Erika Owen - Lawbreaking Ladies: 50 Tales of Daring, Defiant, and Dangerous Women from History

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First Tiller Press hardcover edition February 2021

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.

ISBN 978-1-9821-4708-2

ISBN 978-1-9821-4709-9 (ebook)

For Joseph:

Youre my favorite thing

A ccording to the FBI, a violent crime occurred every 24.6 seconds in 2017. Many of the women featured in this book committed this kind of crime, but there have been women throughout the ages whom one could consider criminal for entirely different reasons.

What constitutes a crime can vary. Crimes can refer to illegal acts that break a specific law and may be prosecuted. But there are also social crimes, if you willthe kind of norm-breaking or morally-frowned-upon activities that wont get you arrested, but will get you talked about or tarnish your reputation in the court of public opinion. This book delves into both kinds of crimes, and in the pages that follow, you will read fifty stories of little-known and legendary womenfrom gamblers and con women to pirates and serial killerswho made history for their lawbreaking ways from the fifteenth century all the way to the mid-1900s. Some of these women boldly revolted against restrictive gender roles, while others found notoriety from their heinous acts against others.

I chose to profile these women because they all have stories that are almost hard to believe. And not all of them were evil peoplekeep that in mind as you read. There are several lawbreaking ladies I find admirable, like the buffalo soldier Cathay Williams and Stagecoach Mary Fields, who was the first Black female star route mail carrier in the United States. They are two people with whom Id love to have dinner and get to know better; both were important and fascinating members of their communities, despite violating the written and unwritten laws women were expected to abide by during their time.

In this book, Ill also introduce you to women who pose an interesting juxtaposition with regard to their professions. For instance, youll read about a professional gambler who allegedly shot her ex-lover dead and then just pages later read about a woman who helped fund an entire performing arts center through her work running a casino in Las Vegas. Although these gambling gals led very different lives, both were enterprising women who forged unconventional careers for their respective times, and both were remarkable in their own right. Their stories also serve to show that while the title of this book may sound like youre in for hundreds of pages of grisly crimewhich is partly true (there are certainly women featured in this book with whom Id never want to cross paths)Ill give you a break once in a while with a more uplifting tale.

When it came to investigating crimes of yore, women were usually not the first suspects police considered. And when they were, juries often found it hard to imagine women committing murders, robberies, and other illegal acts. While women have historically not had it easy (far from it, in many situations), they did have a special kind of advantage in the courtroom.

The fairer sex is a phrase that dates as far back as 1676, when it appeared in the wonderfully titled book The Art of Making Love: Or Rules for the Conduct of Ladies and Gallants in Their Amours by Le Boulanger de Chalussay. Old-fashioned as it may be, this phrase also helps explain the treatment of many female criminals throughout history. Women involved in illegal activities often managed to escape authorities, arrests, and convictions based on their perceived charm and good looks (looking at you, Belle Starr). And, more often than not, the physical beauty of even the most hard-core lawbreakers was mentioned in news stories about them. All in all, women criminals were frequently treated differently than their male counterparts.

The outlaws of the Wild West are a great example. Although women like Lillian Smith, Pearl Hart, and Etta Place were investigated for their crimes, they always seemed to get off because they were the girlfriend or wife of a notorious male criminaland were assumed to have innocent relations to their more dangerous partners.

The hardest thing to do while writing this book was to separate actual facts from marginally sexist accounts. Newspapers that reported the crimes of some of the women featured in this book often used their word counts to comment on the womans relationships and appearance instead of just the facts. While this is frustrating for many reasonswomen are far more than their looks or their partners, even when theyve committed a crimeit is important to remember as you learn about the following murderers, madams, bootleggers, pirates, and others who appear in this book.

I think we can all agree that moral judgments of certain criminal activity have changed, um, a lot since weve entered the twenty-first century. For instance, the idea of legalizing sex work is now seen as empowering to many people. During the Prohibition era (19201933), making and selling alcohol was illegal and could result in jail time. Today, there may be some states and counties that have strict rules regarding when or if you can purchase alcohol, but drinking is a widely accepted social activity. That being said, I dont think theres any world in which being a sadistic serial killer will ever be justified.

Some chapters in this book explore seemingly fantastical roles we mainly see in works of fiction: pirates, outlaws, bandits, gangsters. But its important to remember, as you read this, that the law looked a lot different then than it does now. This book is simply a transference of fact, and it is not my intention to make value judgments about the women featured here whose actions may not be considered illegal or immoral by todays standards. Im simply here to highlight the fascinating and often overlooked stories of these complicated women, who also happened to be lawbreakers.