Julia meatball

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The only known photo of Julia Bulette, on the left a fire helmet (taken after 1861)

Julia C. Bulette (* 1832 in London , England , † January 20, 1867 in Virginia City , Nevada ) was an American prostitute in Virginia City. Murdered in 1867, the meatball was a popular figure in Virginia City, whose eventful life was immortalized several times in novels, plays, and films.

Life

Most sources say the meatball was born in London in 1832, possibly also in Liverpool or Mississippi .

The family, which had French ancestors, soon emigrated to New Orleans , where Bulette married a man named Smith at a young age and soon separated from him. She moved to California in about 1852 and arrived in the gold rush town of Virginia City, Nevada, in 1859.

Virginia City was due to the discovery of the Comstock Lode silver vein for Boomtown become. Julia has been described as the female attraction in a mostly male-dominated city. Meatballs worked mainly because of their ladylike demeanor, less because of their striking beauty. As the only white prostitute at times, she could earn up to $ 1,000 a night.

Posthumously became their relatively small house in a neo-Rococo decorated nightclub called Julia's Palace rewritten. Writer and historian Dee Brown claimed it was the most important building of its kind in Virginia City, with barmaids dressed in contemporary French fashion, expensive furnishings, and exquisite cuisine. In contrast, meatballs were probably more of a classic “crib girl”, that is, she was self-employed and had a small house or hut in which she lived and received her customers.

Among other things, Bulette was credited with converting the building into an improvised hospital during a wave of illness. When the Indian attacks threatened, she held out in the city. She took part in collecting campaigns for the Union during the Civil War . The city fire brigade actively supported them in their operations, operated the brakes on the sprayer and made donations in kind and money. She found a certain recognition in Virginia City. Her most significant triumph was the honorary membership in the Virginia Engine Number 1 city ​​fire department , which she was awarded in public at the Independence Day parade on July 4, 1861.

assassination

On January 20, 1867, a servant found Julia Bulette murdered. The previous evening, a Saturday, she was supposed to take a seat for prostitutes at a performance in Piper's Opera House , which she refused. As a result, she was expelled from the theater. She had returned home and had another late supper. She was probably knocked down with a blunt object and then strangled or strangled . Among other things, their jewels and furs had been stolen.

Bulette's funeral took place the following day, with factories and saloons closed for one day in her honor, the first time since the murder of Abraham Lincoln . Hundreds of people lined the path of the funeral procession with 16 carriages, which, starting from the fire station, was led by 60 firefighters led by the municipal brass band. There were also protests from citizens. The meatball was buried according to the Catholic rite, but not in "consecrated earth". She was buried in the vicinity of Flowery Hill Cemetery in Virginia City.

Her killer, French jewel thief John Millain, was caught about a year later. He had threatened another prostitute who recognized an item of clothing that Millain wanted to sell as originally proper meatball. House searches revealed other items in Bulette's possession. Millain was sentenced to death and, after an unsuccessful appeal , hanged on April 24, 1868 . Mark Twain was among the witnesses to the execution .

Aftermath

This photo in the Bucket of Blood Saloon has long been considered a portrayal of Julia Bulette, but it likely shows Juliet's maid

There is only one authentic portrait of Julia Bulette. The picture shows her as an upright bourgeois matron and in no way indicates her work in the red light district. Noticeable is the Engine Number 1 fire helmet to the left of her, which emblematically shows her connection to the fire department.

Rumors persist that a picture hanging in the Bucket of Blood Saloon in Virginia City is said to depict Julia Bulette. However, it is now attributed to her maid, also called Julia. It shows a dark-skinned young woman in simple clothes, without make-up and with simple jewelry; she is not dressed like other contemporary wealthy women, nor does she resemble the person in the other picture authenticated as Julia. Another painting by a young woman that looks somewhat more like Julia Bulette is by Ben Christy.

Susan James claims that Bulette was poor, sick and in debt at the time of her death. The portrayal as the grand dame of the red light district only happened posthumously. Part of the "fabulous" aspects may have been attributed to Bulette due to the sensational circumstances of death.

Julia Bulette has been immortalized several times in novels and films. Rex Beach , a writer of trivial novels , designed the character Cherry Malotte in his 1905 most successful novel The Spoilers based on Bulette.

The Spoilers was brought to the stage as a play and filmed several times, including in 1942 under the title The Buccaneer , in which Marlene Dietrich turned John Wayne and Randolph Scott 's heads as Cherry Malotte . In the episode of the television series Bonanza broadcast on October 17, 1959 called The Julia Bulette Story (German A romance for Little Joe ), Little Joe falls in love, much to his father's annoyance , with Julia played by Jane Greer .

One of the E Clampus Vitus chapters in Nevada is named after her. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad named a splendid railroad car after her. The naming of some mines on Comstock Lode in the name of Julia after 1860 probably goes back to the prominent name bearer.

In Virginia City, under the name Julia C. Bullette Red Light Museum , you can visit a private collection of contemporary erotica, medical devices and contraceptives.

literature

  • Douglas McDonald: The Legend of Julia Bulette and the Red Light Ladies of Nevada. Stanley Paher - Nevada Publications, Las Vegas 1983, ISBN 0-913-81455-5 .
  • Marion S. Goldman: Gold Diggers and Silver Miners. Prostitution and Social Life on the Comstock Lode. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 2003, ISBN 0-472-06332-4 .
  • Anne M. Butler: Daughters of Joy, Sisters of Misery. Prostitutes in the American West 1865-90. University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago 1987, ISBN 0-252-01466-9 .
  • Vardis Fisher, Opal Laurel Holmes: Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the American West. Caxton Press, Caldwell 1979, ISBN 0-87004-043-X .
  • Dee Alexander Brown : The gentle tamers. Women of the old Wild West. Bantam Books, New York 1976, ISBN 0-553-10316-4 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vardis Fisher and Opal Laurel Holmes: Gold Rushes and Mining Camps of the American West. P. 211.
  2. ↑ Dee Alexander Brown: The Gentle Tamers. Women of the Old Wild West. P. 65.
  3. ↑ a b c Find a Grave: Julia C. Bulette.
  4. ↑ Michael Rutter: Upstairs girls. Prostitution in the American West. Farcountry Press, Helena 2005, ISBN 1-56037-357-1 , pp. 111-119.
  5. ^ Robert Wallace: The Frontier's Fabulous Women. In: Life Magazine. Volume 46, No. 19 of May 11, 1959, ISSN  0024-3019 , pp. 66-86.
  6. ↑ Brown, p. 64.
  7. ↑ a b Fisher; Holmes, pp. 209 f.
  8. ↑ Brown, p. 68.
  9. ^ A b Helen S. Carlson: Nevada Place Names. A Geographical Dictionary. University of Nevada Press, Reno 2005, ISBN 0-87417-094-X , p. 147.
  10. ^ Reports of decisions of the Supreme Court of the state of Nevada. Vol. 3, Nevada, Supreme Court, AL Bancroft 1868.
  11. ↑ 1868: John Millian, who martyred a madam. ExecutedToday.com of April 24, 2008.
  12. ↑ Tom Kuntz: Word for Word / Mark Twain. To Itinerant Humorist In the Hangman's Yard. In: The New York Times, October 3, 1999.
  13. ↑ Susan James: Queen of Tarts. In: The Historical Nevada Magazine. Outstanding historical features from the pages of Nevada Magazine. Nevada Magazine, Carson City 1998, ISBN 1-890136-06-9 , pp. 47-53.
  14. ^ Ronald Michael James and C. Elizabeth Raymond: Comstock women. The making of a mining community. University of Nevada Press, 2003, ISBN 0-87417-297-7 .
  15. ↑ Bonanza: "The Julia Bulette Story" in the Internet Movie Database (English).
  16. ↑ Julia C. Bulette Chapter 1864 E-Clampus-Vitus-Chapter in some Nevada counties.
  17. ↑ Julia C. Bullette Red Light Museum at Museum United States.
personal data
SURNAME Meatball, Julia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bulette, Julia C .; Meatball, Juliet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American prostitute and pioneer
DATE OF BIRTH 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 20, 1867
Place of death Virginia City