Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Fanny Porter For Western Wednesday...!

In keeping with the topic of notable women of the old west, today we learn about Miss Fannie Porter.

She certainly wasn't like Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke, but still she was quite the character!

Fannie Porter


Painting by William Hogarth

Easily one of the most successful businesswomen of all time, you could say Fannie Porter was a natural entrepreneur. By the age of 20, the young widow was running her own luxury bordello in San Antonio, Texas, and catering to the likes of the Wild Bunch as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. For a while, the country’s most famous outlaws visited Fannie’s establishment, hiding from the law and falling in love with her girls. Although she was well-known for her personal ties with outlaws, Fannie did regularly interact with the right side of the law and was even paid a visit by the infamous detective and lawman William Pinkerton.

When brothels could no longer openly operate in Texas, Fannie sold her house and disappeared. No one knows what happened to her, but one thing is for sure: She left the prostitution business a wealthy woman.

Thanks to people like Fannie Porter, the west was a much more interesting place! Thanks to the folks over at Listverse, we all can share the knowledge of these people of interest.

Coffee out on the patio this morning. Anyone want some sliced peaches?

7 comments:

Mamahen said...

A quite colourful woman it would seem...the patio n sliced peaches both sound great this morning :))

linda m said...

She sure knew what business to tart up to make herself some money. Smart business woman I say. Sitting on the patio eating sliced peaches sounds wonderful. See ya'll shortly.

Chickenmom said...

You did it again, Mr. Hermit:
http://www.texasescapes.com/MaggieVanOstrand/Fannie-Porter-of-San-Antonio.htm
Fresh peaches & good friends sounds wonderful!

HermitJim said...

Hey Mamahen...
That would just about cover it, I reckon!

Thanks for dropping by today!



Hey Linda M...
I'd say she was very good at filling a needed niche. Made the right friends as well...or so it would seem!

Thanks for coming by!



Hey Phyllis...
Made you look up another one, huh? Seems like I do that a lot!

Many thanks for stopping by today!

JO said...

Good story this morning I'll have to look it up. Wander why she wasn't mentioned in any of the books I have.

Patio sounds good for sitting with friends.

HermitJim said...

Hey Jo...
I don't know why she isn't mentioned any more, except no one seems to know what happened to her when she left Texas!

Glad you could come by today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

The oldest profession in the world and I have been told it still goes on today. Where there is an itch there will always be someone to take advantage of the situation and scratch it.