Yes, this is a current news item for March, 2017! “Mother Featherleg’s” 1876 pantalettes, previously “on tour”, have returned to the museum in Deadwood, WY.
THE STORY… Back in 1876, near Muskrat Canyon, Charlotte Shephard established a saloon & bordello. Though it was more of a dugout than a house, it was extremely well visited.
Charlotte was called “Featherlegs”, because her RED RUFFLED PANTALETTES (light cotton knickers to her knees) made her limbs look like chicken legs when they blew in the wind because her skirts were pulled up as she rode astride a horse across the prairie.
A middle-aged, auburn haired woman, “Mother” partnered up with an outlaw called Dangerous Dick Davis. “Mother’s” saloon was his gang’s hangout. He entrusted her with huge amounts of money & jewelry from his heists, and they were all very prosperous… for a while.
In 1879, however, the partnership ended with the murder of “Mother” by Dangerous Dick along the trail, who later confessed he took the valueables & ran to Louisiana. He was convicted & hung for the murder & his many other crimes.
“Featherlegs” was buried right where she lay at her death, along the Deadwood trail in eastern Wyoming. The nearest current town is Lusk.
CONTINUED NEXT POST…
(sketch: Historic depiction of “Mother Featherlegs” greeting the men at “Roadhouse” stage stop on the Deadwood Trail. Our historical research indicates she was more likely wearing a corset & bustle in 1876, than as depicted here, although western women dressed a bit more casually than was current fashion.)