Augusta Tabor 4

Augusta Tabor 4

When Augusta returned from Europe, she found her husband had risen to

new heights. He was being considered for a senatorship and he had

finished building the Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver. The citizens

were tendering a ceremony and watch fob to him on the opening night.

 

Augusta wrote him a letter apologizing for what she “had said in the

heat of passion.” She also asked to be allowed to come to the opening

night of the Tabor Grand and to go with him to Washington as a senator’s

wife. This letter turned up among Baby Doe’s papers at her death. No one

knows how, or if, it was answered. But the Tabor box was empty on

September 5, 1881, the gala occasion Augusta wanted to attend.

 

In April, 1882, Augusta instituted a suit for payment of $50,000 a year

alimony despite the fact that she was not divorced. She listed Tabor’s

holdings and their specific worth, an impressive tabulation, which

brought the total to $9,410,000. The suit caused a lot of scandal,

damaged Tabor politically, but accomplished nothing for Augusta since it

was thrown out of court as illegal.

 

Augusta gave in on the hotel-sale petition first. She sold her interest

in the Windsor to Bush for close to $40,000 in May, 1882. Finally, on

January 2, 1883, she gave Tabor a divorce in exchange for property worth

about $300,000. She caused a sensation at the divorce trial by

reiterating:

 

“Not willingly, Oh God, not willingly!”

 

It was this public statement of hers to the judge which made her feel

that the divorce was not valid.

 

Amos Steck, Augusta’s lawyer, summed up the whole five years of public

quarreling and scandal when he talked about her to a reporter:

 

“Oh, she knows all about his practises with lewd women. I never saw such

a woman. She is crazy about Tabor. She loves him and that settles it.”

 

For years Augusta hoped that Baby Doe would tire of Horace and,

crestfallen, he would come back to his first wife. She thought that when

the money was gone, the young hussy would flit. She told reporters she

was building up her own fortune and hanging on to her large house in

order that she might take care of Tabor in his old age.

 

But Augusta was wrong. She had underestimated her rival. When the Silver

Panic of 1893 reduced the former millionaire to poverty, his pretty

blonde wife stuck like glue.

 

Belatedly Augusta realized the true character of Baby Doe. In 1892 the

first Mrs. Tabor sold her house on Broadway and moved across the street

to the newly-opened Brown Palace Hotel. Although Maxcy and Bill Bush

were the managers and lived there also, Augusta did not enjoy hotel

life. Her health was starting to fail and she went to California for the

winter, seeking a milder climate. There in Pasadena, on February 1,

1895, at the age of sixty-two she died, her social position still

secure, if not showy, and her fortune built to a million and a half

dollars.

 

She said in her own words when Tabor was at his richest:

 

“I feel that in those early years of self-sacrifice, hard labor, and

economy, I laid the foundation for Mr. Tabor’s immense wealth. Had I not

stayed with him and worked by his side, he would have been discouraged,

returned to the stone-cutting trade and so lost his big opportunity.”

 

All Colorado agreed with her at the time—and then the mills of the Gods

ground slowly and exceedingly fine. Tabor’s immense wealth evaporated.

 

But its going did not bring Horace back to her; he clung to Baby Doe

until the end, four years after Augusta’s death. Never once was there

the slightest rumor of any infidelity of his to her after 1881 and none

of Baby Doe to him after their first meeting. It must have been galling

to Augusta.

 

Maxcy Tabor inherited the money his mother had husbanded with such

business acumen. He brought her body back from California and she was

buried in Riverside cemetery. With the passage of the years Maxcy was

laid to rest in Fairmount beside his wife; and Horace Tabor, in Mt.

Olivet beside Baby Doe. Augusta lies alone in an old-fashioned cemetery,

as alone as she lived her last fifteen years, terribly alone.

 

For many years of her middle life Augusta was called “Leadville’s First

Lady.” The nickname was spoken in affection and in admiration, and she

was interviewed for the Leadville papers under that heading. Yes, she

was a first lady in many ways, courageous and industrious and civic. The

tragedy of her life lay in the fact that, although she was beloved of

many, she lost the key to the only heart she wanted.

 

 

 

 

_Acknowledgments_

 

 

(Reprinted from earlier editions for the fifth in 1968)

 

For Research Aid:

First, as always, to the patient staff of the Western History

Department of the Denver Public Library—Ina T. Aulls, Alys

Freeze, Opal Harber and Katherine Hawkins—who find the answers

to many puzzlers. Secondly, Agnes Wright Spring, Colorado

historian, always generous; and helpful others at the State

Museum—Dolores Renze, Frances Shea, Dorothy Stewart and

Kenneth Watson. Next, Lorena Jones and Allen Young of _The

Denver Post_ library, unfailingly obliging. My gratitude to

all.

For Photographs and Sketches:

The Western History Department of the Denver Public Library has

supplied the great majority of the illustrations used. The

Colorado Historical Society contributed two photographs; the

Oshkosh Public Museum, one; Mrs. Belle Taylor, two; the Mile

High Center, one; and one gift of Fred Mazzulla was graciously

rehabilitated by Phil Slattery and Bill Brown of _The Denver

Post_.

For Proofreading:

Mrs. J. Alvin Fitzell continues to donate her time and aptitude for

catching typographical errors in each successive booklet.

 

 

 

 

_By the Same Author_

 

 

Gulch of Gold: Her affection for and pride in Gregory Gulch shows in

every line of this book.... The old photographs and maps are

entrancing....

Marshall Sprague in the _New York Times_.

 

Colorful Colorado: Its Dramatic History: “... a remarkable feat of

condensation ... ought to be a copy in your car’s glove locker.”

Robert Perkin in the _Rocky Mountain News_.

 

Unique Ghost Towns: “This new Bancroft Booklet is the best yet.”

Stanton Peckham in _The Denver Post_.

 

The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown: “Caroline Bancroft’s booklets are brighter,

better-illustrated and cheaper than formal histories of Colorado....

The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown was a delightful person, and I wish I had

known her.”

John J. Lipsey in the _Colorado Springs Free Press_.

 

The Brown Palace in Denver: “Miss Bancroft has a sure touch and this

new title adds another wide-selling item to her list.”

Don Bloch in _Roundup_.

 

Denver’s Lively Past: “With zest and frankness the author emphasizes

the dramatic, lusty, bizarre and spicy happenings.”

Agnes Wright Spring in _The Denver Post_.

 

Historic Central City: “We could do with more such stories of

Colorado’s fabled past.”

Marian Castle in _The Denver Post_.

 

Famous Aspen: “It’s all here.... Aspenites should be grateful.”

Luke Short in _The Aspen Times_.

 

Silver Queen: The Fabulous Story of Baby Doe Tabor: “Attractive,

sprightly, well-printed book ... which is more informative and

genuinely human than preceding works giving the Tabor story.”

Fred A. Rosenstock in _The Brand Book_.

 

Tabor’s Matchless Mine and Lusty Leadville: “Seventh in her series of

Bancroft Booklets retelling segments of Colorado’s history. They are

popularly written, color-packed little pamphlets, and it’s a pleasure

to commend them to native and tourist alike.”

Robert Perkin in the _Rocky Mountain News_.

 

Six Racy Madams of Colorado: “This delightful booklet is written both

with good humor and good taste.”

_Rocky Mountain News._

 

Colorado’s Lost Gold Mines and Buried Treasure: “The casual reader ...

will find his own treasure buried in this little booklet.”

Claude Powe in _The Central City Tommy-Knawker_.

 

 

(_See back cover for prices_)

 

 

GULCH OF GOLD

 

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COLORFUL COLORADO: ITS DRAMATIC HISTORY

 

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UNIQUE GHOST TOWNS AND MOUNTAIN SPOTS

 

Forty-two of Colorado’s romance-packed high-country towns have their

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THE UNSINKABLE MRS. BROWN

 

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SILVER QUEEN: THE FABULOUS STORY OF BABY DOE TABOR

 

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TABOR’S MATCHLESS MINE AND LUSTY LEADVILLE

 

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FAMOUS ASPEN

 

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HISTORIC CENTRAL CITY

 

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DENVER’S LIVELY PAST

 

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