Al Swearengen
| Al Swearengen | |
|---|---|
The Gem Theater circa 1878. The man in the buggy at left is thought to be Swearengen.
|
|
| Born |
Ellis Albert Swearengen July 8, 1845 Oskaloosa, Iowa Territory, United States |
| Died | November 15, 1904 (aged 59) Denver, Colorado, United States |
| Occupation | Pimp, early entertainment entrepreneur in Deadwood, South Dakota |
| Spouse(s) | Nettie Swearengen (divorced) Two other marriages also ended in divorce |
Ellis Albert "Al" Swearengen (July 8, 1845 – November 15, 1904) was an American pimp and entertainment entrepreneur who ran the Gem Theater, a notorious brothel, in Deadwood, South Dakota for 22 years during the late 19th century.
Swearengen and his twin brother, Lemuel, were the eldest two of eight children of Daniel Swearengen and Keziah (often called Katie) Swearengen of Oskaloosa, Iowa. Swearengen remained at home well into his adult years, only arriving in Deadwood in May 1876 with his wife, Nettie Swearengen. Nettie would later divorce him on the grounds of spousal abuse. Swearengen married two more times, with both subsequent marriages also ending in divorce.
Swearengen originally owned and operated a canvas-and-lumber saloon in Deadwood known as the Cricket, which featured gambling and hosted prizefights. Shortly after, he closed it down and opened a larger saloon known as the Gem Theater.
The Gem functioned as a saloon, dance hall and brothel. Swearengen lured desperate young women to Deadwood, then forced them into prostitution through a combination of bullying and physical brutality committed by himself and his henchmen.Calamity Jane, who was one of his first dancers at the Gem, procured 10 girls from Sidney, Nebraska for him on one occasion.
The results were highly lucrative: the Gem earned an average of $5,000, and sometimes as much as $10,000, in a single night (equivalent to $225,000 in 2016). The Gem burned down on September 26, 1879, along with much of the town, but Swearengen rebuilt it larger and more opulent than ever, to great public acclaim.
Swearengen's talent for making canny alliances and financial payoffs kept him insulated from the general drive to clean up Deadwood, including the otherwise successful work of Seth Bullock, the town's first sheriff, until the Gem burned down once again in 1899. Swearengen left Deadwood and remarried the same year to Odelia Turgeon.
It is often reported that Swearengen died penniless while trying to hop a freight train, but recent research suggests he may have been murdered. According to his rediscovered obituary and contemporaneous newspaper accounts, Swearengen was found dead in the middle of a suburban Denver street on November 15, 1904, apparently of a massive head wound. Less than two months earlier, his twin brother Lemuel had been shot by unknown assailants, though suspiciously not robbed, and was perhaps mistaken for Al.
...
Wikipedia