Legends of the Old West - SWINDLERS Ep. 4 | “Lottie Deno”

Episode Date: August 9, 2023

A woman who used the name “Lottie Deno” became one of the most successful gamblers in the West. She kept her true identity secret from most people as she moved through towns in Texas, including Fort Griffin, where she crossed paths with Doc Holliday. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Noiser+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons. Click the Noiser+ banner on Apple or go to noiser.com/subscriptions to get started with a 7-day free trial. For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sheriff Bill Kruger rushed through the door of a popular gambling saloon in Fort Griffin, Texas. He was met with a tense scene. Broken chairs, overturned tables, shattered glasses, and scattered poker chips and cards. The air was thick with the smell of cheap tobacco and gun smoke. A flickering oil lamp cast eerie shadows on the walls. Sheriff Kruger took a few cautious steps forward. Amid the disarray, the bodies of two men lay sprawled on the floor. They were motionless. As Sheriff Kruger walked closer to the bodies, he saw that each man gripped a revolver in his hand. Kruger bent down to examine the bodies. Blood from the tell-tale bullet wounds stained their clothes.

Both men were dead. Sheriff Kruger shook his head in disappointment. Skirmishes in saloons like this often turned violent. It wasn't a hard scene to imagine before the throwdown. Kruger and every other lawman in the West had likely seen it hundreds of times. The room would have been full of people. Lively poker and pharaoh games roared at every table. Some of the gamblers were, no doubt, loud and obnoxious.

There's always a few of those. Others were likely quiet and reserved, which might have disguised the fact that they were the best players in the room. There would have been shuffling cards and clattering chips, clinking glasses and striking matches. There would have been… The imagery stopped there. Suddenly, the crisp sound of cards being shuffled echoed through the saloon. Sheriff Kruger had assumed he was alone. His eyes darted across the room, and then he noticed a woman at the back whom he'd completely missed. The attractive red-haired woman sat in the dealer seat

of the only Faro table that was still standing. She was putting her cards in order. A look of disbelief crossed Sheriff Krueger's face. His eyes softened. He told her he didn't understand why she had not fled with everyone else when the shooting started. The woman looked up at him and said, "'But then you have never been a desperate woman.

From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer, and this season we're telling six stories of legendary con artists of the Old West. This story is about one of the few female high- of legendary con artists of the Old West. This story is about one of the few female high-profile card players of the West. This is Episode 4, Lottie Dino. Inside gambling parlors in the Old West, something that resembled a theater performance unfolded every night. It was like a high-stakes play where a rich cast of characters bet on their own fates.

Saloon owners, car dealers, bartenders, and gamblers filled the stage. More often than not, all these characters were men. It was a rare sight to see a woman working on the gambling side of a gambling parlor. More often, women were entertainers or dancing companions. A select few were bartenders or even saloon owners. And an even smaller number were professional gamblers, working as dealers at the faro, monte, or poker tables. Historians have long since been captivated by tales of this select group,

and a woman called La Di Dino was at the forefront. She was a woman of mystery. The respectable southern lady came to be known as Mystic Maud, the Angel of San Antonio, Pharaoh Nell, Queen of the Pasteboards, and eventually, Laottie Dino She refused to reveal her real name to anyone because she didn't want her family to know she gambled She came from a wealthy family

and if things had gone according to the family plan she never would have become one of the Old West's legendary gamblers But like nearly everyone in the eastern third of America in the 1860s

the Civil War changed everything. Her real name was Carlotta Tompkins, and she was born into a wealthy family in Kentucky in April of 1844. Her father ran a successful business raising crops and thoroughbred horses. He took Carlotta on numerous trips up and down the Mississippi River, as well as abroad to Europe. It was on those trips that he shared with her one of his great passions of life, gambling. In the late 1850s, Carlotta's father took her to all the famous establishments in New Orleans, including the St. Charles Hotel, establishments in New Orleans, including the St. Charles Hotel, Victor's, and the Gem on Royal Street. The young girl sat beside her father at the card tables, learning the tricks of the trade.

Standing protectively behind Carlotta was the girl's nanny, a seven-foot-tall woman named Mary Poindexter. She accompanied Carlotta everywhere. Back home, Carlotta finished her education at an Episcopalian convent. As time passed, Carlotta had begun to grow into a beautiful young woman. The road ahead looked bright. Then came the start of the Civil War in April 1861. When the war broke out, thousands of Southern men joined the Confederate Army. Carlotta's father was one of them. Just a short while later, he was killed in his first engagement. He left behind a devastated family.

At the age of 17, Carlotta was responsible for supporting her ailing mother and her younger sister. Over the course of the war, Carlotta's family lost their home and sprawling plantations. Carlotta made the bold decision to move to Detroit, Michigan to make a living. She left her family behind and headed north. In Detroit, Carlotta was caught up in a whirl of social engagements. Historian J. Marvin Hunter described her as the bell of the ball from the deep south. After a few months, Carlotta realized that her funds were dwindling fast. To make matters worse, Carlotta received news that her mother had suffered a stroke.

She was paralyzed and was likely to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. Carlotta also had her sister's education to worry about. But Carlotta was in luck. She received a timely invitation from a friend to join a private gambling club in Detroit. When Carlotta pushed open the doors of the gambling club, she was transported back to her childhood and the days she spent with her father in saloons just like this one.

Carlotta stepped up to one of the card tables with an empty seat. When her father taught her how to gamble, it had been a mere pastime, but this was different. Carlotta knew she needed to win to survive, and she did exactly that. She started playing, and she started winning. It wasn't long before Carlotta earned enough money to send back home to her mother and sister. Her skill at the card table was unparalleled, at least in the Detroit area. But Carlotta quickly grew tired of Detroit's smoke-filled gambling halls. She wanted a change, and that was when she met Johnny Golden. And that was when she met Johnny Golden.

Johnny Golden was a Confederate soldier who enjoyed gambling. Just like Carlotta, he was also born into a wealthy Southern family. Her card-playing skills caught his attention, and soon they were close friends. Most sources suggest that Johnny and Carlotta were involved in a romantic relationship, but her family was apparently against her choice of partner because Johnny had been one of her father's horse jockeys. Whether or not they were in a relationship, Johnny and Carlotta headed for the new frontier of gambling, riverboats. After the Civil War, as the American nation rapidly expanded westward, riverboat gambling became a popular sport.

Johnny asked Carlotta if she would be interested in gambling up and down the Mississippi River, and she agreed at once. The pair of gamblers boarded the first steamer they could find. Carlotta was also accompanied by her loyal nanny, Mary. could find. Carlotta was also accompanied by her loyal nanny, Mary. The three of them cut an extraordinary figure as they walked up the wooden boarding plank to the riverboat. A petite young lady with red hair, a man who matched her in height, and a formidable seven-foot-tall woman towering above the two. In their time on the river, Carlotta would be grateful for Mary's presence. Mary saved Carlotta's life

more than once. In her later life, Carlotta would recall her time on the riverboats as dangerous and thrilling. Trouble seemed to follow her even when she was far away from the card tables. Trouble seemed to follow her even when she was far away from the card tables. Fortunately, Mary never failed to come to her rescue. According to the legend, one pleasant evening, Carlotta decided to take a stroll along a sandy riverbed. Carrying a delicate umbrella to shade her from the sun, she enjoyed the fine weather. Mary trailed behind her and kept a watchful eye out for any sign of danger. Suddenly, Mary pushed Carlotta aside. Mary lunged on a rattlesnake that lay right ahead of Carlotta.

The coiled snake had been ready to strike. Mary saved Carlotta from being bitten, but she paid the price herself. The snake dug its fangs into Mary's finger. herself. The snake dug its fangs into Mary's finger. The venom caused Mary to fall seriously ill. She recovered only after the finger was amputated. Once she was well, the trio continued their adventure on the riverboats. Carlotta's winning streaks often caused anger and resentment in the men she played. That kind of combustible situation could quickly turn dangerous because there was always lots of whiskey and lots of firearms handy. But Mary always sat right behind Carlotta, and Mary's towering presence was more than enough to intimidate any would-be troublemakers. After some time on the mighty Mississippi, Johnny and Carlotta headed to Texas. Their journey started on a steamer to New Orleans. A young Union soldier played at Carlotta's table that night, and he

grew increasingly frustrated as the game wore on. Mary watched him with growing concern. When the game finally ended, the red-faced soldier loudly proclaimed that Carlotta had cheated. The red-faced soldier loudly proclaimed that Carlotta had cheated. In a fit of rage, he lunged across the table at Carlotta. Mary jumped into action. The soldier had scarcely touched Carlotta when Mary grabbed him and hauled him away from the table. She marched him to the side of the boat and threw him overboard. Luckily, that was the extent of the danger on the relatively short trip to Texas.

But in Texas, the trio's luck ran out. After a heated card game, Johnny found himself in a vicious knife fight. Johnny killed his opponent, and he was forced to go on the run to avoid the law. And that was the end of Johnny and Carlotta. A few years later, the law caught up with Johnny, but he was killed in an ambush while being transported to jail. After parting ways with Johnny, Carlotta and Mary continued on to San Antonio. Their arrival stirred up a lot of excitement. When Carlotta stepped down from the stagecoach, she was described as having beautiful dark red hair and sparkling brown eyes.

In San Antonio, Carlotta's luck would return, both at the gambling tables and in love. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch. And organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage, all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere. They have an all-in-one e-commerce platform and in-person POS system,

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Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash realm, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash r-e-a-l-m now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. shopify.com slash realm. San Antonio was a flourishing city in the 1860s. After the end of the Civil War, the city was a hub for new businesses. New ventures sprang up on every street corner. The development of railroads in Texas bolstered the growing economy. San Antonio also became a major cattle center.

Hordes of people made their way to the city in the hopes of finding a better life, and many of them did. With a diverse mix of immigrant residents, San Antonio transformed into a pulsing center of culture and commerce. As the town became more and more prosperous, enterprising proprietors found new ways for residents to indulge themselves. found new ways for residents to indulge themselves. A great number of gambling parlors sprouted across San Antonio, and gambling bore riches beyond measure. An old-timer described the money on the tables of the saloons as being in heaps and heaps, in piles and stacks. It towered high on the tops of tables and was often handled with shovel-like scoops. He claimed that players sometimes hauled their winnings back home in ox carts. San Antonio seemed like the perfect city

for Carlotta and Mary. Carlotta started gambling at popular establishments in San Antonio. One of the gambling houses that Carlotta frequented was the Cosmopolitan Saloon. A newspaper article described her. She created a never-to-be-forgotten picture when she arrived, dressed in the finest style, followed by Mary Poindexter. Carlotta's skill at the card tables quickly won her the respect of the biggest gamblers in town. After sampling several parlors, she settled down at the University Club. It was run by three brothers and catered to the elite of San Antonio. Carlotta was a sought-after faro dealer, and she earned a percentage of each night's take. Carlotta mingled with the women of San Antonio's high society. She regularly kept up appearances at social events,

especially theater productions at the Casino Hall Theater. At the University Club, an air of respect had developed around Carlotta. She didn't allow cursing or drinking at her table. With her striking looks and her endearing personality, Carlotta was widely known and liked, and she became known as the Angel of San Antonio. It was rumored that Carlotta also earned her most popular nickname in San Antonio. The story starts with a drunken gambler who lost all his money at her table. As the gambler watched her pile of winnings grow, he remarked that she'd made a whole lot of dinero off him.

Dinero is the Spanish word for money, and the comment stuck. The patrons of the gambling houses began calling her Lottie Dinero, and that eventually became simply Lottie Dino. Over time, Lottie fell in love with one of the brothers who owned the university club. His name was Frank Thurmond. For the next two years, the pair were involved in a passionate relationship, and it seemed like Lottie had it all. She had money, love, and status. Lottie had truly made the town of San Antonio her own,

but it wasn't long before danger came knocking at her door once again. own, but it wasn't long before danger came knocking at her door once again. One night at the university club, Frank Thurman was attacked by a drunken card player. Like every sensible saloon owner, Frank had a bowie knife concealed in his clothes. He pulled out the knife and ended up killing his attacker. The man's family wanted revenge. They put a handsome bounty on Frank's head, and Frank fled San Antonio, leaving Lottie behind in an eerie instance of history repeating itself. Meanwhile, during her stay in San Antonio, Mary and Lottie grew distant.

The reasons for the friction are not very well known, but some historians say that the two women severed ties completely. If so, then Lottie was now alone for probably the first time in her life. She seems to have stayed in San Antonio for about a year after Frank went on the run, but after that, she disappeared from town. And that was how she ended up on a path to Fort Griffin, Texas. And that was how she ended up on a path to Fort Griffin, Texas. Lottie gambled her way through West Texas, through some of the roughest towns in the West. She never stayed in one place too long, and some believe that she was searching for Frank Thurmond.

If so, she never found him. But she hit several of the hot spots in West Texas during the Old West era. One of the first places she stopped was San Angelo. The town developed across the river from a military outpost called Fort Concho. After the Civil War, the U.S. Army built or rebuilt numerous forts in West Texas. A long line of forts protected the dangerous trail from El Paso to San Antonio. Others protected roads that ran north and south through the central and western part of the state. Fort Concho was built in 1867, and, as often happened, a town rose up nearby to provide services, we'll call them, to off-duty soldiers.

Many of those rough and rowdy towns grew into permanent settlements. San Angelo was a classic example, and it was characterized by the classic institutions of drinking, gambling, and prostitution. When Lottie arrived in the early 1870s, the town was still finding its feet. She stood in stark contrast to the raw, dusty landscape and its citizens. And many wondered what business brought a woman like that to a town like this. The question was answered when a gambling hall in San Angelo opened its doors for business that evening. Dressed in finely styled clothes, Lottie entered the hall and sat down at a table.

She was regarded with raised eyebrows and surprised stares. Women were not a usual sight in gambling halls, and definitely not at the tables. Lottie took no heed of the stir she caused. She patiently waited for the cards to be dealt. She was there to gamble, and she went on a run. Every evening, Lottie played at the tables of San Angelo. She stood her ground amongst the seasoned gamblers of the town. She never shied away from high stakes, and she usually won. the town. She never shied away from high stakes and she usually won. At the end of the night, she gathered her winnings and walked back alone to her home on Concho Avenue. Mystery followed Lottie everywhere and she was always tight-lipped about her real identity. The people of San Angelo

spun wild theories of who she really was. A princess from Europe, a woman on the run from an abusive husband, a woman from the elite circles of New Orleans, and more. Lottie kept them guessing. It was said that another one of her monikers was born here. The women of the town began calling her Mystic Maud. After a few months in San Angelo, Lottie decided the town was played out. In the summer of 1876, Lottie reached her next destination, Fort Griffin. Fort Griffin was a military outpost on a hill overlooking one of the tributaries of the Brazos River. It was 100 miles west of Fort Worth, and it was at the transition point of the landscape, 100 miles west of Fort Worth, and it was at the transition point of the landscape, where the hill country of grasses and trees gave way to the desolate, flat desert of West Texas.

The settlement of Fort Griffin was near two major cattle trails that led to the Kansas railheads, and it was teeming with cowboys, outlaws, prostitutes, gamblers, buffalo hunters, and soldiers. As one person put it, Fort Griffin was one of the wildest gambling hellholes ever spawned on the frontier. Lottie Dino got a job at a saloon called the Beehive. She was a long way from the swanky university club in San Antonio, but the low-character joint didn't faze her.

Lottie played poker, pharaoh, and even private card games when the stakes were high enough. The Beehive was run by a man named Mike Fogarty, and he may have been part of the attraction for Lottie. Historians believe Fogarty was really Frank Thurmond in disguise, Lottie's long-lost love from San Antonio, and there'll be more circumstantial evidence for that later. In the meantime, Lottie was about to witness the scene that brought Sheriff Bill Kruger running to the saloon. One night, Lottie was dealing Farrow at a table near the back of the Beehive. A few tables away from her, two gamblers known as Monty Bill and Smokey Joe quarreled over a card game. Each man accused the other of cheating.

The other patrons paid little attention since loud arguments were commonplace in gambling halls. Then, Smokey Joe stood up in a rage. His chair fell backwards with a crash. Monty Bill was slower to his feet, but he already had his gun out. Smokey Joe drew his and they pulled the triggers. The gunshots boomed and black powder smoke filled the room. Both men hit the ground with a simultaneous thud.

Then chaos erupted. Everyone rushed to the doors. They knocked over tables and chairs. Glasses and poker chips crashed to the floor, and the place emptied out in a hurry. When Sheriff Kruger rushed into the beehive, he scanned the room and quickly found the bodies of the gamblers. As he bent down to examine them, he was startled to hear the sound of cards being shuffled. He had missed a lone red-headed woman sitting at a pharaoh table. Sheriff Kruger was shocked. He told her he didn't understand why she didn't leave when the shooting started.

In response, she said, But then you have never been a desperate woman. It was said that in the chaos after the shooting, the money on the Pharaoh table disappeared. People suspected Lottie took it, but no one dared to accuse the respectable lady. So, until this point, the question has remained. Was Carlotta Tompkins, also known as Lottie Dino, a swindler or just a really good card player? Did she cheat in order to win, or was she just simply better than most of her opponents? In Lottie's case, the question is harder to answer than any of the other

swindlers in the series. Here's an example of an easier one. James Miner's trade was the shell game. In the game, a pea was hidden under one of three shells. James quickly shuffled the shells and then bet against the audience to guess which shell the pea was under. If they guessed right, he would double the money that they bet. If not, the money was his. He never lost, and there was almost always some sleight-of-hand trick involved in the game. Essentially, it was rigged so that he would win. Lottie specialized in card games, most often pharaoh, and that was one of the most rigged

games in the Old West. It seems clear that she was a talented gambler, but it's also unlikely that she could earn as much as she did without working every angle to her benefit. So, over the course of five years in Fort Griffin, she made a pile of money, started or restarted a relationship, and had a run-in with one of the most notorious gamblers in the Old West, Doc Holliday. with one of the most notorious gamblers in the Old West, Doc Holliday. John Henry Doc Holliday was a dentist, gunfighter, and gambler from Georgia who drifted west in search of easy riches and better climate to help his tuberculosis. In the mid to late 1870s, Doc and his girlfriend Kate Elder were in Fort Griffin. According to the legend, it was in Fort Griffin that Doc first met Wyatt Earp.

But before the two future friends built their reputations in Dodge City and then earned everlasting fame in Tombstone, Doc was making money in the frontier outpost of Fort Griffin. Lottie was a dealer at the Beehive, and one night, Doc sat down across from her. Pretty soon, the table between them was strewn with chips and cards. Lottie was winning, as the dealer usually did. Doc was swigging whiskey from a glass, as he usually did. They squared off until it was almost daylight outside,

and Lottie had won a mountain of money from Doc. Doc seemed to take his losses in stride. Some historians record that Doc was fond of Lottie. We don't know the extent of their relationship, but they played card games together often. On one such occasion, Doc's paramour, Big-nosed Kate, stormed into the saloon. She accused Lottie of trying to win Doc's affections. Lottie was incensed. She rose to her feet and hurled a barrage of angry words at Kate and then pulled her gun. Not to be outdone,

Kate aimed her own pistol at Lottie. The two women were locked in a deadly face-off. Doc staggered to his feet and stood between the pair. He pacified them into lowering their firearms. And a short time later, Doc and Kate left Fort Griffin and headed to Dodge City. Lottie and Frank Thurman spent a couple more years in Fort Griffin and then headed to New Mexico. It was said that Lottie left Fort Griffin with a heavy leather trunk in tow. The trunk was loaded with her winnings from the town, nearly $40,000. In December of 1880, the pair registered their marriage in Silver City, New Mexico,

the town that had been the home of a teenager named William Antrim. William, known to history as Billy the Kid, fled five years earlier and he was now a notorious outlaw in New Mexico. By the time Lottie and Frank arrived in town, Billy had just seven months to live. At the age of 36, Lottie took the name of Charlotte Thurmond, but history repeated itself again. Her new husband, Frank Thurmond, killed another man with his bowie knife, and the couple fled Silver City for Deming, New Mexico, in 1882. There, they finally settled down for good. They had experienced enough excitement for a lifetime, and they left the world of gambling behind.

They lived a quiet life as a respectable part of society. Though Lottie did make one exception, a charity poker game that she hosted in 1892. It made thousands of dollars for her local church. Next time on Legends of the Old West, it's the story of Charles Doc Baggs, a swindler who dreamed up some of the most elaborate and complex schemes to lighten the wallets of the wealthy. That's next week on Legends of the Old West. and they also receive exclusive bonus episodes. Sign up now through the link in the show notes or on our website, blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month.

This series was researched and written by Ria Perowit. Original music by Rob Vallier. Copy editing by me, Chris Wimmer, and I'm your host and producer. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details, and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast

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