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(1879_ Virginia City) The Disturbing Cold Case of the Saloon Sisters Who Vanished Without a Trace · The Mind of a Man

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to this journey through one of the most disturbing
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: cases recorded in the history of Virginia City, Nevada. Before
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: we begin, I invite you to leave in the comments
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: where you're watching from and the exact time at which
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: you're listening to this narration. We're interested in knowing which
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: places and what times of day or night these documented
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: accounts reach. In the autumn of 1879, Virginia City stood
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: as a testament to the silver boom that had transformed
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: the barren slopes of Mount Davidson into one of the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: wealthiest mining communities in the American West. The Comstock load
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: had drawn thousands to this harsh terrain, where fortunes were
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: made and lost with alarming regularity. But wealth and prosperity
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: often cast long shadows, and beneath the bustle of the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: saloons and the constant hammering from the mines, darker currents
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: moved through the town's narrow streets. The case began on
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: October 17, 1879, when patrons of the Silver Star Saloon
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: arrived for their evening drinks, only to find the establishment's
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: doors locked and windows darkened. This was unusual, as the
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Silver Star never closed before midnight, even on Sundays. The saloon,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: located on C Street just two buildings down from the
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: International Hotel, had been operated by Catherine and Elizabeth Blackwood
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: for nearly three years. The sisters, aged 29 and 27 respectively,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: had become fixtures in Virginia City's entertainment district, known for
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: their business acumen as much as their refined demeanor, unusual
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: for women in their profession at that time. According to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Sheriff James Kincaid's initial report, filed on October 18th, the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: sisters had last been seen the previous evening closing the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: saloon at its regular hour. Multiple witnesses confirmed seeing them
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: lock up and head toward their modest home on B Street,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: approximately half a mile uphill from the saloon. They never arrived.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: What made this disappearance particularly disturbing was not just the suddenness,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: but the complete absence of struggle or disturbance. The saloon
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: remained immaculately organized, the day's earnings still locked in the register.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: The sisters' home showed no signs of having been occupied
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: that night. Beds remained made, No breakfast dishes were present,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and a pot of coffee grounds sat unused beside the stove.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It was as if the Blackwood sisters had simply evaporated
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: between the saloon and their home, leaving everything in perfect
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: order behind them. The route between the saloon and the
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: sisters' home was well traveled and well lit with gas lamps.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Several buildings along the way housed night workers from the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: mines who claimed to have heard nothing unusual that night.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Virginia City never truly slept. with its three shifts of
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: miners coming and going at all hours. The silence surrounding
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the disappearance seemed impossible. Virginia City in 1879 warrants further
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: description to understand the context of the sisters' disappearance. Though
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: past its absolute peak, the city still boasted nearly 15,000
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: residents crowded onto the steep eastern slope of Mount Davidson.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Its streets followed the mountain's contours, with A Street at
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the highest elevation and the lettered streets descending in alphabetical order.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: The main commercial thoroughfare, C Street, stretched for nearly a mile,
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: lined with brick and wooden structures housing saloons, hotels, banks,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and mercantile establishments. At night the street blazed with gaslight,
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: while the mountainside above and below twinkled with lamps from
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: hundreds of residences. The social geography of Virginia City reflected
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: the mining industry's hierarchy. The higher elevations, A and B streets,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: housed the homes of mine owners, superintendents, and successful merchants.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: C Street mixed commercial and residential uses, while the lower
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: streets became progressively less affluent. At the bottom of the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: slope lay quarters for Chinese laborers and establishments catering to
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: miners of the lowest status. This vertical stratification mirrored the
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: power dynamics that governed the town, with wealth and influence
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: concentrated at the literal top of the social heap. The
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Blackwood sisters occupied an unusual position in this social landscape.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: As women business owners in the male-dominated saloon trade, they
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: stood outside the conventional hierarchies. Their establishment on C Street
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: catered to a mixed clientele, from mine supervisors to skilled laborers.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Their residence on B Street placed them physically in the
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: upper tier of Virginia City society, though their profession would
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: normally have excluded them from its social circles. This liminal status,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: respectable enough to own property in a good neighborhood yet
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: connected through their business to the town's rougher elements, gave
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: them access to information across social boundaries. Sheriff Kincaid initially
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: focused on interviewing the saloon's regular patrons. Timothy Walsh, a
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: foreman at the Savage Mine, reported having a drink with
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Catherine shortly before closing time. According to Walsh, she had
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: seemed preoccupied but not alarmed. She mentioned expecting an important
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: delivery the following day, but provided no details about its nature. Elizabeth, meanwhile,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: had been seen checking inventory in the back room, behavior
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: consistent with their end-of-day routine. Walsh's statement, preserved in the
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: county records... included an interesting detail that initially seemed insignificant.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: He recalled Catherine glancing frequently at the wall clock and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: comparing it to her pocket watch, as if concerned about
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the precise time. When he commented on this behavior, she
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: replied that timing matters more than most realize. Walsh assumed
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: she referred to the delivery she had mentioned, but in
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: light of later discoveries, the statement takes on a more
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: ominous meaning. The sisters' employee, Martha Hayes, provided additional context
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: when interviewed on October 19th. Hayes had worked as a
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: barmaid at the Silver Star for nearly 18 months and
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: claimed a close relationship with both sisters, particularly Elizabeth. According
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: to Hayes' sworn statement preserved in the Story County records,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the sisters had been acting strangely for approximately two weeks
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: before their disappearance. Miss Catherine took to keeping the account
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: books in the safe rather than on the shelf behind
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  Speaker 1: the bar, Hayes stated, and Miss Elizabeth started checking the
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  Speaker 1: locks twice, sometimes three times, before leaving. When I asked
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: if something was troubling them, Miss Elizabeth just said that
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: it paid to be careful in a town where fortunes
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: changed hands so quickly. Hayes also noted that the sisters
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: had received several visits from a well-dressed gentleman whom she
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: did not recognize as a regular patron. These meetings always
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: took place in the sisters' private office at the rear
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: of the saloon, with the door closed. On one occasion,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Hayes reported hearing raised voices, though she could not make
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: out specific words. When the man left, Catherine had appeared
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: flushed and agitated, while Elizabeth remained stone-faced. Martha Hayes herself
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: bears closer examination in this narrative. Twenty-six years old in 1879,
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: She had come to Virginia City from Sacramento two years earlier,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: following the death of her husband in a railway accident.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: With limited options for respectable employment as a young widow,
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: she had initially worked as a laundress before being hired
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  Speaker 1: by the Blackwood sisters. Contemporary descriptions portray her as plain
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: but pleasant in appearance, soft-spoken but observant. Sheriff Kincaid's notes
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: describe her as a reliable witness, neither prone to embellishment
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: nor unduly reticent. Hayes continued working at the Silver Star
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: under its new ownership until 1882, when she married a
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: clerk from the Wells Fargo office and moved to Carson City.
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Her later correspondence with a Virginia City acquaintance, found in
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: the Nevada Historical Society collection, includes occasional references to the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Blackwood case. In one letter, dated 1887, she wrote, I
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: still dream of them sometimes, walking up that hill in
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: the darkness. I wake convinced that if I had accompanied
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: them that night, as I sometimes did, whatever happened might
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: have been prevented, or I too might have vanished into
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the night. Sheriff Kincaid's investigation widened when miners reported finding
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: a woman's ivory hair comb near the entrance to the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Best and Belcher Mine one of the deepest in Virginia City.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Blackwood was known to wear such combs, often imported
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: from San Francisco. When shown the item, Martha Hayes positively
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: identified it as belonging to Elizabeth. The mine was not
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: on the direct route between the saloon and the sisters' home,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: raising questions about why Elizabeth might have been there. The
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: combs' discovery location merits detailed description. The main entrance to
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: the Best and Belcher mine consisted of a large head frame,
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: a wooden structure housing the elevator mechanism that lowered men
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: and equipment into the shaft, surrounded by various outbuildings containing offices,
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  Speaker 1: equipment storage, and changing facilities for the miners. The comb
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  Speaker 1: was found not at the main entrance used by most workers,
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  Speaker 1: but near a secondary access point approximately 50 yards east
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  Speaker 1: of the head frame. This entrance little more than a
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: door set into a stone retaining wall, led to a
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: series of maintenance tunnels that connected eventually to the main
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: shaft at the 200-foot level. According to mine records, this
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: entrance was generally locked and used primarily by surveyors and
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: maintenance crews rather than regular miners. Records from the mine
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: superintendent indicated that no women had been officially permitted to
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: enter the mine, but security was notoriously lax during shift changes.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: The mine itself was a labyrinth of tunnels extending nearly 1,500
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: feet into the earth, with dozens of lateral passages, some
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: abandoned and unstable. A search party was organized, but after
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: three days of exhaustive efforts yielded nothing, the mine was
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: deemed an unlikely location for the sisters. The best in Belcher,
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: mine merits special attention in this narrative. Established in 1860,
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  Speaker 1: it had produced over 38 million in silver and gold
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: by 1879, making it one of the most profitable operations
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  Speaker 1: on the Comstock load. The mine employed over 800 men
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: across three shifts and operated continuously day and night. Its
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: deepest levels reached temperatures exceeding 120 degrees Fahrenheit. requiring elaborate
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: ventilation systems and ice cooling. Men worked stripped to the
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: waist in these infernal conditions, emerging from their shifts drenched
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: in sweat and silver dust. The mine was also notorious
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: for its accidents. In 1874, a fire in the adjacent
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Yellow Jacket mine had spread to the Best and Belcher,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: killing 37 miners. The event was commemorated by a small
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: stone marker in the town cemetery where unidentified remains were
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: interred in a common grave. Less publicized were the numerous cave-ins,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: equipment failures, and falls that regularly claimed lives. The Virginia
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: City Territorial Enterprise reported mining fatalities with such regularity that
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: they rarely made the front page unless multiple men were
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: killed simultaneously. One aspect of the Best and Belcher operation
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: that received little public attention was its system of horizontal
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: connections to adjacent mines. These passages, ostensibly created for emergency evacuation,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: also allowed mining companies to conduct clandestine explorations beyond their
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: claim boundaries. Such activities, while technically illegal, were difficult to
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: detect and even harder to prove in court. The complex
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: geology of the Comstock load, with its fault lines and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: unpredictable veins, provided convenient cover for deliberate boundary violations. As
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: weeks passed, Theories about the sisters' disappearance multiplied. Some pointed
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: to Jacob Stern, a rival saloon owner who had reportedly
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: made offers to buy the Silver Star earlier that year.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Interviews with Stern revealed a tense business relationship, but no
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: evidence of foul play emerged. Others suggested a connection to
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Wesley Hammond, a wealthy mining investor who had been seen
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: in deep conversation with Catherine Blackwood several times in the
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: weeks before the disappearance. Stern's establishment, the Miners' Exchange, was
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: located three blocks east of the Silver Star on C Street.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: A German immigrant who had arrived during the early days
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: of the Comstock boom, Stern had built a successful business
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: catering primarily to the engineers and supervisors from the mines.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: His saloon featured private rooms for card games and business discussions,
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  Speaker 1: services the Silver Star didn't offer. According to several witnesses,
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Stern had approached Catherine Blackwood about purchasing her saloon to
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: expand his operations, but she had declined his offers, the
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: last coming approximately a month before the disappearance. When interviewed
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: by Sheriff Kincaid, Stern freely admitted his interest in acquiring
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the Silver Star, citing its prime location and established clientele.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: He claimed his most recent offer had been amicable, and
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: denied any lingering hostility when it was rejected. Stern provided
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: a solid alibi for the night of October 16th, with
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: multiple witnesses confirming his presence at a mining company dinner
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: that lasted until well after midnight. No evidence ever emerged
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: connecting him directly to the disappearance, though rumors persisted that
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: he had hired others to intimidate the sisters into selling.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Hammond's background deserves elaboration. Born in Boston to a shipping family,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: He had arrived in Virginia City in 1876 with substantial
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: capital and connections to eastern banking interests. Unlike many investors
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: who managed their Nevada holdings from San Francisco's comfort, Hammond
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: maintained a residence in Virginia City, a spacious home on
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: A Street with views overlooking the mining operations. He was
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: known for his meticulous record-keeping and hands-on approach to his investments,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: frequently descending into the mines to inspect operations personally, unusual
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: behavior for a man of his social standing. Physical descriptions
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: of Hammond noted his imposing height, over six feet, and
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a pronounced limp resulting from a childhood riding accident. Despite
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: this impediment, he regularly traversed Virginia City's steep streets and
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: even navigated the mines' narrow passages. Unmarried at forty-five, Hammond
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: maintained a small staff at his residence and was known
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: to entertain business associates privately rather than at the town's
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: restaurants or clubs. Hammond's household staff consisted of a cook,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: a housekeeper, and a manservant, who also served as his
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: driver and assistant. This last individual, Thomas Parker, became a
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: person of interest in Sheriff Kincaid's investigation. Parker, a taciturn Englishman,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: approximately 30 years old, had accompanied Hammond from Boston and
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: was known for his unwavering loyalty to his employer. According
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: to town gossip, Parker occasionally performed special errands for Hammond
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: that extended beyond normal household duties, though the nature of
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: these tasks remained speculative. When interviewed, Parker confirmed that Hammond
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: had met with Catherine Blackwood several times, but insisted these
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: meetings concerned potential investment in the saloon's expansion. He stated
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that Hammond had been at home the entire night of
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: October 16th, suffering from a migraine headache that frequently afflicted him.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: As the only witness to Hammond's whereabouts that evening, Parker's
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: testimony could not be independently verified, a fact Sheriff Kincaid
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: noted in his report. Hammond left Virginia City for San
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: Francisco three days after the sisters vanished. though Sheriff Kincaid
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: later confirmed this trip had been planned weeks in advance.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: When questioned upon his return in November, Hammond acknowledged a
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: business relationship with Catherine Blackwood, but characterized it as strictly professional.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: According to his statement, he had considered investing in an
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: expansion of the Silver Star, but ultimately declined. He claimed
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: to have last seen Catherine on October 12, five days
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: before the disappearance of and denied any knowledge of their whereabouts.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: By December 1879, the case had grown cold. The Silver
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: Star Saloon was sold at auction to pay outstanding debts,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: and new owners renamed it the Miner's Rest. The sisters'
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: home remained vacant, with rumors spreading that strange sounds could
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: be heard from within at night. Such tales were common
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: in Virginia City, where mining accidents had claimed hundreds of
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: lives over the years, leaving a community accustomed to loss,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: and superstition. The legal disposition of the Blackwood sisters' property
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: reveals interesting details about their business operations. The probate records,
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: activated after six months of unexplained absence as required by
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Nevada territorial law, listed assets, including the saloon building and business,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: valued at $ 4, 200, the residence on B Street, 188-100, and
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: personal effects, approximately $ 900. More interesting were the liabilities, which
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: included loans from three different banks totaling nearly $ 3, 000, all
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: taken out in the six months before their disappearance. The
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: purpose of these loans was not documented, but the timing
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: suggests the sisters had been planning something requiring substantial capital,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: perhaps the expansion mentioned in connection with Hammond, or preparations
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: for leaving Virginia City. The case might have faded entirely
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: from memory, had it not been for the discovery made
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: in April 1880 by surveyor William Prescott. While assessing an
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: abandoned lateral tunnel in the Yellow Jacket Mine, connected to
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: the Best and Belcher, through a series of emergency passages,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Prescott discovered a leather-bound journal wedged behind a support beam.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: The journal belonged to Catherine Blackwood. Prescott's account of the discovery,
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: preserved in a letter to his supervisor, described finding the
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: journal in an area that had been partially collapsed by
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: a minor earth tremor. The journal's placement suggested it had
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: been deliberately hidden rather than dropped accidentally. Its pages were
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: water-damaged but largely legible, written in a neat, educated hand.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: The entries stopped abruptly on October 16th, the day before
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the disappearance. The final pages contained cryptic references to the
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: arrangement and final payment, along with the initials W.H. Sheriff
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Kincaid immediately connected these to Wesley Hammond, though the precise
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: nature of the arrangement remained unclear. More disturbing was a
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: line that read, E-suspects must ensure silence. Earlier entries in
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: the journal painted a complex picture of the Blackwood sisters'
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: activities in Virginia City. Catherine wrote of information gathering at
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: the saloon, noting which miners spoke freely after a few drinks,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: which company men complained about management decisions, and which officials
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: could be persuaded to share confidential details. She recorded stock transactions,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: production figures, and rumors of new strikes, alongside assessments of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: their reliability. The journal revealed that Catherine had developed a
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: sophisticated intelligence network centered on the Silver Star. Bar patrons,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: delivery men, laundresses serving the mining camps, and even a
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: clerk from the assay office regularly passed information to her,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: sometimes unwittingly. She noted which informants required payment and which
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: could be manipulated through flattery or perceived friendship. Several entries
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: mentioned using Martha Hayes to extract information from young minors
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: who might be reticent around the older, more imposing Catherine.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: One recurring theme was Catherine's concern about her sister's wavering
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: commitment to their enterprise. An entry from September 1879 noted,'
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: He grows soft-hearted again' reminds me of Philadelphia incident. must
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: remind her what weakness cost us before. This cryptic reference
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: aligned with later investigations into the sisters' past activities in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: eastern cities. A particularly revealing entry dated October 3, 1879,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: described a meeting with Hammond, W.H., knows more than he
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: initially let on, claims to have recognized us from Baltimore,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: threatened exposure unless we provide access to our information network,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: countered with what we know about B & B operations
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: in Crown Point Territory. Stalemate for now, but he holds
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: the upper hand in this community. Must accelerate plans. Hammond
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: was located in San Francisco, but denied any knowledge of
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the journal or its contents. Without evidence of a crime,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: authorities could not detain him. He never returned to Virginia City,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: selling his mining interests through intermediaries over the following year.
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: The discovery of the journal reignited interest in the case,
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: particularly among the local press. The territorial enterprise ran a
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: series of articles examining the sisters' background, revealing details previously
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: unknown to most Virginia City residents. The Blackwood sisters were not,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: in fact, sisters at all. Records from Baltimore showed no
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Catherine or Elizabeth Blackwood born in the years they claimed.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: The women had appeared in Baltimore society around 1874, establishing
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: themselves as widows of Union officers, though no military records
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: confirmed these husbands' existences. The Baltimore phase of their career
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: demonstrated the women's facility for social manipulation. They had inserted
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: themselves into respectable society through strategic, charitable donations and carefully
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: cultivated relationships with prominent families. Their supposed status as war
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: widows provided both a sympathetic backstory and a reason for
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: their independence. They operated a small but exclusive boarding house
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: for young ladies of good family, building a reputation for
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: strict propriety and refined atmosphere. This facade crumbled when one
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: resident's valuable jewelry collection disappeared, along with the Blackwood sisters.
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: Though accusations were made, no charges were filed as the
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: young woman's family preferred to avoid scandals. By the time
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: authorities began a serious investigation, the women had vanished from
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Baltimore completely. Further investigation revealed that before Baltimore, women matching
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: their descriptions had operated a boarding house in Philadelphia under
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: the names Margaret and Anna Caldwell. That business had closed
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: abruptly following the mysterious death of a prominent guest, though
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: no charges were ever filed. The trail grew colder the
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: further back investigators looked with possible connections to similar establishments
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: in Boston and even London. The Philadelphia incident, referenced obliquely
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: in Catherine's journal, appeared to involve the death of Edward Hollingsworth,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: a banker found dead in his room at the Caldwell
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: boarding house in 1872. Originally ruled a heart attack, the
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: case was briefly reopened when a maid reported seeing Anna
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Caldwell leaving his room shortly before the body was discovered.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: The investigation stalled due to insufficient evidence and the disappearance
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: of key witnesses, including the maid. The Caldwell women sold
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: their establishment within a month of Hollingsworth's death and disappeared
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: from Philadelphia records. This revelation transformed the nature of the investigation.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: Were the Blackwood sisters confidence women who had finally encountered
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: someone who recognized their pattern? Or had they themselves been
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: victims of something more sinister connected to their past? The
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: question of their true identities remained unanswered. In November 1880,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: a freight handler at the Virginia and Truckee Railroad Station
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: came forward with information he had previously withheld. He claimed
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: to have seen two women resembling the Blackwood sisters boarding
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the midnight train to Reno on October 17, 1879. They
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: were accompanied by a man whose face he couldn't clearly see,
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: but who walked with a pronounced limp. The handler hadn't
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: reported this sighting initially, because he wasn't entirely certain of
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the women's identities in the dim light of the station,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: and because he'd been paid to load trunks onto the
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: train without recording them in the manifest, a common but
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: illegal practice. The handler, Thomas Greeley, provided additional details when
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: pressed by Sheriff Kincaid. The women had arrived separately at
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the station, the first appearing nearly an hour before the
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: train's departure. the second arriving just minutes before boarding. They
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: had not acknowledged each other in his presence. The man
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: with the limp had handled all communications with Greeley, paying
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: him five dollars in gold to assist with the luggage
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: and maintain discretion. The trunks themselves were unremarkable, except for
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: their weight, which Greeley described as unusually heavy for ladies' belongings.
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: Greeley's belated testimony raised several questions. If both sisters had
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: boarded the train, Why was Catherine's journal found in the mine?
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: If the man with the limp was Hammond, why did
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: he return to Virginia City rather than continuing with the women?
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: And perhaps most troubling, what accounted for the unusual weight
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: of the trunks? These questions pointed toward more sinister possibilities
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: than a simple disappearance. Sheriff Kincaid tracked the train to
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Reno and then to Sacramento, but the trail vanished there.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: If the women on the train were indeed the Blackwood sisters,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: they had successfully disappeared into the growing populations of California's cities.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: If they weren't, the question of what happened between the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: saloon and the sisters' home remained as puzzling as ever.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: The case took another turn in spring 1881 when portions
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: of an abandoned mine shaft collapsed during heavy rains, exposing
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: a previously sealed lateral tunnel in the Best and Belcher mine.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Mining engineer Thomas Reynolds, inspecting the collapse, discovered a woman's
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: boot with remains of a foot still inside. The leather
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: was decomposed but of high quality, with a distinctive French
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: heel that Martha Hayes identified as matching those worn by
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: Catherine Blackwood. The location of this grim discovery adds significant
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: context to the case. The tunnel where the boot was
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: found lay approximately 600 feet below the surface in a
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: section of the mine that, according to official maps... had
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: been abandoned due to low ore content in early 1879. However,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: the tunnel showed signs of more recent activity, fresh tool
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: marks on the walls, newer support timbers than would be
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: expected in a truly abandoned passage, and evidence of blasting
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: not recorded in any mine operations log. A subsequent search
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: of the newly exposed tunnel revealed scattered personal effects, a
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: tortoise shell hairbrush, remnants of a silk dress, and a
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: silver locket containing a miniature photograph of Elizabeth Blackwood. No
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: complete remains were found, leading to speculation that the sisters
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: had met with an accident in the mine, or perhaps
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: had been deliberately interred there. The tunnel showed signs of
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: having been intentionally sealed with boards and rocks, unusual for
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: a mining operation, which typically used more substantial barriers for
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: abandoned sections. Reynolds's official report, filed with both the mining
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: company and the sheriff's office, noted several disturbing details. The
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: tunnel where the items were found did not appear on
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: any official mine maps. Its construction was crude compared to
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: the main passages, suggesting it had been created hastily and
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: without proper engineering oversight. Most significantly, the tunnel appeared to
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: angle toward the adjacent Crown Point mine claim, crossing the
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: legal boundary between properties, a clear case of claim-jumping, punishable
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: by significant fines or imprisonment. The report also detailed evidence
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: of a cave-in approximately 30 feet beyond where the boot
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: was discovered. This collapse appeared to have been partially cleared
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: and then deliberately reinforced, rather than simply sealed off, as
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: was standard practice for unstable areas. Reynolds noted this as
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: highly irregular procedure, suggesting concealment rather than safety was the
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: primary concern. The discovery prompted Sheriff Kincaid to re-examine Wesley
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: Hammond's mining interests. Records showed that Hammond had acquired rights
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: to that particular section of the Best and Belcher Mine
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: just two weeks before the sisters' disappearance. More significantly, he
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: had sold those rights to the mine's management company one
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: week after the women vanished, at a considerable loss. When
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: questioned about this transaction, Hammond claimed it was part of
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: a larger portfolio restructuring and refused to elaborate further. Sheriff
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: Kincaid attempted to obtain a warrant to search Hammond's San
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Francisco residence based on this new evidence. but the request
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: was denied by the California authorities, who deemed the connection
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: too tenuous for such an invasive measure. Hammond, now firmly
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: established in San Francisco business circles and connected to several
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: influential California politicians, appeared beyond the reach of Virginia City's
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: law enforcement. By summer 1881, with Hammond beyond their jurisdiction
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: and no clear evidence of murder despite the suspicious circumstances,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: authorities in Virginia City officially classified the case as unsolved.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: The partial remains found in the mine were buried in
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: the cemetery with a simple marker reading, Catherine Blackwood, D. 1879.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: No grave was prepared for Elizabeth, as insufficient evidence existed
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: to confirm her death. The case might have ended there,
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: becoming merely another mystery in a town accustomed to the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: sudden disappearance of its transient population. However, In March 1882,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: a letter arrived at the office of the Territorial Enterprise
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: from a woman claiming to be Elizabeth Blackwood. The letter,
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: postmarked from New Orleans, contained details about the Silver Star
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: Saloon that only someone intimately familiar with the business would know.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: It stated that both sisters were alive and well, having
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: fled Virginia City to escape those who would do us
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: harm for what we witnessed. The letter referred obliquely to
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the incident in the lower tunnel, and claimed that powerful
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: men in Virginia City had conspired to silence the sisters
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: after they observed something they should not have seen. The
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: writer promised that a full account had been deposited with
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: a lawyer to be released upon her death. No name
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: or address was provided, and attempts to trace the letter's
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: origins in New Orleans proved fruitless. The text of this letter,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: preserved in the newspaper's archives, reveals a writer torn between
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: caution and a desire for vindication. I write not to
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: clear our names, the letter stated, for those names were
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: never truly ours to begin with. I write to ensure
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: that what happens beneath Virginia City's streets does not remain
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: buried forever, as they intended to bury us. The letter
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: went on to describe witnessing seven men sealed alive behind
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: new timbers in a section of the Best and Belcher
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Mine that had experienced a small cave-in. According to the writer,
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: these miners had discovered evidence of illegal tunneling into the
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: adjacent claim and had threatened to report the violation to authorities.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: Rather than risk exposure, mine management, allegedly with Hammond's knowledge
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: and approval, had ordered the section sealed, reporting the men
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: as having quit without notice. My sister and I used
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: our position to learn of this atrocity, the letter continued,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: We believed we could leverage this knowledge for a new
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: life elsewhere, away from the pattern we had established in
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: each city before. We did not understand the depths to
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: which these men would go to protect their interests, nor
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: how efficiently they could make people disappear in a town
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: built above a labyrinth of tunnels. The letter claimed that
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: both sisters had initially planned to flee together, but Catherine
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: had returned to the mine on the night of October
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: 16th to retrieve documentation hidden there. presumably including the journal
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: later found by Prescott. She never returned to their rendezvous
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: point at the train station. Elizabeth, fearing a similar fate,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: had boarded the train alone, carrying what evidence she could
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: gather in her trunk. I write now because I believe
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: sufficient time has passed for my safety, the letter concluded.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Catherine would want the truth known, though it comes too
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: late for justice in this world. The men who buried
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: her have prospered from their crimes, while she— lies forgotten
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: in darkness. I have made my peace with our past deceptions,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: but I cannot rest, while hers remains unacknowledged. Many dismiss
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the letter as a hoax, perhaps perpetrated by someone seeking
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: to capitalize on the notoriety of the case. Sheriff Kincaid, however,
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: noted that certain phrases and handwriting characteristics matched known samples
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: of Elizabeth Blackwood's correspondence. Unable to verify the letter's authenticity conclusively,
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: authorities filed it with the case records, where it added
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: yet another layer to the mystery. The case experienced a
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: brief revival in 1885, when a woman resembling Catherine Blackwood
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: was reported working as a music teacher in Sacramento. Investigation
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: revealed a superficial similarity, but confirmed she was not the
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: missing saloon owner. Similar sightings occurred sporadically over the next decade.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: none leading to the missing women. In 1890, Wesley Hammond
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: died in San Francisco after a lengthy illness. His will
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: contained no references to the Blackwood sisters or Virginia City.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: His personal papers, examined by the executor of his estate,
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: revealed extensive investments in mining operations throughout Nevada and California,
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: but nothing connecting him directly to the disappearance. The only
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: potentially relevant item was a small notebook containing coded entries
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: that the executor could not decipher. This notebook was eventually
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: acquired by the Nevada Historical Society in 1905, but remained undecoded.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: The San Francisco Chronicle's obituary for Hammond painted him as
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: a successful businessman who had contributed significantly to the development
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: of Nevada's mineral resources. No mention was made of the
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: controversies surrounding his Virginia City operations or his possible connection
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: to the Blackwood case. His funeral was attended by numerous
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: mining executives and financial figures from across the West Coast,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: a testament to his standing in business circles despite the
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: whispers that had followed him from Virginia City. Thomas Parker,
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: Hammond's loyal manservant, inherited a modest sum and a small
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: property in Marin County. He lived there in seclusion until
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: his death in 1913, never marrying or maintaining close relationships
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: with neighbors. According to local accounts, he refused to discuss
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: his years in Virginia City or his service to Hammond,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: changing the subject whenever the topics arose. Upon his death,
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: the property was found to contain a locked strongbox that
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: was never claimed by any heir and eventually was auctioned
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: for unpaid taxes. The contents of this box remain unknown.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: The final significant development in the case came in 1903,
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: when renovations to an abandoned building adjacent to the former
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: Silver Star Saloon, revealed a hidden cellar room not marked
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: on any city plans. Inside, workers discovered a collection of
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: documents sealed in a metal box. These included property deeds,
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: business licenses, and personal letters belonging to the Blackwood sisters.
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Most notably, they found a detailed ledger recording transactions with
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: various prominent citizens of Virginia City, including several officials from
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the largest mining companies. The ledger contained entries written in
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: a simple substitution cipher, which was quickly broken by a
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: former telegrapher working with the sheriff's office. The decoded entries
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: suggested that the Silver Star Saloon had served as more
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: than just a drinking establishment. The sisters appeared to have
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: been gathering information on mining operations, stock transactions, and personal indiscretions,
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: possibly for blackmail purposes. Several entries specifically mentioned the B
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: & B Lower Project and included substantial payments from W.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Hammond throughout 1879. The final entry, dated October 15th, noted,
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Witnessed removal operation at midnight. WH claims final payment will
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: be delivered tomorrow. Preparations complete for departure. The construction superintendent
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: who discovered the hidden room, James Wilson, provided a detailed
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: description in his statement to local authorities. The room measured
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: approximately eight feet by ten feet, with walls of fitted stone,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: rather than the rough masonry typical of Virginia City's cellars.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: It had no windows and only one entrance, a narrow
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: door concealed behind what appeared to be a solid wall
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: in the main cellar. The door's hinges had been carefully
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: designed to operate silently, and the locking mechanism could only
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: be operated from inside the room. The space contained a
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: small desk, a chair, and a cot, suggesting it had
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: been used for extended observation or hiding. The most intriguing
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: was a narrow shaft in one corner that descended at
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: an angle toward the street. Investigation revealed this shaft connected
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: to a small grate in the sidewalk outside the Silver
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: Star Saloon, positioned to allow someone in the hidden room
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: to hear conversations of patrons standing outside the establishment. Among
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: the documents found in the metal box was a partial
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: letter addressed to My Dearest M. and signed simply C.
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: The content suggested it was written by Catherine to someone
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: from her past, possibly a relative or lover, and contained
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: this revealing passage. Our enterprise here has proven more profitable
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: than anticipated, though not without risks. He believes we should
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: be content with what we have amassed and retire to
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: a quiet life elsewhere. Perhaps she is right. I find
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: myself weary of constant reinvention, of watching every word and
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: gesture that lest we betray ourselves. Yet the game itself
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: still holds a lure for me, the careful manipulation, the
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: gradual accumulation of others' secrets, the power that comes with
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: knowing what powerful men wish hidden. This discovery suggested a
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: new theory. The Blackwood sisters had been involved in corporate
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: espionage or blackmail related to the mines, possibly discovering illegal
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: activities in the lower levels of the Best and Belcher mines.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: They may have planned their own disappearance after receiving a
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: final payment, only for something to go wrong. The boot
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: and personal items found in the mine could indicate that
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: at least one sister met with foul play, while the
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: New Orleans letter suggested the other escaped. By 1910, all
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: principal figures connected to the case had died. The mines
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: that once made Virginia City prosperous were largely exhausted. and
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: the town's population had dwindled to less than a tenth
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: of its 1870s peak. The mystery of the Blackwood sisters
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: became part of local folklore, with embellished versions appearing in
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: tourist pamphlets as Virginia City reinvented itself as a historical destination.
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: In 1952, historian Margaret Collins examined the case while researching
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: women business owners of the Comstock era. Her work uncovered
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: birth records from Pittsburgh, showing that two sisters, Margaret and
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: Eleanor Patterson, born in 1850 and 1852, had physical descriptions
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: matching the Blackwood women. These sisters had disappeared from Pittsburgh
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: records around 1872, roughly when the Caldwell women appeared in Philadelphia.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Collins hypothesized that the Blackwood-Caldwell-Patterson women had created multiple identities
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: while moving westward, possibly fleeing from something in their past.
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: The Patterson family history provided intriguing context for the sisters'
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: later activities. Their father, Harold Patterson, had been a successful
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: attorney representing several coal mining companies. His death in 1868
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: had left his daughters in reduced circumstances, as much of
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: his estate went to pay debts that had accumulated during
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: his final illness. Both young women had received excellent educations,
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: unusual for the time, including instruction in accounting, literature, and music.
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: These skills would later serve them well in their various enterprises.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: Collins' research included interviews with elderly Virginia City residents who
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: still remembered the case. One such resident, Frank Miller, had
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: been a young miner in 1879. His recollections, though clouded
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: by time, included an interesting detail. After the sisters' disappearance,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: certain tunnels in the Best and Belcher Mine were declared
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: off-limits to regular workers, with access restricted to a select
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: group of supervisors and specialists. This unusual restriction had lasted
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: nearly six months, during which rumors circulated about unauthorized tunneling
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: operations being hastily filled in and reinforced. Another elderly resident,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Sarah Jenkins, had worked as a housekeeper for several mining
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: executives during that period. She recalled overhearing conversations about the
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: Blackwood situation being contained and the evidence secured. When she
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: inquired about these comments to her employer, she was sharply
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: reprimanded and threatened with dismissal. Within a week, she had
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: been reassigned to a different household with no explanation. Collins
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: also located Hammond's coded notebook, still in the Nevada Historical
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: Society's collection. Working with a cryptographer from the University of Nevada,
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: she determined it contained records of illegal mining activities, including
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: unauthorized tunnels constructed to access silver deposits belonging to competing claims.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Such claim-jumping was technically theft, but difficult to prove, and
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: not uncommon during the Comstock era. The notebook contained a
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: reference to silencing the B-women in October 1879, along with
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: a notation for a $ 5, 000 payment. The decoding of Hammond's
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: notebook represented a significant breakthrough in understanding the case. The cryptographer,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: Professor Alan Whitman, had initially believed the code unbreakable as
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: it employed both substitution and transposition elements. The key came
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: from examining Hammond's personal library, which had been donated to
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: the University of California in Among his books was a
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: well-worn copy of Poe's The Gold Bug, with certain passages underlined,
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: passages describing a substitution cipher remarkably similar to the one
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: Hammond had used. The decoded entries painted a disturbing picture
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: of systematic theft and corruption. Hammond had not merely invested
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: in legitimate mining operations. He had orchestrated a sophisticated network
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: of illegal tunneling operations designed to access... rich veins of
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: ore that lay beyond the legal boundaries of his claims.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: These operations required the cooperation of surveyors, engineers, and mine supervisors,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: all of whom received payments recorded meticulously in the notebook.
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: The entry regarding the B-Women appeared on October 17, 1879,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: the day of the disappearance. It read in full, Payment
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: to T.P. for silencing the B-Women, 5,000 gold. essential expense
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: given their knowledge of Crown Point Operation secondary removal completed.
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: The initials TP likely referred to Thomas Parker, Hammond's manservant,
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: suggesting he played a more direct role in the disappearance
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: than previously suspected. The most compelling theory to emerge from
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: Collins' research was that the Blackwood sisters had discovered Hammond's
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: illegal mining operation, possibly while gathering information for their blackmail activities.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: They may have attempted to extort him, not realizing the
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: extent of his operations or his connections to other powerful
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: figures in Virginia City. Hammond might have arranged their disappearance,
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: with one sister killed in the mine while the other escaped,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: or was permitted to flee in exchange for her silence.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: Collins published her findings in a small academic journal in 1954,
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: but her work attracted little attention outside scholarly circles. The
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: case was too old, the evidence too circumstantial, and public
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: interest in Virginia City's history focused more on its colorful
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: characters than its darker mysteries. In 1968, during structural reinforcement
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: of the few remaining original buildings on C Street, workers
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: discovered a sealed wall cavity containing a woman's leather traveling case.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: Inside was a journal with the name Elizabeth Blackwood inscribed
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: on the first page. The journal contained entries dated from
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: November 1879 through February 1880, written while the author was
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: traveling through California to New Orleans. The construction foreman, Robert Daniels,
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: described finding the traveling case wedged into a narrow space
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: between two walls that had been added during different construction periods.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: The space appeared to have been deliberately created as a
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: hiding place rather than resulting from architectural oversight. The leather
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: case had been wrapped in oilcloth, preserving its contents from
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: moisture damage despite nearly 90 years in the wall. The
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: journal described how Elizabeth had fled Virginia City after witnessing
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: her sister Catherine's murder in a tunnel beneath the Best
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: and Belcher Mine. According to her account, Catherine had discovered
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: that Hammond and his associates were not only stealing silver
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: from adjacent claims, but had also concealed a cave-in that
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: killed several miners. An incident never reported to authorities. When
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: confronted with this knowledge, Hammond had arranged to meet the
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: sisters in the mine under the pretense of paying them
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: for their silence. The account of Catherine's murder was particularly chilling.
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth wrote that she had accompanied her sister to the
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: meeting point, a rarely used maintenance tunnel, accessible through the
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: secondary entrance where the comb was later found. Hammond had
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: arrived with Thomas Parker and two minors Elizabeth didn't recognize.
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: The discussion had initially been civil, with Hammond acknowledging their
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: accusations and offering a substantial payment for their silence and
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: departure from Virginia City. According to Elizabeth's journal, the situation
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: deteriorated when Catherine revealed she had already hidden documentation of
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: the illegal operations in locations known only to her. She
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: demanded a larger payment than previously agreed upon, threatening to
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: send the evidence to mining commission officials and newspapers in
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: San Francisco if anything happened to either sister. Hammond appeared
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: to acquiesce, but as they were preparing to leave, he
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: signaled to Parker, who struck Catherine from behind with a
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: mining shovel. Elizabeth wrote that she had fled up the
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: tunnel during the ensuing confusion, eventually finding her way to
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: the surface through a ventilation shaft. Terrified and believing her
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: sister dead or soon to be, she had gone directly
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: to their prearranged contingency location, a storage room behind a
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: sympathetic shopkeeper's establishment. There she had collected emergency funds and
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: identification documents before making her way to the train station,
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: where she bribed the freight handler to help her leave undetected.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth wrote that she had escaped during the confrontation and
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: made her way to the train station, where she bribed
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: a freight handler to help her leave town unnoticed. She
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: had then assumed yet another identity, moving frequently for fear
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: of Hammond's associates finding her. The journal ended with her
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: statement of intent to create documentation of everything she knew
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: to be released upon her death. One particularly disturbing entry
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: dated November 30, 1879, described Elizabeth's lingering trauma. I still
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: hear the sound of that shovel striking Catherine. I still
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: see her crumple to the ground as Hammond stood over her,
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: his face as emotionless as if he were inspecting a
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: faulty support beam. The other men, men whose names appear
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: in the ledger, men who sit on company boards and
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: in judges' chambers, they simply watched, then nodded when Hammond
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: ordered the tunnel sealed. They left her there in the dark,
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: like so many others before her. Another entry suggested that
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth believed she was being followed even after reaching New Orleans.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: Today I saw a man watching the house from across
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: the street. He stood there for hours, leaning on a cane,
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: his hat pulled low. When I sent the housekeeper to
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: inquire about his business, he was gone before she reached
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: the corner. I am changing lodgings again tomorrow. The documentation
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: is now with J.L., to be held until my natural death,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: or until news reaches him of my unnatural one. The
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: journal included reflections on the sisters' life of deception and reinvention.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth expressed both pride in their ability to survive and
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: profit in a male-dominated world, and regret for the methods
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: they had employed. We became what circumstances required, she wrote,
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: first for survival, then for advancement, finally for the intoxication
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: of power itself. Each new identity allowed us to shed
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: the constraints of the last, yet the pattern remained the
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: same— gaining trust, extracting secrets, leveraging advantage. Perhaps this is why
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: Catherine could not simply take the payment and leave. The
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: game had become too essential to her nature. The journal
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: was examined by handwriting experts who confirmed similarities to known
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: samples of Elizabeth Blackwood's writing, though they could not definitively
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: authenticate it. The Nevada State Archives accepted the journal into
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: its collection, where it remains today, cataloged as Purported Journal
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: of Elizabeth Blackwood, Provenance Unconfirmed. Following the journal's discovery, renewed
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: interest in the case prompted an examination of death records
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: in New Orleans from the 1880s through early 1900s. Researchers
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: identified 17 women who matched Elizabeth's general description and age range.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: dying from various causes including yellow fever, tuberculosis, and heart failure.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: Without photographs or detailed physical descriptions, it proved impossible to
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: determine if any of these women might have been Elizabeth Blackwood,
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: living under an assumed name. Similarly, efforts to identify J.L.,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: presumably the lawyer mentioned in Elizabeth's letter to the Territorial Enterprise,
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: yielded no definitive results. New Orleans City directories from the
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: period listed eight lawyers with those initials, none with any
• 54:09
  Speaker 1: documented connection to Virginia City or the mining industry. In 1975,
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: historical archaeologist Dr. Victor Martinez conducted limited excavations at the
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: site of the former Beston Belcher Mine as part of
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: a broader study of Comstock mining practices. While much of
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: the underground complex had collapsed or flooded over the years,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: certain sections remained accessible. In one such area, corresponding roughly
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: to the location described in Reynolds' 1881 report, Martinez discovered
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: evidence supporting Elizabeth Blackwood's account. Behind a collapsed section of
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: tunnel wall, Martinez found the remains of what appeared to
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: be a hastily constructed barrier made of timber and loose rock,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: unusual construction for a mine, where safety barriers were typically
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: built more substantially. Beyond this barrier lay a small chamber
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: containing mining tools and, most significantly, human remains. The skeletal
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: remains of seven individuals were identified, all male based on
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: forensic analysis, positioned in a way suggesting they had been
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: trapped by a collapse or deliberately sealed in. No official
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: records existed of such a deadly accident at the Best
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: and Belcher Mine during the relevant period. Martinez's discovery lent
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: credibility to Elizabeth's claim about miners being entombed to silence
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: them after discovering illegal tunneling operations. The subsequent investigation also
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: uncovered trace evidence of female presence in the tunnels, a
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: pearl button of a type used on women's garments of
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: the period, and a hairpin similar to those favored by
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: fashionable women in the late 1870s. Martinez's findings were published
• 55:56
  Speaker 1: in both archaeological journals and the popular press, bringing the
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: Blackwood case to public attention once more. His work suggested
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: that the sisters had indeed stumbled upon evidence of not
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: just claim jumping, but potential murder in the mines, information
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: that would have been worth killing to suppress, given the
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: prominence of those involved. No further evidence has emerged to
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: conclusively solve the case of the Blackwood sisters. Like many
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: mysteries from the mining boom era, the truth likely lies
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: buried in collapsed tunnels or lost among the thousands of
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: people who passed through Virginia City during its heyday, taking
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: their secrets with them. What remains is a story that
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: typifies the dark undercurrents of the seemingly prosperous mining town.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Two women who created new identities for themselves, established a
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: successful business in a male-dominated environment and then vanished into
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: the night, either victims of their own schemes or of
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: the powerful interests that controlled Virginia City beneath its chaotic surface.
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: The Silver Star Saloon's location is now occupied by a
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: tourist shop selling reproductions of mining artifacts. Few visitors realize
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: they stand on the site where the Blackwood sisters once
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: served drinks to miners fresh from the tunnels below. Fewer
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: still know about the hidden room where the sisters recorded
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: the secrets of Virginia City's most influential citizens, or about
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: the sealed mine passage where a woman's boot was found
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: alongside the remnants of a life cut short. Tour guides
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: in today's Virginia City occasionally mention the Blackwood case as
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: part of their ghost stories repertoire, though the version they
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: tell bears little resemblance to the documented facts. In these
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: tourist-friendly narratives, the sisters are portrayed as innocent victims or
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: lovelorn women, their complex history of reinvention and possible blackmail
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: activities conveniently omitted. The real Catherine and Elizabeth, or whatever
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: their true names might have been, were neither purely victims
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: nor villains, but women navigating a dangerous world with the
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: tools available to them. A photograph preserved in the Nevada
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: Historical Society shows the Silver Star Saloon, circa 1878. It
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: depicts a two-story wooden structure with a false front, typical
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: of western boomtown architecture. Standing in the doorway are two
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: women in dark dresses with high collars, their faces partially
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: shadowed by the overhang. They stand straight-backed and unsmiling. gazing
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: directly at the camera with an intensity that seems to
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: transcend the century and a half separating us from them.
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: These are the only confirmed images of the Blackwood sisters,
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: women who understood the power of information in a town
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: built on secrets. In 1982, film historian Rebecca Winters uncovered
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: a connection between the Blackwood case and early cinema while
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: researching the origins of Western narratives in film. A 1915
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: silent film titled Sisters of Fortune featured a plot remarkably
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: similar to the Blackwood disappearance, though set in a fictional
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: Colorado mining town. The screenplay was attributed to Eleanor Wilson,
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: about whom little was known, except that she had lived
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: in New Orleans before moving to California around 1910. Winters
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: theorized that Wilson might have been Elizabeth Blackwood herself, using
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: yet another alias to tell a version of her story
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: through the new medium of film. The film itself has
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: been lost, with only production stills and a synopsis in
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: a trade publication surviving. The story centered on two women
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: operating a saloon who discover evidence of murder and theft
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: in the local mine. One sister is killed, while the
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: other escapes to build a new life elsewhere, carrying the
• 59:57
  Speaker 1: burden of her knowledge. While such parallel themes could be coincidental,
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: several specific details, including a hidden room beneath the saloon
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: and a distinctive ivory hair comb as a plot device,
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: suggest direct knowledge of the Virginia City case beyond what
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: was publicly known at the time. Today, Virginia City stands
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: as a carefully preserved monument to America's mining past. Its
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: wooden sidewalks and restored saloons drawing tourists who want to
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: experience a sanitized version of the Wild West. The true
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: stories of claim-jumping, of corporate sabotage, of women who reinvented
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: themselves repeatedly in search of security or profit remain largely untold.
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: The Blackwood sisters, whatever their true names might have been,
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: represent those who navigated this dangerous world and sometimes disappeared
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: within it. leaving behind only fragments for future generations to
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: piece together. As for Elizabeth Blackwood, if the journal is
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: to be believed, she lived out her days in New
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: Orleans under yet another name, always looking over her shoulder,
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: always listening for footsteps that matched the distinctive limp of
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: Wesley Hammond. Whether she ever felt safe enough to release
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 1: her full account of what happened in Virginia City remains unknown.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: the lawyer mentioned in her letter to the territorial enterprise,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: was never identified, and no such documentation has ever surfaced.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: Perhaps somewhere in a forgotten archive or an attic in
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 1: New Orleans, the final confession of Elizabeth Blackwood still waits
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: to be discovered. Or perhaps, like so many truths from
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: that era, it has disintegrated with time, leaving us with
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: only speculation about what really happened to the sisters who
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: vanished from Virginia City on that October night in 1879.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: In 1998, during renovation of one of New Orleans' historic
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: Garden District homes, workers discovered a sealed metal box in
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: the wall cavity behind a fireplace. The box contained various documents,
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 1: including a leather-bound manuscript titled The Virginia City Account and
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: assigned with the initials E.B. Before historians could properly examine
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: these materials, The box and its contents disappeared from the
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 1: construction site. The homeowner reported the theft to local police,
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: but no suspects were ever identified. Rumors persist in historical
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: research circles that the manuscript contained Elizabeth Blackwood's complete testimony
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: about the events in Virginia City, potentially implicating descendants of
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: prominent Nevada families who continue to wield influence in the
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: state's business and political spheres. The Garden District home where
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: this discovery was made had been built in 1885 and
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: purchased in 1887 by a widow named Eleanor Beaumont, who
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: lived there until her death in 1922. City records showed
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: that Beaumont had arrived in New Orleans from California and
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: established herself as a music teacher to young women from
• 1:03:09
  Speaker 1: respectable families. She was described in contemporary accounts as cultured, private,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: and somewhat reclusive in her later years. While no definitive
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: connection has been established between Eleanor Beaumont and Elizabeth Blackwood,
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: the timing of her arrival in New Orleans and her
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: background align with what is known of Elizabeth's movements after
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: leaving Virginia City. Whether such rumors have any basis in
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: fact remains impossible to determine. Like so much surrounding the
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: Blackwood case, the story of the New Orleans manuscript walks
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: the line between documented history and urban legend, between fact
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: and the human tendency to create narrative where only fragments exist.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: The residents of Virginia City today occasionally report seeing two
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 1: women in period dress walking up B Street in the
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: early evening hours, always turning toward the mines, before reaching
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: their destination. Such stories are good for tourism and dismissed
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: by most as the typical ghost tales that cling to
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: historic towns across America. But for those who have studied
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 1: the case of the Blackwood sisters, these sightings raise uncomfortable
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 1: questions about unfinished business and justice long delayed. The cold
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: case of the Saloon sisters remains officially unsolved, one of
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: many mysteries buried beneath the weathered buildings of what was
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: once the richest city in America. Whatever happened between the
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: Saloon and the sisters' home or in the tunnels beneath
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: Virginia City has been carried into silence by time, and
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: by those who had reasons to ensure the truth never emerged.
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: In Virginia City, as in many boom towns of the
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: American West, some stories were never meant to be told
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: in full. And as you walk the wooden sidewalks of
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: C Street today, passing the former location of the Silver
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: Star Saloon, you might notice how the boards still creak underfoot,
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 1: as if whispering fragments of conversations long forgotten. Listen carefully,
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: and perhaps you'll hear what the Blackwood sisters heard, the
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: secrets that made them valuable, the secrets that made them dangerous,
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: the secrets that ultimately made them disappear.