons sits at the center of an informal network of road agents that stretches from Deadwood to Denver City. A gorgeous woman with long black hair, dark eyes, and a melodious voice, she presides over the faro table like an aloof goddess; but away from the cards, Belle reveals a flirtatious charm and an easy grace that evokes distant memories of sparkling cotillions. Beneath this beautiful exterior revolves a mind as sharp and brilliant as a gambler’s diamond stick-pin. Possessing an eidetic memory and a detective’s eye for detail, very little escapes her attention, whether she’s flitting gaily through a boozy ball or counting cards to predict the next ace. When not working the tables, Belle strides across the stage as “Lurline Monteverde,” a singer of satirical songs celebrated for their deftness and wit. She also moonlights as an underground surgeon; treating drug overdoses and venereal disease, removing bullets without question, and when needed, mixing up that perfect dose of chloral hydrate.
History
The woman now calling herself Lurline Monteverde was born Belle Siddons in Jefferson City, Missouri, in the year 1842. Raised at Avalon, her family’s hemp plantation in Missouri’s “Little Dixie,” Belle grew up during the heyday of Antebellum southern privilege, the youngest member of a family already notorious for scandal and political intrigue. Belle’s father is Lindsay Washington Siddons, a tobacco baron from Virginia who relocated to Missouri to establish a new empire of cotton and hemp. One of the instigators of the Missouri-Mormon War of 1838, Siddons personally bankrolled the militia that committed the massacre at Haun’s Mill and drove the Saints out of Caldwell County. Belle’s mother is Malinda Jackson, sister of Claiborne Fox Jackson, Missouri’s fifteenth governor and the leader of Missouri’s secessionist movement. Belle’s cousin is John Sappington Marmaduke, the Confederate general who challenged his superior, General Lucius Walker, to a duel in 1863, killing him the day his son was born. Slated to be the first governor of South Missouri, Marmaduke is the general responsible for the murder of black Union soldiers captured under his command during the Battle of Poison Spring. And finally, Belle’s older sister Flora Siddons has become quite infamous on her own, writing scandalous southern erotica under the penname “Fanny Quimper.”
Youth
Belle rarely saw her parents, and was raised by Aunt Hattie, a young slave whose own children were left behind in Virginia when Lindsay Siddons expanded his holdings. Supplementing her “mammy” was a small army of governesses and tutors, and after receiving a remarkably liberal education for a woman, Belle was enrolled in the Elizabeth Aull Female Seminary in Lexington, Missouri. Despite her considerable intelligence, it was Belle’s beauty that most men found desirable, and her education never got in the way of her social engagements. For as long as Belle could remember, she was surrounded by wealthy planters, politicians, and officers, every young man and bachelor entertaining fantasies of winning her slender hand. Belle was the star of her mother’s salons, lighting the parlor with her lively voice and perfecting every new dance. Newspapers in St. Louis named Belle’s debut the “climax of the Jefferson City social season.” Capable of winning the affections of senators and cotton kings, there was only one man Belle actually loved—a headstrong young captain named Garret Lamb Parrish. Although he was betrothed to another woman, Belle convinced Parrish to break the engagement. Challenged to a duel by his fiancée’s brother, the two men exchanged shots in the air, and honor was satisfied.
War
The eruption of the Civil War brought Belle’s carefree days to an end. Her family naturally sided with the south; indeed, her uncle led Missouri’s secessionist movement, serving as the first governor of Confederate Missouri and overseeing the Missouri State Guard. Belle never questioned her allegiance, and encouraged her beau to fight for States’ Rights. Promising Captain Parrish that she’d marry him upon his return, she pressed her perfumed garter into his hand as he departed to join her cousin Marmaduke’s command.
Belle’s garter possessed less charm than her words, and Parrish was shot down by Yankees during his first battle, killed during the Confederate rout contemptuously known as the “Boonville Races.” He was the first man to be loved by Belle and lost to violence; he would not be the last.
When Avalon was overrun by Union forces, Lindsay Siddons encouraged the family to support the invaders for the “good of the family.” Belle seized the opportunity to play the southern ingénue, flirting with the boys in blue and lighting DeBar’s Opera House with her winning smile. Privately, however, Belle was playing a different role—that of Confederate spy. Finding it absurdly easy to tease valuable information from drunken young officers, every few weeks Belle met with rebel partisans to pass her intelligence to Sterling Price and Nathan Bedford Forrest. After a particularly chatty lieutenant tried to impress Belle with his insider status, she learned about Grant’s intention to seize the Memphis and Mobile railway. Her information was critical to the rebel’s success in foiling Union plans, cutting off their supplies at Holly Springs and forcing Grant to take the river route to Vicksburg.
Unfortunately for Belle, the Union had a spy of their own inside Sterling’s inner circle, a young jayhawker named James Butler Hickok, recently dubbed “Wild Bill.” Learning about Belle Siddons through the Confederate grapevine, Hickok alerted General Samuel Ryan Curtis, who set a trap for the deceitful socialite. Forewarned by one of her Federal paramours, Belle fled south, making it to St. Genevieve before being apprehended in December 1862. She was tried by General Schofield and sent to Gratiot Street Rebel Prison in St. Louis. Defying the authorities to “execute a heartbroken girl” and “shoot her like the other spies,” her desperate pleas and family connections earned Belle an early parole, and she agreed to pay off her treason by working as a nurse for Union forces.
Once again, adult men underestimated the capacities of this young woman, and Belle continued to surreptitiously pass information southward as she treated injured soldiers. One of her contacts was a dashing young surgeon from Kansas City named Newt Hallet, a Union medico with southern sympathies. Belle fell in love, and after a brief courtship they were married in a private ceremony in Antonia, Missouri.
In 1864, the Union suffered several setbacks in Missouri. After the fall of Fort Davidson, General Thomas Ewing fell into Confederate hands and was lynched. All across Missouri, enraged Federals committed acts of retaliation, and when Curtis was killed during the Battle of Westport, Union soldiers set fire to Avalon. Lindsay and Malinda were killed, along with Aunt Hattie and a dozen other servants and former slaves. When Hallet heard a rumor that vigilantes were coming for Belle, the couple escaped down the “Grapevine Railroad” and crossed the border into Arkansas. Having had their fill of both Blue and Gray, the Hallets decided to try their luck with Tan, and they set out for the newly-established Republic of Texas.
Twice Widowed
Texas had need for frontier doctors, and Hallet found gainful employment patching up broken cowboys and gunshot Rangers. Belle remained by his side, nursing his patients and learning how to perform increasingly complex medical procedures—setting broken bones, cleaning bullet wounds, pulling out Comanche arrowheads. During the night, they visited the saloons of Houston, where Belle discovered that gambling could be added to her long list of talents. The Winter Palace became their favorite haunt, an upscale establishment operated by a good-natured Russian émigré named Pavel Rublev, better known as “Paul Ruby.” Hallet was hired to give Ruby’s prostitutes their monthly examinations, and Belle occasionally entertained guests with her singing. The eccentric Russian became their friend, the three often conversing in French as they developed a mutual taste for Cuban cigars and fine brandy. It was the happiest year of Belle’s life since the War began. When Ruby suggested they open a variety theater in New Orleans, the Hallets readily agreed.
In 1869, Belle’s husband traveled to the French Quarter to scout for potential locations. On his way back to Texas, he was diagnosed with the Blue Plague. Doctor Newt Hallet died in a Lafayette hospital, shrieking like a madman and sending Belle a final letter filled with nonsensical verse. Heartbroken for the second time in her life, Belle found solace in the arms of their best friend. After reclaiming Newt’s ashes from Louisiana, Belle and Pavel scattered them across the Texas prairie. They were married the next month.
Under Pavel’s tutelage, Belle refined her skills at gambling, and began dealing faro at the Winter Palace. Her new husband encouraged her to sing professionally, and soon “Ruby Belle” was delighting audiences all across Houston. While these distractions helped ease her grief, Belle’s surreptitious visits to Hallet’s medicine case were also useful. After she worked her way through the remainder of his laudanum, Belle began frequenting Houston’s opium dens. In fact, Belle was helplessly stoned in the basement of a Chinese laundry when Pavel Rublev was beaten to death by a drunken gang of Irish Confederates. Senselessly provoked when Pavel unknowingly referred to them as “Englishmen,” the men were detached from General Hood’s “Fighting Irish” company, which had evolved from the Washington Blues, formerly part of the Missouri State Guard. To further the irony, her uncle’s failure to unleash the Washington Blues at Boonville probably cost Garret Parrish his life.
Madam Vestal
Fleeing the ghosts of Houston, the twice-widowed Belle stepped off the train at New Orleans, where she settled in a small garret on Gallatin Street. Employed as a nurse during the day, by night she worked the saloons of Crescent City, dealing faro and monte, and dulling her pain with brandy and opium. The end of the Blue Plague and the relative peace of the Cold War triggered a population explosion in New Orleans, and soon efforts were made to “clean up” the Vieux Carré. Belle fled the booming city for less civilized climes, making her way north one wretched border town after another. She tarried for a while in Indian Territory, teaching English to Cherokee children on behalf of the Confederacy; but General Custer and the Battle of Two Waterfalls ended that uncharacteristic idyll.
Upon arriving in Kansas, Belle decided to finally part ways with her woeful past. Purchasing a bolt of velvet fabric and some costume jewelry, she reinvented herself as “Madam Vestal,” taking up residence in a Wichita City saloon, dealing faro and spinning the roulette wheel for exhausted Yankees and Rebels alike. Unlike Belle Siddons, Madam Vestal was immune to heartbreak; in her red velvet dress and sparkling rubies, her first husband’s revolver placed casually on the table, Madam Vestal projected a cool demeanor that kept men the perfect combination of intimidated and intrigued. Behind this façade Belle was still struggling with her demons, but when the gaslights were bright and the piano in tune, she could almost stop thinking of the bottle and pipe.
When the Battle of Leitchfield ended the fragile truce, Madam Vestal departed the rekindled tinderbox of Kansas for the rocky indifference of Denver City. She spent the final days of the War of Northern Aggression dealing monte at the Theatre Comique.
No matter how the game went, whether the bank lost or won, Madame Vestal never changed a muscle of her countenance. She was regarded as infallible by the sporting fraternity with which she associated. Many a pistol has been taken from maddened disputants by her white and bejeweled fingers, and many a boisterous bully has sneaked, cowed and trembling from her presence, when she pointed her deadly revolver toward him and the door. Her will was law, and no Queen ever ruled her subjects with a greater ease, or treated her worshippers with more supreme contempt.
—San Francisco Examiner, 18 September 1881
Lurline Monteverde
In 1874, Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills. Realizing that the Dakota Territory would soon be flooded with prospectors eager to part with their earnings, Belle decided to reinvent herself once again. Adopting the persona of “Lurline Monteverde,” she retained Madam Vestal’s velvet dress, but cast aside the mask of chilly hauteur and gave herself license to smile again. Traveling to Cheyenne, Belle was determined to earn enough money to enter Deadwood with a splash. As Lurline Monteverde, Belle took to the stage, inviting the applause of hooting cowboys and selling her cabinet cards for 25 cents apiece. Her table at the Bella Union was always full, and the saloon’s proprietor, Tom Miller, rewarded her with the promise of a Deadwood partnership. Reigning in her bad habits, Belle compiled her earnings in a lockbox and steered clear of Cheyenne’s opium dens.
By the end of the summer of 1876, Belle had saved enough money to make Lurline Monteverde her grandest role yet. With the help of Tom Miller, Belle purchased three crates of gambling supplies and chartered a fully-appointed omnibus and three wagons. She convinced a dozen gamblers, dealers, and sporting girls to accompany her on a “grand parade” to the Black Hills, promising them employment at Deadwood under the flag of her own establishment. While a few were confused by their purported roles—one soiled dove had to have the term “bookkeeper” explained to her—the illusion was a theatrical coup. Publicized far and wide, Belle’s caravan had the appearance of a traveling circus, easily rivaling Al Swearingen’s famous “Pussy Wagon” or Charlie Utter’s wagon train with Wild Bill and Calamity Jane.
The most colorful caravan to come up the Cheyenne-Deadwood trail so far is here today. It is the gambling establishment of Lurline Monte Verde. At least a dozen of her counting dealers, spindlemen, bartenders and bouncers are accompanying her on this trip. She is traveling in a yellow omnibus that has been remodeled into a comfortable home on wheels, with a bed, alcohol stove for light cooking, curtained windows and a shelf for books. When she tired of riding inside, she rides on top with the driver. Lurline’s maid and her staff travel in the next wagon. Behind it follows a sort of commissary and baggage wagon. The fourth wagon carries a large tent and gambling paraphernalia. Lurline is the most beautiful, charming and sophisticated traveler so far to chance the trip to Deadwood Gulch. She is in her early 30s, always carefully groomed and never loses her sloe-eyed smile.
—Ed Cook, Hat Creek Dateline 4 August 1876
Queen of Deadwood
Lurline Monteverde entered Deadwood like a radiant princess, descending from her perfumed wagon and erecting her “gambling palace under canvas” overnight. Fortifying the floor with wooden planks and purchasing vittles from Miller’s new Bella Union, Belle went immediately to work, donning a brand-new black velvet dress and replacing her faux ruby with a real one she acquired in Cheyenne. Advertising “the most honest games in town,” Monteverde’s Palace attracted as many gamblers eager to catch a glimpse of Belle’s ample cleavage as to take their turn at her supposedly-unrigged tables. Within weeks, the Black Hills Pioneer dubbed Lurline Monteverde the “Queen of Deadwood.”
Having remained chaste since the death of Pavel Rublev, Belle decided that Lurline Monteverde offered a fresh start in this department as well. Unfortunately, the man that most stirred her passions was a very bad man indeed—one Archibald Cummings, a former member of Quantrill’s Raiders now going by the name of Archie McLaughlin. Reputed to be the leader of an outlaw gang, Archie showed up nightly at Belle’s table, happy to lose his ill-begotten gains as long as he did so in her presence. As their professional relationship deepened into a personal one, Archie absorbed Belle into his underworld kingdom, and she found herself once more playing the role of spy.
Mme. Vestal, according to her own confession, became the confidante and adviser of the gang. No robbery was undertaken of which she disapproved, and none failed in which she advised and planned the details.
—San Francisco Examiner, 1881
The Outlaw
Her methods were the same as before; after all, men never tire of impressing a beautiful woman. Noting that her marks were more prone to loquaciousness when winning, Belle made sure that cards fell appropriately and the drinks flowed freely. Where once she gleaned information on troop movements from besotted Federals, she now fished for payroll shipments and gold transports from admiring drivers, detectives, and bankers. And if one should reveal a personal treasure worth pilfering, it was child’s play to learn his itinerary. Not only did Belle’s information enable Archie’s biggest scores, they allowed her lover to operate safely, avoiding traps and maintaining a safe distance from the law. When one of Archie’s comrades was wounded by a shotgun messenger, Belle removed the bullet and nursed the desperado back to health, remaining quiet despite being aggressively interrogated by a Federal marshal. Having passed some form of test, Belle was accepted into the gang as a full member. In time, Lurline Monteverde was seen as more than Archie’s clever moll; she had become the gang’s consigliere.
The Queen of Deadwood and the King of the Road were at the top of their game; wealthy, happy, and in control of their own destiny. Surely life had delivered enough misfortune to Belle Siddons. What else could go wrong?
Alas, my childhood and my blossoms faded,
And I in stranger lands have wandered far.
My buoyance is gone; I’m worn and jaded,
And blighting sorrow came my joy to mar.
—Monte Holman, 12 May 1880
The Future
Karl Marx suggested that history repeats itself the first time as tragedy, and the second time as farce. If that’s true, life has a grand comedy in store for Belle Siddons. While Deadlands 1876 features Lurline Monteverde in her prime, Marshals may wish to know her fate. The following biography is largely historical, with a few embellishments made for the sake of consistency.
Lynching of Archie McLaughlin
In 1878, the cunning stage detective Daniel Boone May tricked Lurline Monteverde into setting a trap for Archie. The former bushwhacker was apprehended with his men, and shipped to Cheyenne for trial. Along the way, a group of armed vigilantes raided the coach near Fort Laramie. After hanging Archie’s companions, they offered to spare his life if he revealed the location of the stash he shared with Monteverde. Archie spilled the beans, but his frantic confession was for naught. After allowing Archie to pen a farewell letter to his mother, the vigilantes lynched him anyway, employing the same rope they used to hang his friends. The gang’s stash was plundered, and Monteverde lost her accumulated fortune. She attempted suicide by overdosing on morphine, but her source had sold her a cheaply diluted dose, and her tolerance was already too high. She was discovered by her employees before she could finish the job with a bottle of carbolic acid.
Dope-sick and believing herself near death, Belle summoned a reporter for an exclusive “death bed confession.” Upon recovering a few days later, she sent word to the reporter to quash the article—or she’d send men to “put his lights out.” Her threat was effective, but Belle discovered that the public had already turned. Lurline Monteverde had become a laughingstock. Revolver in hand, she confronted one of the vigilantes said to have killed Archie; the man just laughed, and knocked the gun from her hands with his coiled whip. After firing it above her head six times, he handed Belle the empty revolver and said, “Take it up with Boone. I can supply his address.”
Publicly shamed and emotionally devastated, Belle closed her saloon and sank into a haze of drugs and alcohol. She spent the next few years wandering, eventually landing in Colorado and opening a dancehall in Leadville. Once the boomtown’s authorities began cracking down on brothels, Belle was driven to the lawless desert of Las Vegas, New Mexico, where she dealt short faro at the Toe Jam Saloon. There, she met Eugene Holman, an acquaintance from her Deadwood days. A heavyset man with a young daughter named Cora, Holman helped Belle get back on her feet. Her options dwindling and her famous beauty beginning to fade, Belle married Eugene and took the name “Monte Holman.” They opened a brothel called the Parlor, with Belle serving as madam. Eventually she earned enough money to build a small theater where she could sing and play banjo. The Las Vegas Daily Optic even published some of her original poetry.
Last Days of Belle Siddons
Belle was just beginning to find happiness when the theater burned down. Holman tried to prevent her from descending into drunken despair; but after Belle struck three-year old Cora across the face with an empty bottle, her new husband sent her packing. Passing through El Paso, Tombstone, and Tucson, in May of 1881 Belle Siddons finally landed in San Francisco, renting a room on Kearny Street. Five months later she was arrested for public inebriation, spending the night in prison and giving a drunken interview to a local reporter. The Examiner ran an unflattering piece recalling the glory years of “Madam Vestal,” sensationalizing her decline and predicting her imminent death. It was the last straw. Vanishing into San Francisco’s opium dens, Belle Siddons died of an overdose a few weeks later.
Special Abilities
Hindrance: Addict (Opium)
Whenever confronted with a stressful situation, Belle must make a Spirit roll to avoid taking laudanum, which inflicts a –2 penalty to her rolls for the next four hours. A Critical Failure drives her immediately to an opium den. Additionally, if Belle is exposed to opium or morphine, she must make a Spirit roll to avoid partaking.
A slave to opium and brandy, this once bright ornament of St. Louis society must soon find her way to the oblivion of the grave of a stranger.
—San Francisco Examiner, 18 September 1881
Unique Edge: Pretty Persuasion
Belle has an exceptional talent for encouraging men to spill their secrets, whether from misplaced confidence or a simple desire to impress a charming woman. Any male in Belle’s presence is particularly subject to Persuasion, automatically starting one level higher on the Persuasion Reaction Table. Additionally, if Belle attempts an opposed Persuasion roll on a Wild Card, the subject’s Spirit is reduced by one die.
Belle Siddons’ Possessions
Belle Siddons’ notable possessions include two Trademark Weapons and a charmed ruby pendant.
Frank Wesson Derringer
Belle purchased this beautiful pistol in New Orleans after the death of her second husband, Pavel Rublev. Known as a “watch fob” derringer on account of its ring-type hammer, the pistol was designed by Frank Wesson and engraved in the Nimschke style with floral scrolls and nature scenes. The derringer features twin “superimposed” barrels plated with silver, and a small brass frame plated in gold. A small dirk nestled between the barrels is engaged by sliding a knob on the left side of the pistol. The grips are pearl, and the backstrap boasts a short engraving: “trust but verify,” a Russian proverb often quoted by Rublev.
Statistics
Frank Wesson derringer. Caliber .22 short rimfire, Range 2/5/10, Capacity 2, Rate of Fire 1, DAM 2d4; Dirk 1d4+STR. In Belle Siddons’ hands: Trademark Weapon, +1 Shooting bonus. This small weapon may be concealed from a casual search if Belle makes an opposed roll of her d10 Streetwise vs. the searcher’s Notice skill.
Leech & Rigdon Revolver
Belonging to Belle’s first husband Dr. Newt Hallet, this Confederate copy of a Colt Navy revolver is a little worse for the wear, with patches of rust and a tendency to shed percussion caps. Nevertheless, it has served Belle for a decade, and makes a satisfying thump when placed on the table by her dealing box.
Statistics
Leech & Rigdon revolver. Caliber .36, Range 10/25/100, Capacity 6, Rate of Fire 1, DAM 2d6. In Belle Siddons’ hands: Trademark Weapon, +1 Shooting bonus. Because of its low-quality materials, a Leech & Rigdon is likely to malfunction, break, or jam if not kept properly maintained. A critical failure always renders the revolver inoperable until a successful Repair roll is made.
Ruby Pendant
Belle claims to have won this ruby pendant in a high-stakes card game in Cheyenne, but Deadwood rumor suggests its provenance is more likely the jewelry box of some Eastern traveler waylaid on the road to the Black Hills. In truth, the pendant belonged to Belle’s mother, Malinda Jackson, and was sent to Belle when she was living in Cheyenne. It is a gift from her older sister, Flora, and was accompanied by a heartfelt plea to “return home” for the establishment of South Missouri. Belle kept the ruby, but tore up the letter. In 1881, Belle will sell the pendant to earn money for San Francisco.
Powers
Aside from being worth a small fortune, Belle’s ruby bears a powerful charm of protection. As long as she’s wearing the ruby, Belle cannot be taken by surprise, and automatically draws the Queen of Diamonds as her first Action Card in any situation requiring initiative. The powers of the ruby are not transferrable, and only work on women of Siddons’ bloodline.
Campaign Inclusion
With her Southern sympathies and connections to the criminal underworld, Belle Siddons is a fascinating and ambiguous character—imagine a dissipated Scarlett O’Hara finally “breaking bad!” A former slaveholder who spied for General Forrest and fell in love with one of Quantrill’s raiders, Belle Siddons is also a brilliant woman attempting to prove herself in a man’s world, and an opium addict who’s lost everyone she loves to horrible acts of violence and disease. The Marshal is free to cast Belle as a tragic heroine haunted by her past, a ruthless and apolitical bandit queen, or a black widow leaving a trail of dead bodies. She may be portrayed as an ally, an adversary, or just a neutral contact. With some tweaking of her biography and timeline, Monteverde can be connected to any number of outlaw gangs the Marshal desires, or might still be working for the Confederacy. Lurline Monteverde may even be enrolled as a player character, or included as a possible love interest—after all, she is nothing if not an adventuress. Although she resides in Deadwood in Deadlands 1876, Belle Siddons may be easily relocated to any Western town, particularly Denver City or Cheyenne.
Sources & Notes
Historical Note
As with most legendary figures from the Wild West, the biography of Belle Siddons is a mixture of biased speculation, unvarnished contradictions, and dime novel mythology. Sources even disagree about her pseudonym, which has been spelled as two words, and sometimes with a final “i,” such as “Monte Verdi.” While her history as a spy and her relationship with Archie Cummings are fairly well documented, the time before, between, and after these periods is frustratingly vague. Some accounts claim Siddons was exiled from Missouri as a part of her parole, others that she was ordered to work as a nurse, and some contend that she simply charmed the provost marshal. Her marriages are also in doubt. While most sources identify Dr. Newt Hallet as her first husband, the date and circumstances of their meeting is uncertain, as is Hallet’s role in the Civil War. Even the number of her husbands fluctuates. Early newspaper articles about Siddons state that she was only married once, mentioning that Dr. Hallet was also a gambler who taught her faro. Other biographies list the “doctor” and the “gambler” as two distinct husbands. Donna Blake Birchell’s research suggests that Siddons had yet another husband, and married Eugene Holman near the end of her life. The 1880 census records indicate that a “Monte Holman” lived in Las Vegas with three-year old daughter named Cora; but Cora might have been Holman’s daughter, and the interview with Siddons after her arrest makes no mention of a family. To make matters more mysterious, the Las Vegas Daily Optic mentions that “a man ravished Monte Holman’s little girl.” Undoubtedly, there is a some tragic story here, but that is likely lost to us forever. In my own fictionalized version, I placed Cora with Eugene Holman, and had Belle injure the girl, suggesting that Holman misreported the incident to the doctor treating Cora’s injuries.
Deadlands Alterations
Because Belle Siddons’ biography is so sketchy, I filled in countless blanks, to the point that her Deadlands character profile may be considered largely fictional. There are no historical records regarding Belle’s mother and father, although contemporary newspapers state that she was raised on a Missouri plantation and was the niece of Claiborne Fox Jackson. No Siddons are mentioned in the Jackson family tree, so I added them in, assuming Belle’s mother was Malinda Jackson, of whom history has recorded very little details. While General Curtis did apprehend Belle for espionage, and was reputedly supervising Wild Bill Hickok when he was spying under Price’s command, the connection between the two is speculation. (Sweet, irresistible speculation!) According to the San Francisco Examiner, Belle’s first love was Captain Parrish, who fought a duel over his broken engagement and promptly died in battle. I supplied the name Garret and placed him under command of Marmaduke at Boonville. I took the most liberties with Belle’s life after Hallet’s death, assigning the possibly-apocryphal role of “second gambler husband” to Pavel Rublev, who is entirely fictional. During her “deathbed confession” in 1878, the historical Siddons made the highly dubious claim that she spent some time in Nebraska tutoring the Sioux. Even though this is most certainly a falsehood, I admire her gumption, so I changed that to something more probable given the geographical arc of her travels. And finally, many obvious alterations were made to fit the alternate history of the Deadlands milieu, so if you are reading the above biography for a school report on “Wild Women of the West,” be sure to mention the death of General Ewing and the impact of the Blue Plague!
Sources
Contemporary Sources
Much of what we know about the historical Belle Siddons comes from two printed accounts. The first is the “deathbed interview” she gave to the Cheyenne Daily Sun in 1878. Surviving quotations from this interview reveal a woman painting herself as a victim, one drawn unwittingly into a life of crime. Sadly, most other historical accounts do not align with Siddons’ narrative, and it’s likely she was doing a fair amount of image-rehabilitation in the wake of Archie’s execution. Although the original interview is not available online, it was quoted extensively in The Cheyenne and Black Hills Stage and Express Routes by Agnes Wright Spring. Published in 1948, this classic work is the foundation for many online sketches about Belle Siddons.
The second source is the profile of Belle Siddons published after her arrest in San Francisco. Based on a jail-cell interview with the inebriated Siddons—whose clothing had been torn because of “her resistance to arrest”—the piece first appeared in the 18 September 1881 issue of the San Francisco Examiner. Entitled “A Remarkable Woman,” the well-written profile is colorful but largely unsympathetic, a typical nineteenth-century brew of unquestioned sexism and sensationalism under the guise of moral sermonizing. This account was picked up by several other newspapers over the years, some of which quoted it verbatim, while others paraphrased the essentials. The most notable retread appears in the Las Vegas Daily Optic, which adds a short closing paragraph about Siddons’ life in New Mexico.
Modern Sources
The most thorough sketch of Belle Siddons is found in Wicked Women of New Mexico by Donna Blake Birchell, who researched census records and contemporary newspaper accounts. My own fictionalized version of Siddons drew extensively from Birchell’s profile. I also used Chris Enss’ novelistic account in Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West. Other useful sources include Robin Matteri’s “Belle Siddons” on the America’s Cardroom site, and Joe Koller’s article for the Rapid City Journal, the confusingly-titled “Famed Deadwood Faro Queen Turned War Spy Talents Over To Highwaymen.” As more evidence of her legendary status, Belle Siddons appeared as a recurring character in the 1950s radio show, “Frontier Gentleman.” You can hear her first appearance in “Gambling Lady” on YouTube.
Images
Shockingly, there are no surviving photographs of Belle Siddons. The photograph used in the banner is not Siddons; but it’s been used to represent her on several online articles, so what the hell. The cabinet card is actually the actress Eleanor Robinson; I may or may not have added a beauty mark. The painting of the woman in an opium den is Le vampire de l’opium by Albert Matignon. The Frank Wesson derringer may be examined in detail on iCollector, and the Leech & Rigdon revolver is borrowed from Little Gun. The ruby pendant is from SzjinAo. It may be a fake, but it looks exactly like what I was picturing, so I used it anyway.
Author: A. Buell Ruch
Last Modified: 18 June 2019
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
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