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(1876_ Deadwood) The Macabre Saloon of the Wild West_ Sisters Who Served More Than Meat to Outlaws · The Mind of a Man

0:00
Speaker 1: Welcome to this journey through one of the most disturbing
0:03
Speaker 1: cases recorded in the history of Deadwood, Dakota Territory. 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 you're listening
0:14
Speaker 1: to this narration. We're interested in knowing which places and
0:18
Speaker 1: at what times of day or night these documented accounts reach.
0:22
Speaker 1: In the late summer of 1876, as gold fever gripped
0:26
Speaker 1: the Black Hills and lawlessness defined the newly established mining
0:30
Speaker 1: camp of Deadwood, a curious structure appeared at the edge
0:33
Speaker 1: of town where the winding road from Cheyenne first enters
0:38
Speaker 1: the Gulch. The Wellington Sisters Boarding House and Saloon stood
0:42
Speaker 1: apart from the other establishments that lined the muddy thoroughfare
0:46
Speaker 1: now known as Main Street. Unlike the notorious Gem Theater,
0:51
Speaker 1: owned by Al Swearingen, or the more respectable Grand Central Hotel,
0:56
Speaker 1: the Wellington establishment occupied a curious position, both geographically and
1:01
Speaker 1: in the social hierarchy of the booming settlement. According to
1:05
Speaker 1: records from the Deadwood Historical Society, archived in 1962, the
1:10
Speaker 1: saloon sat approximately a quarter mile from the center of
1:13
Speaker 1: the camp, just beyond where the cemetery would later be established.
1:17
Speaker 1: This position, situated between the land of the living and
1:20
Speaker 1: the dead, would later seem darkly appropriate. The structure itself
1:25
Speaker 1: was unusual for Deadwood at that time. While most buildings
1:29
Speaker 1: were hastily constructed of raw timber, the Wellington Saloon was
1:33
Speaker 1: a two-story clappered structure with a stone foundation and a
1:37
Speaker 1: full basement, a rarity in the hastily built mining town.
1:41
Speaker 1: County assessment records from 1877 note that the property was
1:45
Speaker 1: valued significantly higher than neighboring structures despite its peripheral location.
1:51
Speaker 1: The basement in particular would later become the focus of
1:54
Speaker 1: intense speculation. According to building records recovered during a courthouse
1:59
Speaker 1: renovation in 1964, the basement was originally listed as a
2:04
Speaker 1: cold storage facility for game and provisions, a seemingly innocent
2:09
Speaker 1: detail that would take on a more sinister meaning as
2:13
Speaker 1: events unfolded. The sisters arrived in June, merely weeks after
2:18
Speaker 1: General Custer's defeat at Little Bighorns. The Black Hills were
2:22
Speaker 1: still technically Sioux territory under the Fort Laramie Treaty, though
2:26
Speaker 1: the discovery of gold had rendered such legal distinctions meaningless
2:31
Speaker 1: to the flood of prospectors and opportunists pouring into the region.
2:35
Speaker 1: In this lawless interval, before the formal establishment of territorial governance,
2:40
Speaker 1: the Wellington sisters found fertile ground for their enterprise. The proprietors,
2:46
Speaker 1: Abigail Wellington, 32, and Eleanor Wellington, 27, arrived in Deadwood
2:52
Speaker 1: in June of 1876, merely months after the initial gold
2:56
Speaker 1: rush began. They traveled, according to passenger manifests, from the
3:00
Speaker 1: Cheyenne to Deadwood stage line, with an unusually large amount
3:04
Speaker 1: of luggage and equipment for two unmarried women. The sisters
3:08
Speaker 1: claimed to have come from St. Louis, though later investigations
3:12
Speaker 1: would reveal no trace of them in that city's records
3:15
Speaker 1: prior to 1874. Their arrival coincided with the height of
3:20
Speaker 1: the Black Hills gold rush, when Deadwood's population swelled with miners, gamblers, prostitutes,
3:27
Speaker 1: and opportunists of every stripe. The timing was perfect for
3:31
Speaker 1: two enterprising women to establish a business catering to the
3:35
Speaker 1: overwhelmingly male population. A letter discovered in 1958 among the
3:40
Speaker 1: personal effects of Richard Bullock, brother to the famed lawman
3:43
Speaker 1: Seth Bullock, provides one of the few first-hand accounts of
3:47
Speaker 1: of the sisters' arrival.' Two women arrived on yesterday's stage,'
3:51
Speaker 1: he wrote to his wife in Michigan.' Unlike any I
3:54
Speaker 1: have seen in this camp. They carry themselves like ladies
3:57
Speaker 1: of quality, yet there is something in their manner that
4:00
Speaker 1: suggests they are accustomed to difficulty. The elder one, when
4:05
Speaker 1: helping unload their trunks, lifted a crate that would challenge
4:08
Speaker 1: most men. They have purchased the old Swenson claim at
4:12
Speaker 1: the edge of town, and speak of establishing a dining-house.'
4:16
Speaker 1: Most curious was their luggage. Among the usual trunks were
4:20
Speaker 1: several long wooden cases of the sort used for scientific instruments,
4:25
Speaker 1: and an iron-bound chest that required four men to move.
4:29
Speaker 1: When asked about its contents, the elder sister merely smiled
4:32
Speaker 1: and said, It contained the tools of our trade. The
4:36
Speaker 1: Wellington Saloon quickly developed a reputation for two things— exceptional food
4:42
Speaker 1: and the striking beauty of its proprietors. The sisters were
4:45
Speaker 1: described in multiple accounts as being remarkably similar in appearance
4:50
Speaker 1: despite their age difference, both tall, with auburn hair and
4:55
Speaker 1: unusual amber-colored eyes. A feature in the Black Hills Pioneer
4:59
Speaker 1: from August 1876 described them as handsome women of refined bearing,
5:06
Speaker 1: whose presence brings a touch of civilization to our rough camp.
5:10
Speaker 1: What the article failed to mention was the sisters' third
5:13
Speaker 1: notable trait, their exceptional skill with knives. According to multiple accounts,
5:19
Speaker 1: Abigail Wellington could carve a side of beef with such
5:22
Speaker 1: precision and speed that men would gather just to watch
5:26
Speaker 1: her work. The way she handled that blade, wrote one
5:29
Speaker 1: miner in a letter home, preserved in the Dakota Territory
5:33
Speaker 1: Historical Collection, was something between a surgeon and a sculptor.
5:38
Speaker 1: Never seen hands move so fast. Eleanor, the younger sister...
5:42
Speaker 1: managed the front of the house and the rooms upstairs.
5:45
Speaker 1: She was described as charming but reserved, with a memory
5:49
Speaker 1: that bordered on the uncanny. That woman never forgot a
5:53
Speaker 1: face or a name, recalled James Harrington in an account
5:57
Speaker 1: published in the Deadwood Chronicle in 1892. She'd remember what
6:02
Speaker 1: you drank and what you'd said months back, even if
6:05
Speaker 1: you'd only been in once before. This exceptional memory would
6:09
Speaker 1: later be noted as significant, when men began to disappear.
6:13
Speaker 1: A report filed by a Wells Fargo agent in August 1876,
6:18
Speaker 1: recently discovered during archival digitization efforts at the South Dakota
6:23
Speaker 1: Historical Society, noted another peculiarity about Eleanor Wellington. The younger
6:29
Speaker 1: sister keeps meticulous records in a series of leather-bound books.
6:33
Speaker 1: I observed her making entries after each transaction, noting not
6:37
Speaker 1: merely financial details, but apparent observations about the customers themselves.
6:43
Speaker 1: When I inquired about this practice, she explained it as
6:46
Speaker 1: a method of tracking preferences to better serve regular patrons. However,
6:51
Speaker 1: the intensity with which she studies certain individuals suggests a
6:56
Speaker 1: purpose beyond mere customer service. The Wellington Saloon operated unlike
7:01
Speaker 1: other establishments in Deadwood. It was not open at all hours,
7:06
Speaker 1: as was common for saloons in mining towns. Instead, it
7:09
Speaker 1: opened only from four in the afternoon until midnight, and
7:13
Speaker 1: was closed entirely on Sundays. The meals were served promptly
7:18
Speaker 1: at six and nine in the evening, and those who
7:20
Speaker 1: missed these times would find themselves unable to secure food,
7:25
Speaker 1: regardless of their wealth or standing. The upstairs rooms were
7:29
Speaker 1: available only to certain customers, those who had become regulars
7:34
Speaker 1: and were known to the sisters. These unusual business practices
7:38
Speaker 1: might have doomed another establishment, but the quality of the
7:41
Speaker 1: food and liquor, described as far superior to anything else
7:45
Speaker 1: available in the camp, ensured a steady stream of customers.
7:50
Speaker 1: An interview conducted in 1942 with Henry Lawson, who had
7:53
Speaker 1: been a boy of twelve in Deadwood during this period,
7:56
Speaker 1: provides additional context about the saloon's reputation.' My father forbade
8:01
Speaker 1: me from going anywhere near the Wellington place,' though he
8:04
Speaker 1: himself dined there at least once a week. He'd come
8:07
Speaker 1: home talking about the food in a way I'd never
8:10
Speaker 1: heard him speak of my mother's cooking, said the meat
8:14
Speaker 1: melted in your mouth and left you feeling stronger than
8:16
Speaker 1: before you ate it. The strange thing was how the
8:20
Speaker 1: place affected him. He'd be in fine spirits the evening
8:23
Speaker 1: after dining there, almost giddy, but by the next morning
8:27
Speaker 1: he'd be irritable and distracted, as if he was already
8:31
Speaker 1: craving his next meal there. I once asked why we
8:35
Speaker 1: couldn't all go as a family, and he looked at
8:37
Speaker 1: me with such alarm that I never mentioned it again.
8:41
Speaker 1: That's no place for women and children, he said, though
8:44
Speaker 1: he couldn't explain exactly why. The Wellington establishment quickly became
8:48
Speaker 1: known for its house specialty, a rich, savory stew that
8:52
Speaker 1: was available each evening in limited quantities. Those who tasted
8:56
Speaker 1: it described it in terms that bordered on the reverential.
9:00
Speaker 1: There is something in that dish that I have never
9:02
Speaker 1: encountered before or since, wrote Joshua Hargreaves, a mining engineer,
9:07
Speaker 1: in his personal journal, dated September 1876. The meat is
9:12
Speaker 1: tender beyond belief, with a sweetness underlying the savory elements
9:18
Speaker 1: that lingers on the tongue. I find myself thinking of
9:21
Speaker 1: it at odd moments throughout the day, planning my schedule around,
9:25
Speaker 1: ensuring I will not miss the evening service. This journal
9:29
Speaker 1: discovered among Hargreaves' effects after his disappearance in November of
9:33
Speaker 1: that same year would later be entered into evidence during
9:37
Speaker 1: the investigation. The first disappearance occurred in September of 1876.
9:42
Speaker 1: Thomas Cade, a successful prospector who had struck a modest
9:48
Speaker 1: vein near Whitewood Creek, was last seen entering the Wellington
9:52
Speaker 1: Saloon on the evening of September 12th. According to the
9:55
Speaker 1: Marshal's report, filed and later discovered, in a collection of
9:59
Speaker 1: documents during the courthouse renovation of 1963, Cade had been
10:04
Speaker 1: celebrating his recent good fortune and was carrying a significant
10:08
Speaker 1: amount of gold. When questioned, the Wellington sisters stated that
10:12
Speaker 1: Cade had enjoyed his meal, paid for several rounds of
10:16
Speaker 1: drinks for other patrons, and left their establishment around eleven
10:20
Speaker 1: that evening, intending to return to his claim outside of town.
10:25
Speaker 1: His body was never found, though his empty cabin showed
10:28
Speaker 1: no signs of having been visited after that night. What
10:31
Speaker 1: the official report doesn't mention, but which emerges from cross-referencing
10:36
Speaker 1: various accounts, is that Cade had become a regular at
10:40
Speaker 1: the Wellington Saloon in the weeks leading up to his disappearance.
10:43
Speaker 1: Several witnesses noted that that he had developed a particular
10:47
Speaker 1: fondness for Abigail Wellington, often bringing her small gifts, a
10:52
Speaker 1: silk ribbon from a merchant's new stock, a silver brooch
10:56
Speaker 1: he had panned himself. He followed her with his eyes
10:59
Speaker 1: like a starving man watching a cook, recalled William Fremont,
11:03
Speaker 1: a fellow miner, in testimony, given in 1877. And when
11:08
Speaker 1: she would serve him his meal, touching his shoulder as
11:12
Speaker 1: she set down his plate, I swear the man nearly
11:15
Speaker 1: shuddered with pleasure. Perhaps most telling was the testimony of
11:19
Speaker 1: Samuel Pike, who shared a drink with Cade on his
11:22
Speaker 1: last evening. According to an interview published in the Deadwood
11:26
Speaker 1: Daily in 1892, Pike recalled, Tom told me he'd been
11:30
Speaker 1: invited to stay after hours that night. Said it with
11:34
Speaker 1: a wink and a nod, like he was finally getting
11:37
Speaker 1: what he'd been angling for. He mentioned that Abigail had
11:41
Speaker 1: told him she had something special waiting for him in
11:43
Speaker 1: the basement. A private reserve, she called it. I assumed
11:47
Speaker 1: he meant some fancy liquor, but he had this look
11:49
Speaker 1: about him, like a man about to get his dearest wish.
11:53
Speaker 1: In the following months, at least three other men vanished
11:56
Speaker 1: after being seen at the Wellington Saloon. A pattern began
12:00
Speaker 1: to emerge. All were individuals who had come into sudden wealth,
12:04
Speaker 1: either through mining success, gambling, or other means. All were
12:08
Speaker 1: relative newcomers to Deadwood, without deep connections to the community,
12:13
Speaker 1: and all had been observed displaying their newfound wealth at
12:17
Speaker 1: the Wellington Sisters' establishment. Marshal Seth Bullock, newly appointed to
12:22
Speaker 1: bring order to the chaotic camp, noted these disappearances in
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Speaker 1: his records, but found no evidence directly connecting them to
12:30
Speaker 1: the Wellingtons. The Sisters maintain a cleaner and more orderly
12:35
Speaker 1: business than most in this camp, he wrote in his
12:37
Speaker 1: official log. recovered and preserved by the Deadwood Historical Society
12:42
Speaker 1: in 1962. Without evidence, I cannot pursue suspicions based merely
12:48
Speaker 1: on coincidence. The second disappearance, occurring in late October, followed
12:53
Speaker 1: a similar pattern. Jeremiah Wells, a former Baptist minister who
12:57
Speaker 1: had abandoned his calling for the promise of gold, had
13:00
Speaker 1: enjoyed moderate success at a claim near Deadwood Creek. According
13:04
Speaker 1: to his boarding house proprietor, Martha Staples, Wells had taken
13:09
Speaker 1: to dining at the Wellington Saloon almost nightly in the
13:12
Speaker 1: week before he vanished. He spoke of the food as
13:15
Speaker 1: if it were manna from heaven, Staples later testified, said
13:19
Speaker 1: he'd never tasted meat so satisfying. The night he disappeared,
13:22
Speaker 1: he told me he'd been invited to a private tasting
13:25
Speaker 1: of some sort. He seemed quite excited, though I found
13:28
Speaker 1: it curious that he mentioned it was to take place
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Speaker 1: after the normal closing time. The third disappearance brought slightly
13:35
Speaker 1: more attention, as it involved Daniel Cooper, a a representative
13:39
Speaker 1: of the Homestake Mining Company who had arrived in Deadwood
13:42
Speaker 1: to assess potential acquisitions. Cooper was carrying company funds and
13:47
Speaker 1: was known to be staying at the Grand Central Hotel.
13:51
Speaker 1: His last known location, according to the hotel register, was
13:56
Speaker 1: dining at the Wellington Establishment on the evening of November 20th.
14:00
Speaker 1: When he failed to return, a more thorough search was organized,
14:04
Speaker 1: though like the others, no trace was ever found. The
14:08
Speaker 1: fourth and final documented disappearance before winter set in was
14:12
Speaker 1: perhaps the most telling. Patrick Donovan, a successful gambler known
14:17
Speaker 1: for his cautious nature and keen observational skills, vanished in
14:21
Speaker 1: early December. What distinguishes Donovan's case is that he left
14:25
Speaker 1: behind a partial record of his suspicions. A small notebook
14:29
Speaker 1: found among his possessions at the Four Aces boarding house
14:33
Speaker 1: contained entries regarding the Wellington sisters' that suggested he had
14:38
Speaker 1: been watching them with professional interest. There is something calculated
14:42
Speaker 1: in the way they select their special guests, he wrote
14:45
Speaker 1: on December 1st. They show particular attention to men who
14:48
Speaker 1: are new to the camp, who have come into money,
14:51
Speaker 1: and who have few connections here. The elder sister, Abigail,
14:55
Speaker 1: has a way of assessing a man that reminds me
14:58
Speaker 1: of how I evaluate an opponent at cards, looking for weaknesses, patterns, tells.
15:04
Speaker 1: I've noticed that they seem particularly interested in men of
15:07
Speaker 1: a certain physical type, robust, well-fed and good health, never
15:12
Speaker 1: the sick or desperate or too lean ones that make
15:15
Speaker 1: up half the camp. Donovan's final entry, dated December 4th, reads,
15:21
Speaker 1: I've been invited to stay after hours tomorrow night. Abigail
15:25
Speaker 1: mentioned a private card game with select guests, but something
15:29
Speaker 1: in her manner struck me as false. I've accepted to
15:32
Speaker 1: see what lies behind these invitations that precede disappearances, but
15:37
Speaker 1: as a precaution, I've left letters with instructions at the
15:40
Speaker 1: Wells Fargo office to be sent, if I don't retrieve
15:43
Speaker 1: them by week's end. These letters, if they existed, were
15:47
Speaker 1: never found, and Donovan himself vanished without trace, after being
15:52
Speaker 1: seen entering the Wellington Saloon on the evening of December 5th.
15:56
Speaker 1: The winter of 1876-1877 was particularly harsh in the Black Hills.
16:02
Speaker 1: Heavy snow isolated Deadwood for weeks at a time, cutting
16:06
Speaker 1: off supply lines and communication with the outside world. During
16:10
Speaker 1: this period, the Wellington Saloon remained one of the few
16:13
Speaker 1: establishments that never seemed to run short of provisions. Even
16:18
Speaker 1: as other businesses began to serve increasingly meager portions, the
16:22
Speaker 1: sisters continued to offer hearty stews, roasts, and pies that
16:27
Speaker 1: drew hungry miners in from the cold. When asked about
16:30
Speaker 1: their seemingly endless supply of meat, Abigail Wellington would smile
16:35
Speaker 1: and simply say, good planning and careful storage. A curious
16:39
Speaker 1: detail emerges from the personal diary of Dr. Isaiah Fleming,
16:43
Speaker 1: the camp's primary physician during this period. His journal, discovered
16:48
Speaker 1: during the demolition of his former residence in 1967, contains
16:53
Speaker 1: several entries expressing puzzlement over the complete absence of scurvy,
16:59
Speaker 1: and other nutritional deficiencies among regular patrons of the Wellington
17:03
Speaker 1: Saloon during that winter. It defies medical understanding, he wrote
17:08
Speaker 1: in February 1877, that men who subsist almost entirely on
17:13
Speaker 1: meals taken at the Wellington establishment show none of the
17:17
Speaker 1: typical signs of winter malnutrition that plague the rest of
17:21
Speaker 1: the camp. Their meat, in particular, seems to provide something
17:25
Speaker 1: that prevents the usual deterioration of health in these conditions. Dr.
17:30
Speaker 1: Fleming's scientific curiosity eventually led him to request samples of
17:34
Speaker 1: the sister's meat for examination. According to his journal, this
17:38
Speaker 1: request was politely but firmly denied. Miss Abigail informed me
17:43
Speaker 1: that their recipes and provisions are a family secret, he
17:47
Speaker 1: wrote on February 12th. When I pressed the matter, suggesting
17:50
Speaker 1: a simple professional interest in its apparent health benefits, Her
17:54
Speaker 1: demeanor changed in a manner that I found disquieting. Doctor,
17:58
Speaker 1: she said, some mysteries are better left unexamined. There was
18:02
Speaker 1: something in her gaze that silenced further inquiry on my part,
18:06
Speaker 1: an account from Jacob Morrow, a butcher who operated a
18:10
Speaker 1: shop in the center of Deadwood, adds another layer to
18:13
Speaker 1: the winter mysteries surrounding the Wellington Saloon. In a statement
18:17
Speaker 1: given to a journalist in 1892, Morrow recalled, What struck
18:22
Speaker 1: me as odd was that they never bought meat from me,
18:25
Speaker 1: nor from any other butcher in town that I knew of.
18:28
Speaker 1: Every other eating-house came to us, especially in winter, when
18:32
Speaker 1: hunting was difficult. I asked Eleanor about it once, and
18:35
Speaker 1: she said they had arrangements with private hunters who brought
18:39
Speaker 1: them game from outside the immediate area. But in the
18:42
Speaker 1: dead of winter, with snow blocking the passes, no hunter
18:46
Speaker 1: was bringing fresh meat into Deadwood then, yet their stew-pots
18:50
Speaker 1: never emptied. The sisters' business thrived during these harsh months,
18:55
Speaker 1: with their establishment often filled to capacity during mealtimes. Yet
19:00
Speaker 1: another peculiarity was noted by several observers. Despite the crowds,
19:05
Speaker 1: there were never any disruptive incidents at the Wellington Saloon.
19:09
Speaker 1: No drunken brawls, no gunplay, no heated arguments. Unusual in
19:14
Speaker 1: a mining town where violence was a regular occurrence. There
19:18
Speaker 1: was something about that place that kept men docile. recalled
19:22
Speaker 1: Michael O'Leary, a former miner in an interview conducted in 1938.
19:26
Speaker 1: Even the roughest characters behaved themselves inside those walls. I
19:31
Speaker 1: remember Tom Blackwood, who'd shot a man for stepping on
19:35
Speaker 1: his boot at the gym, sitting quietly at his table,
19:38
Speaker 1: waiting for his food with this peaceful expression I'd never
19:42
Speaker 1: seen on him before or after. It was like the
19:45
Speaker 1: place cast some kind of spell. As winter thawed the
19:48
Speaker 1: passes and dead became reconnected with the outside world, a
19:52
Speaker 1: new figure arrived who would ultimately bring about the unraveling
19:56
Speaker 1: of the Wellington sisters' operation. Robert Prescott, a Pinkerton detective,
20:01
Speaker 1: came to Deadwood ostensibly looking for a bank robber who
20:05
Speaker 1: had fled west after a heist in Chicago. According to
20:09
Speaker 1: Pinkerton Agency Records, accessed by historian William Thornton in 1968,
20:15
Speaker 1: Prescott's actual assignment was to investigate the series of disappearances
20:20
Speaker 1: that had begun to draw attention even beyond the Black Hills.
20:24
Speaker 1: His approach was methodical. He took a room at the
20:28
Speaker 1: Grand Central Hotel and began to establish himself as a
20:32
Speaker 1: regular presence in the camp, visiting each saloon and gaming
20:36
Speaker 1: house with apparent casual interest. Prescott's initial impressions of Deadwood,
20:41
Speaker 1: recorded in his journal, reflect the challenge facing any lawman
20:45
Speaker 1: in the settlement. This place exists in a state of
20:48
Speaker 1: organized chaos. Men appear and disappear daily, most leaving no
20:53
Speaker 1: more trace than footprints in mud. The population shifts constantly,
20:58
Speaker 1: with new arrivals and departures on every stage. In such conditions,
21:02
Speaker 1: a man could vanish for any number of reasons— claim jumping,
21:07
Speaker 1: gambling debts— Indian attacks, or simple mishap in the dangerous terrain.
21:12
Speaker 1: That several such disappearances might share a common cause is
21:16
Speaker 1: a theory that requires substantial evidence before it can be
21:20
Speaker 1: seriously entertained. When Prescott first visited the Wellington Saloon in
21:25
Speaker 1: April 1877, he noted in his journal that he was
21:29
Speaker 1: immediately struck by several unusual aspects of the operation. First
21:34
Speaker 1: was the sisters themselves. Their refinement seemed out of place
21:38
Speaker 1: in the rough frontier town. Second was the clientele. Unlike
21:42
Speaker 1: other saloons, where miners mingled with gamblers and laborers, the
21:46
Speaker 1: Wellington establishment seemed to cater to a more prosperous element.
21:50
Speaker 1: And third was the basement door, a heavy oak barrier
21:54
Speaker 1: with an unusual lock visible behind the bar that seemed
21:58
Speaker 1: excessive for a simple storage area. According to his notes,
22:02
Speaker 1: recovered decades later from Pinkerton archives, Prescott wrote, The door
22:07
Speaker 1: bears more resemblance to a bank vault than a cellar entrance.
22:11
Speaker 1: When I inquired casually about it, the elder Miss Wellington
22:14
Speaker 1: informed me with unusual firmness that it led only to
22:18
Speaker 1: their private storage and living quarters and was not open
22:22
Speaker 1: to patrons under any circumstances. What particularly caught Prescott's attention
22:27
Speaker 1: was the behavior of the regular patrons. These men exhibit
22:31
Speaker 1: signs that in another context I would associate with opium habitués,
22:36
Speaker 1: he wrote after his third visit. They arrive precisely at mealtime,
22:40
Speaker 1: displaying an anticipation that borders on physical craving. They eat
22:45
Speaker 1: with a focus that excludes conversation, and afterwards sit in
22:50
Speaker 1: a state of evident satisfaction that seems disproportionate to the
22:54
Speaker 1: mere consumption of food, however well prepared. Most telling is
22:59
Speaker 1: their loyalty. I have not identified a single regular patron
23:02
Speaker 1: who dines elsewhere, even occasionally. Their devotion to the establishment
23:07
Speaker 1: has the character of dependence rather than preference. Prescott's investigation
23:12
Speaker 1: proceeded slowly and carefully. He cultivated a relationship with Eleanor Wellington,
23:18
Speaker 1: presenting himself as a successful businessman looking to invest in
23:22
Speaker 1: the growing settlement. Over several weeks, he became a regular
23:26
Speaker 1: at the saloon, always arriving for the six o'clock meal
23:30
Speaker 1: and engaging Eleanor in conversation while observing the operation. In
23:35
Speaker 1: his reports, he noted that certain patrons, particularly those who
23:38
Speaker 1: were new to town and demonstrated wealth, would sometimes be
23:42
Speaker 1: invited to stay, after the regular closing time. These men
23:46
Speaker 1: would often not be seen again, or would appear days
23:49
Speaker 1: later with vague stories about having traveled to neighboring claims
23:53
Speaker 1: or settlements. As April turned to May, Prescott's journals show
23:58
Speaker 1: his growing certainty that the Wellington saloon was at the
24:01
Speaker 1: center of the disappearances. He noted subtle patterns in the
24:05
Speaker 1: sisters' behavior, the way they would identify and cultivate relationships
24:09
Speaker 1: with potential targets, the signals they would exchange when a
24:13
Speaker 1: particular customer drew their interest, the careful way they monitored
24:16
Speaker 1: the effects of their food on regular patrons. I am
24:20
Speaker 1: increasingly convinced, he wrote on May 10th, that some agent
24:23
Speaker 1: in the food itself creates a dependency in those who
24:26
Speaker 1: consume it regularly. The symptoms are subtle but unmistakable, a
24:31
Speaker 1: kind of restlessness that appears as the usual mealtime approaches,
24:35
Speaker 1: followed by visible relief when the food is consumed. This
24:38
Speaker 1: would explain the extraordinary loyalty of their regular customers and
24:43
Speaker 1: possibly provide a means of ensuring compliance in those selected
24:48
Speaker 1: for whatever fate befalls them after hours. Prescott's breakthrough came
24:52
Speaker 1: on the night of May 17, 1877. Having gained the
24:57
Speaker 1: trust of the sisters over the previous weeks, Prescott was
25:00
Speaker 1: invited to stay after hours for what Eleanor described as
25:04
Speaker 1: a special private event for distinguished guests. His detailed account
25:09
Speaker 1: of that evening, preserved in the Pinkerton Files, and later
25:13
Speaker 1: partially published in the Deadwood Chronicle in 1892, after all
25:18
Speaker 1: principals were deceased, provides the most complete picture of what
25:22
Speaker 1: occurred in the Wellington Saloon after the doors were locked
25:26
Speaker 1: to regular customers. According to Prescott, after the last regular
25:31
Speaker 1: patron departed around midnight, five men remained, himself, two miners,
25:36
Speaker 1: who had recently struck gold in a claim near Strawberry Creek,
25:39
Speaker 1: a cattle buyer from Cheyenne with a considerable sum in
25:42
Speaker 1: bank drafts, and a professional gambler who had won heavily
25:46
Speaker 1: at the Bella Union the previous night. Eleanor Wellington served
25:50
Speaker 1: a special reserve whiskey, which Prescott later noted had a
25:54
Speaker 1: slightly bitter aftertaste that he found suspicious. He pretended to
25:58
Speaker 1: drink while observing the others, who soon began to show
26:01
Speaker 1: signs of drowsiness and confusion. Prescott's report details his observations
26:07
Speaker 1: with clinical precision. The effects manifested gradually but unmistakably, first
26:14
Speaker 1: a slurring of speech, then a laxity in the facial muscles,
26:18
Speaker 1: followed by an inability to maintain an upright posture. Throughout
26:23
Speaker 1: this progression, the subjects remained conscious but increasingly incapacitated. Within
26:29
Speaker 1: approximately twenty minutes of consuming the doctored spirits, all four
26:33
Speaker 1: men were effectively immobilized, capable of responding to direct instructions,
26:39
Speaker 1: but unable to resist or flee. As the other men's
26:43
Speaker 1: conditions deteriorated, Abigail Wellington emerged from the kitchen carrying not food,
26:49
Speaker 1: but several lengths of rope and a collection of knives
26:52
Speaker 1: that Prescott described as more suited to a surgeon's practice
26:56
Speaker 1: than a kitchen. The detective, realizing he was witnessing the
27:00
Speaker 1: prelude to something sinister, managed to feign the same symptoms
27:05
Speaker 1: affecting the other men while remaining alert. Most tellingly, they
27:09
Speaker 1: displayed no alarm at their condition, suggesting the compound includes
27:14
Speaker 1: some agent that suppresses anxiety, or induces a state of suggestibility.
27:19
Speaker 1: What he observed next forms the core of the Wellington
27:22
Speaker 1: sisters' dark legacy in Deadwood. The sisters worked with practice deficiency,
27:27
Speaker 1: binding the incapacitated men and dragging them one by one
27:31
Speaker 1: toward the basement door. Prescott, maintaining his pretense of drugged unconsciousness,
27:37
Speaker 1: was able to glimpse the basement when the door was opened.
27:40
Speaker 1: What he saw, in the light of a single lantern
27:43
Speaker 1: carried by Eleanor, was a space that bore little resemblance
27:46
Speaker 1: to a simple storage cellar. The walls were lined with
27:50
Speaker 1: what appeared to be medical equipment and preservation jars. A
27:54
Speaker 1: large central table, with gutters along its edges leading to
27:58
Speaker 1: collection buckets, dominated the space, and most disturbingly suspended from
28:04
Speaker 1: ceiling hooks, were what Prescott described as human carcasses in
28:09
Speaker 1: various stages of processing, hung in the manner of slaughtered game.
28:14
Speaker 1: Prescott's report continues with a detachment that suggests professional training
28:19
Speaker 1: overriding natural horror. The basement had been converted into a
28:23
Speaker 1: processing facility of disturbing efficiency. The central table was equipped
28:28
Speaker 1: with drainage channels and positioned beneath a pulley system fixed
28:32
Speaker 1: to the ceiling. Along one wall stood a series of
28:35
Speaker 1: large vessels that appeared to be for rendering. Another held
28:38
Speaker 1: preserving tanks containing what I must reluctantly identify as human organs.
28:44
Speaker 1: Most horrifying was the methodical organization of the space. This
28:49
Speaker 1: was not the lair of frenzied killers, but a calculated
28:52
Speaker 1: operation refined through evident practice. Realizing the imminent danger, Prescott
28:58
Speaker 1: abandoned his ruse, drawing a concealed derringer and attempting to escape.
29:03
Speaker 1: In the ensuing struggle, he was wounded by Abigail Wellington,
29:07
Speaker 1: who proved remarkably adept with her knives. Despite his injury...
29:11
Speaker 1: Prescott managed to flee the saloon and make his way
29:14
Speaker 1: to Marshal Bullock's office. His wounds, coupled with the effects
29:18
Speaker 1: of whatever drug had been partially administered to him, caused
29:21
Speaker 1: him to collapse before he could provide a complete account
29:24
Speaker 1: of what he had witnessed. The following morning, a visibly
29:28
Speaker 1: injured Prescott led Bullock and a group of deputies to
29:31
Speaker 1: the Wellington saloon. They found the establishment locked and seemingly abandoned.
29:38
Speaker 1: Forcing entry, the lawmen discovered evidence of a hasty departure,
29:42
Speaker 1: half-packed trunks, scattered personal items, and a still-burning stove in
29:46
Speaker 1: the kitchen. When they breached the basement door, however, the
29:50
Speaker 1: full horror of the Wellington sisters' operation was revealed. According
29:54
Speaker 1: to Marshall Bullock's official report, preserved in territorial records, and
29:59
Speaker 1: later transferred to the South Dakota Historical Society in 1964,
30:04
Speaker 1: the basement of the Wellington Saloon had been converted into
30:08
Speaker 1: a butchery of human flesh that defies all civilized description.
30:13
Speaker 1: The space contained specialized equipment for the processing of bodies,
30:17
Speaker 1: preservation chemicals, and storage facilities that suggested an operation that
30:23
Speaker 1: had been refined over considerable time. Most disturbing were the
30:27
Speaker 1: detailed ledgers found in a locked cabinet, recording weights, cuts,
30:32
Speaker 1: and quality assessments of what appeared to be dozens of
30:36
Speaker 1: victims dating back several years before the sisters' arrival in Deadwood.
30:41
Speaker 1: The ledgers, portions of which were transcribed for the official record,
30:45
Speaker 1: revealed a systematic approach to their enterprise that shocked even
30:49
Speaker 1: the hardened lawmen of the frontier. Each entry included the
30:53
Speaker 1: victim's name, physical characteristics, estimated weight of usable meat, and
30:59
Speaker 1: notations about quality and flavor. More disturbing still were the
31:03
Speaker 1: Customer Notes sections, which tracked the reactions of unwitting patrons
31:08
Speaker 1: to specific preparations. Stew made from Subject No. 27, J. Wells,
31:14
Speaker 1: received exceptional praise, read one entry from November 1876, especially
31:20
Speaker 1: from Mayor Wagner, who requested recipe. Liver, particularly tender, set
31:25
Speaker 1: aside portion for private reserve. Another ledger, labeled simply Effects,
31:31
Speaker 1: contained meticulous records of valuables taken from victims, gold dust, coins, watches,
31:36
Speaker 1: and personal items, along with notation of where each item
31:40
Speaker 1: was sold or pawned. This business-like approach extended to every
31:45
Speaker 1: aspect of their operation, with separate accounting for the legitimate
31:49
Speaker 1: portion of their business and the proceeds from their victims.
31:52
Speaker 1: The level of organization suggested not merely opportunity or desperation,
31:58
Speaker 1: but a calculated enterprise operating according to its own twisted logic.
32:03
Speaker 1: The most horrifying realization, which quickly spread through the camp
32:07
Speaker 1: despite Bullock's attempts to control the information, was that the
32:11
Speaker 1: Wellington sisters had been serving their victims to unwitting customers.
32:16
Speaker 1: The exceptional quality of their meat, their ability to maintain
32:20
Speaker 1: supplies through the harsh winter, and the strange nutritional benefits
32:25
Speaker 1: noted by Dr. Fleming. all took on a ghastly new significance.
32:30
Speaker 1: The sisters had been operating what amounted to a processing operation,
32:34
Speaker 1: selecting victims from among those who would not be immediately missed,
32:38
Speaker 1: converting them into food, and serving them to the very
32:41
Speaker 1: community that would eventually consume portions of their missing members, Dr. Fleming,
32:47
Speaker 1: upon learning the truth about the meat he had so admired,
32:50
Speaker 1: conducted tests on samples recovered from the sisters' kitchen. His
32:55
Speaker 1: findings were documented in a report to Marshall Bullock that
32:59
Speaker 1: was later sealed by court order until 1960, confirmed the worst.
33:04
Speaker 1: The substance is unquestionably human flesh, prepared in a manner
33:09
Speaker 1: that disguises its origin. Most disturbing is the presence of
33:12
Speaker 1: an unidentified compound in the preserved samples, possibly a derivative
33:17
Speaker 1: of certain fungi or plants with psychotropic properties. This may
33:22
Speaker 1: explain the unusual satisfaction reported by consumers in and the
33:26
Speaker 1: apparent dependency that developed in regular patrons. In effect, the
33:31
Speaker 1: Wellington sisters were not merely feeding their customers human flesh,
33:36
Speaker 1: but conditioning them to crave it through chemical manipulation. The
33:40
Speaker 1: Wellington sisters themselves were never found. Despite an extensive manhunt
33:45
Speaker 1: that extended throughout the Dakota Territory and beyond, they vanished
33:49
Speaker 1: as completely as many of their victims had before them.
33:53
Speaker 1: Unconfirmed reports placed them in various locations over the subsequent years.
33:58
Speaker 1: A similar operation was suspected in a remote mining camp
34:01
Speaker 1: in Colorado in 1879, and rumors of a pair of
34:05
Speaker 1: sisters matching their description emerged from Seattle in 1883. But
34:11
Speaker 1: no confirmed sighting was ever documented. The most credible theory,
34:15
Speaker 1: based on passenger manifests reviewed by historian Thomas Rayburn in 1966,
34:21
Speaker 1: suggests they may have fled to Australia, where numerous unidentified
34:25
Speaker 1: passengers arrived in Melbourne throughout 1877-1888. A curious footnote to
34:31
Speaker 1: their disappearance emerged in 1885, when a San Francisco newspaper
34:36
Speaker 1: reported on the case of a high-end restaurant in the
34:39
Speaker 1: city's financial district, operated by a refined widow of unusual
34:45
Speaker 1: culinary skill. According to the article, the establishment had developed
34:49
Speaker 1: a devoted following among the city's elite, until the unexplained
34:53
Speaker 1: disappearance of a prominent banker led to an investigation of
34:58
Speaker 1: the premises. The proprietor vanished before she could be questioned,
35:02
Speaker 1: and though the article makes no explicit connection to the
35:05
Speaker 1: Wellington case, the parallels are suggestive. The woman was described
35:11
Speaker 1: as tall, auburn-haired, and possessed of unusual amber eyes— a
35:16
Speaker 1: description matching Abigail Wellington. The Wellington Saloon itself was burned
35:21
Speaker 1: to the ground by outraged citizens before a proper forensic
35:25
Speaker 1: examination could be completed. Marshall Bullock, in his personal correspondence
35:30
Speaker 1: discovered during the compilation of his biography in 1965, expressed
35:36
Speaker 1: regret at the destruction of evidence, but acknowledged that the
35:40
Speaker 1: psychological wound inflicted on this community required the cauterization of
35:45
Speaker 1: that only fire could provide. The site remained vacant for decades,
35:49
Speaker 1: with no structure being built on the foundation until well
35:53
Speaker 1: into the twentieth century. The aftermath of the Wellington case
35:57
Speaker 1: had profound effects on Deadwood society. Those who had been
36:01
Speaker 1: regular patrons of the saloon faced a horrifying realization. They
36:05
Speaker 1: had unwittingly participated in cannibalism, possibly consuming friends or acquaintances
36:11
Speaker 1: who had disappeared. Some left the settlement immediately. unable to
36:15
Speaker 1: face the knowledge or the suspicions of their neighbors. Others
36:19
Speaker 1: fell into depression or turned to alcohol, haunted by what
36:22
Speaker 1: they had consumed. A few, most disturbing of all, were
36:26
Speaker 1: reported to express a persistent craving for the sisters' cooking,
36:31
Speaker 1: even after learning its true nature. Solomon Parker, a miner
36:35
Speaker 1: who had dined regularly at the Wellington Saloon, provided a
36:39
Speaker 1: troubling account in a letter to his brother dated June 1877.
36:44
Speaker 1: I know what they were serving, God help me, I
36:47
Speaker 1: know it now. The thought should sicken me, should drive
36:50
Speaker 1: me to self-destruction for having partaken of such an abomination.
36:53
Speaker 1: Yet in my darkest moments I find myself remembering the taste,
36:57
Speaker 1: the satisfaction that nothing since has equaled. What does that
37:01
Speaker 1: make me? What corruption did they plant in my soul
37:04
Speaker 1: that I should feel this way? I cannot stay in
37:07
Speaker 1: this place. I cannot trust myself among men any more.
37:11
Speaker 1: The true extent of the Wellington sisters' activities may never
37:14
Speaker 1: be known. Estimates based on the recovered ledgers suggest that
37:18
Speaker 1: between 20 and 30 individuals may have been processed in
37:22
Speaker 1: the Deadwood operation alone, with indications that this was not
37:26
Speaker 1: their first such enterprise. The psychological impact on the community
37:31
Speaker 1: was profound. Many long-time residents of Deadwood abandoned the settlement
37:37
Speaker 1: in the aftermath of the revelations. unable to reconcile themselves
37:41
Speaker 1: with the possibility that they had unknowingly participated in cannibalism.
37:46
Speaker 1: A partial explanation for the sisters' methodology may lie in
37:51
Speaker 1: the discovery of a small library found in their quarters.
37:54
Speaker 1: Among standard cookbooks and household management guides were several unusual volumes.
38:01
Speaker 1: A medical text on the preservation of anatomical specimens, a
38:05
Speaker 1: butcher's manual, with detailed diagrams of sectioning techniques, and most telling,
38:11
Speaker 1: a leather-bound volume in French titled Les propriétés nutritives de
38:16
Speaker 1: la chair humaine, The Nutritional Properties of Human Flesh. This
38:20
Speaker 1: last item, according to the Marshall's inventory, contained theories regarding
38:26
Speaker 1: the supposed benefits of anthropophagy, including increased vigor, resistance to disease,
38:32
Speaker 1: and extension of lifespan. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of
38:36
Speaker 1: the Wellington case, and the reason it continues to resonate
38:40
Speaker 1: nearly a century and a half later, is the sisters themselves.
38:44
Speaker 1: Unlike other killers of the frontier era, who were typically
38:47
Speaker 1: men acting from obvious motives of greed or passion, Abigail
38:52
Speaker 1: and Eleanor Wellington represent something more calculated and incomprehensible. Their background,
38:59
Speaker 1: what little can be verified, suggests education and refinement. Their
39:04
Speaker 1: method required planning, medical knowledge, and a level of coordination
39:08
Speaker 1: that speaks to a partnership of unusual dedication. And their
39:12
Speaker 1: motive remains elusive. While they certainly profited from their victims' valuables,
39:18
Speaker 1: the elaborate nature of their operation suggests something beyond simple robbery.
39:24
Speaker 1: A partial explanation may lie in a fragment of correspondence
39:28
Speaker 1: recovered from their quarters apparently part of a letter Abigail
39:32
Speaker 1: was writing before their hasty departure, the incomplete text, preserved
39:37
Speaker 1: in the territorial archives and examined by psychologist Dr. Margaret
39:42
Speaker 1: Holloway in 1968, reads, And so we continue Father's work,
39:47
Speaker 1: though in our own manner. The frontier provides the freedom
39:50
Speaker 1: he always sought but never found. Here, where life is
39:53
Speaker 1: held cheap and men disappear without question, we have at
39:57
Speaker 1: last perfected the process. Eleanor still maintains that the consumption
40:01
Speaker 1: is merely practical, a means of disposal. But I know better.
40:05
Speaker 1: There is power in it, in watching them consume their
40:08
Speaker 1: own kind without knowledge, a secret communion that transforms mere
40:12
Speaker 1: sustenance into something transcendent. Each day they return hungering for more,
40:18
Speaker 1: never understanding why our humble fare satisfies so completely. The
40:23
Speaker 1: letter breaks off at this point, leaving the full ideology
40:27
Speaker 1: behind their actions unclear. Dr. Holloway's analysis suggested that the
40:32
Speaker 1: sisters may have been acting out a pathology inherited or
40:36
Speaker 1: learned from their father, whoever he may have been. The
40:40
Speaker 1: reference to father's work implies a continuation rather than an innovation.
40:46
Speaker 1: raising disturbing questions about their upbringing and influences. A partial
40:51
Speaker 1: corroboration of this theory emerged in 1967 when a historian
40:56
Speaker 1: researching medical practices of the 19th century discovered records of
41:00
Speaker 1: a doctor, Edward Wellington, who had practiced in Philadelphia until 1860,
41:07
Speaker 1: when he was dismissed from the medical college where he
41:10
Speaker 1: taught anatomy, following allegations of unorthodox experiments and acquisition of
41:16
Speaker 1: specimens through questionable means. The records indicate he had two daughters,
41:21
Speaker 1: ages 16 and 11, at the time of his dismissal.
41:24
Speaker 1: While direct lineage to the Wellington sisters cannot be conclusively established,
41:29
Speaker 1: the coincidence of name, timing, and certain elements of methodology
41:33
Speaker 1: is suggestive. The most tantalizing clue to their background came
41:37
Speaker 1: from an unexpected source, a Lakota elder named Yellowbird, who
41:42
Speaker 1: provided testimony to historian Robert Larson in a 1954 oral
41:47
Speaker 1: history project. According to Yellowbird, whose grandfather had been among
41:51
Speaker 1: the last Lakota to leave the Black Hills region after
41:54
Speaker 1: the gold rush began, there were stories among his people
41:58
Speaker 1: about two pale women with fire hair and eyes like
42:02
Speaker 1: wolves who had established a camp in a remote area
42:05
Speaker 1: near Bear Butte in the winter of 1875 before the
42:09
Speaker 1: rush of miners into Deadwood Gulch. They came first to learn,
42:13
Speaker 1: Yellowbird related, My grandfather said they traded good whiskey for
42:18
Speaker 1: knowledge of how to survive the winters here. They asked
42:21
Speaker 1: many questions about preserving meat, about herbs that grow in
42:25
Speaker 1: these hills, about which plants can make a man see
42:28
Speaker 1: spirits or sleep without dreaming. They were not afraid like
42:32
Speaker 1: other white women. They watched the butchering of buffalo with
42:35
Speaker 1: eyes that learned, not eyes that turned away. Some of
42:39
Speaker 1: the elders warned that these women had wrong spirits, not
42:42
Speaker 1: evil in the way white men often said, Indians were evil,
42:46
Speaker 1: but wrong in a way that has no word, like
42:49
Speaker 1: a creature wearing the skin of something else. If this
42:52
Speaker 1: account is accurate, it suggests the Wellington sisters had been
42:56
Speaker 1: planning their deadwood operation well in advance, learning techniques from
43:01
Speaker 1: the indigenous population that would later be incorporated into their process.
43:06
Speaker 1: The reference to plants that could make a man sleep
43:09
Speaker 1: without dreaming is particularly notable in in light of the
43:13
Speaker 1: sedative they used on their victims, this period of preparation
43:17
Speaker 1: would explain how they were able to establish their operation
43:20
Speaker 1: so quickly and effectively upon arriving in Deadwood. In the
43:24
Speaker 1: decades following the Wellington case, rumors and folk tales multiplied
43:29
Speaker 1: throughout the Black Hills region. Stories of mysterious women opening
43:33
Speaker 1: restaurants in remote locations became a standard cautionary tale, and
43:38
Speaker 1: an unusual wariness about unfamiliar food establishments persisted well into
43:43
Speaker 1: the 20th century. The case also had a lasting impact
43:47
Speaker 1: on Deadwood itself. The town's already notorious reputation was further darkened,
43:53
Speaker 1: and even as it transitioned from mining camp to established settlement,
43:57
Speaker 1: the shadow of the Wellington sisters lingered in local memory.
44:01
Speaker 1: One persistent legend, documented by folklorist Martin Healy in his
44:06
Speaker 1: 1938 collection Black Hills Whispers, tells of a yearly phenomenon
44:11
Speaker 1: at the former site of the Wellington Saloon. According to
44:14
Speaker 1: local belief, on the anniversary of the discovery of their operation,
44:18
Speaker 1: the ground seeps a reddish fluid that smells of copper
44:22
Speaker 1: and herbs. Though scientific investigation in 1952 attributed similar staining
44:28
Speaker 1: to mineral deposits in the soil, the legend persists, with
44:32
Speaker 1: some older residents refusing to walk past the location after dark,
44:36
Speaker 1: particularly in mid-May. Archaeological work conducted at the former saloon
44:42
Speaker 1: site in 1963, as part of a broader historical survey
44:46
Speaker 1: of early deadwood, discovered portions of the stone foundation that
44:51
Speaker 1: had survived the fire. Ground-penetrating radar revealed anomalies in the
44:56
Speaker 1: soil beneath and around the former structure that suggested buried materials.
45:02
Speaker 1: Limited excavation uncovered bone fragments that were initially assumed to
45:07
Speaker 1: be standard kitchen waste until laboratory analysis identified them as human.
45:13
Speaker 1: The excavation was quickly halted and the site reburied, with
45:17
Speaker 1: the findings sealed by court order until 1968, when a
45:22
Speaker 1: limited scholarly report was permitted for historical documentation purposes only.
45:28
Speaker 1: This report, authored by Dr. William Chambers of the University
45:32
Speaker 1: of South Dakota, concluded, The remains discovered at the Wellington
45:36
Speaker 1: site represent a minimum of seven individuals based on duplications
45:41
Speaker 1: of specific bone elements. Cut marks on the bones are
45:44
Speaker 1: consistent with butchering techniques rather than ritual or warfare practices.
45:49
Speaker 1: Of particular note is the precision of the cuts, which
45:53
Speaker 1: suggests formal training or considerable experience. Comparative analysis with other
45:59
Speaker 1: 19th century cases of survival cannibalism, e.g. the Donner Party,
46:04
Speaker 1: shows significant differences in approach. Where survival cannibalism typically presents
46:09
Speaker 1: as crude, expedient processing, these remains show systematic standardized techniques
46:16
Speaker 1: more analogous to commercial meat preparation. The most recent development
46:20
Speaker 1: in the Wellington case came in 1967 when renovation work
46:25
Speaker 1: at the Gem Theater, which had survived Deadwood's numerous fires,
46:29
Speaker 1: uncovered a sealed space between walls. Inside was a small
46:34
Speaker 1: leather-bound book that appeared to be Eleanor Wellington's personal diary.
46:39
Speaker 1: The document, which covers the period from their arrival in
46:42
Speaker 1: Deadwood through February 1877, provides unsettling insights into the sisters'
46:48
Speaker 1: daily operations, but maintains a strategic vagueness about their central activities.
46:54
Speaker 1: References to processing, special reserves, and private stock appear throughout
47:01
Speaker 1: alongside more mundane business concerns. Perhaps most chilling are the
47:05
Speaker 1: occasional culinary notes with detailed observations about which cuts and
47:10
Speaker 1: preparations received the most praise from unwitting customers. The diary
47:15
Speaker 1: also reveals tensions between the sisters that had not been
47:19
Speaker 1: apparent from other sources. A grows increasingly reckless, reads an
47:24
Speaker 1: entry from January 1877. She speaks too freely with the
47:29
Speaker 1: doctor about our special provisions, and seems to take pleasure
47:32
Speaker 1: in hinting at our methods. I have reminded her that
47:35
Speaker 1: discovery would mean not merely flight, but likely death at
47:39
Speaker 1: the hands of a mob, yet she seems almost to
47:42
Speaker 1: court the danger. There is something in her that craves
47:45
Speaker 1: recognition for what we do, not merely the skill of preparation,
47:50
Speaker 1: but the act itself. This hunger for acknowledgment may destroy
47:54
Speaker 1: us if I cannot check it. Another entry, dated February 14th,
47:59
Speaker 1: offers one of the few explicit references to their activities.
48:02
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day brought us a suitable gift, a young miner
48:06
Speaker 1: flush with his first substantial find. A marked him last week,
48:10
Speaker 1: noting his solitary habits and lack of correspondence with family.
48:15
Speaker 1: After closing, he accepted our invitation readily enough. He proved
48:19
Speaker 1: ideal in composition, lean but well-muscled, with excellent marbling through
48:24
Speaker 1: the shoulder and thigh. A. experimented with a new blend
48:28
Speaker 1: of herbs in the marinade, which I believe will be
48:32
Speaker 1: well received by our regulars tomorrow. The gold dust in
48:35
Speaker 1: his pouch will cover our expenses for a fortnight, though
48:38
Speaker 1: I have set aside his pocket watch, a handsome piece
48:42
Speaker 1: that may fetch a good price in Cheyenne when next
48:45
Speaker 1: we send goods for sale. The diary ends abruptly with
48:48
Speaker 1: an entry that reads simply, A man with watchful eyes
48:52
Speaker 1: has been taking meals with us this week. Abigail dismisses
48:56
Speaker 1: my concerns, but I sense something different about him. He
49:00
Speaker 1: observes more than he consumes. We shall test him soon,
49:04
Speaker 1: but I have prepared our contingency plans regardless. Father always
49:09
Speaker 1: stressed the importance of mobility in our work. If necessary,
49:13
Speaker 1: we will find new hunting grounds. Today, the Wellington sisters'
49:17
Speaker 1: case remains one of the most disturbing processes chapters in
49:20
Speaker 1: the history of the American frontier. It stands as a
49:24
Speaker 1: reminder that the lawlessness and isolation that defined places like
49:28
Speaker 1: early Deadwood created opportunities not just for the standard vices
49:33
Speaker 1: of gambling, prostitution, and theft, but for darker predations that
49:38
Speaker 1: could remain hidden within the chaotic social fabric of boom towns.
49:42
Speaker 1: The sisters exploited the very condition that defined the frontier,
49:47
Speaker 1: the constant flow of strangers seeking fortune, many of whom
49:50
Speaker 1: disappeared without comment in the normal course of events. A
49:55
Speaker 1: 1959 psychological analysis of the case by Dr. Robert Thornton
49:59
Speaker 1: suggested that the sisters represented a uniquely female adaptation of
50:04
Speaker 1: predatory behavior In the frontier context, unlike male killers of
50:09
Speaker 1: the era, who typically employed direct violence for immediate gain,
50:13
Speaker 1: the Wellingtons created an elaborate system that weaponized traditionally female domains— cooking, nurturing,
50:20
Speaker 1: hospitality— to disarm and ultimately consume their victims. The genius of
50:26
Speaker 1: their method, Thornton wrote, was in its exploitation of social expectations.
50:32
Speaker 1: No one questioned two women establishing a restaurant. nor thought
50:36
Speaker 1: it suspicious that they excelled at cooking. Their entire operation
50:40
Speaker 1: was hidden beneath a veneer of conventional femininity that deflected suspicion.
50:45
Speaker 1: The Wellington case also raises disturbing questions about community complicity.
50:50
Speaker 1: While the people of Deadwood were victims of an elaborate deception,
50:54
Speaker 1: there were signs that something unusual was occurring. The sisters'
50:59
Speaker 1: ability to maintain meat supplies through winter, the disappearances that
51:03
Speaker 1: followed a pattern, the strange effects of their food on
51:06
Speaker 1: regular customers. That these anomalies were rationalized or ignored speaks
51:12
Speaker 1: to the frontier mentality that privileged individual autonomy over community oversight,
51:18
Speaker 1: creating spaces where the Wellington sisters and others like them
51:22
Speaker 1: could operate with minimal scrutiny. The Wellington Saloon no longer
51:26
Speaker 1: exists except in memory and historical record. The site where
51:30
Speaker 1: it once stood is now occupied by a modern commercial building,
51:34
Speaker 1: with no marker to indicate its grim history. Yet the
51:37
Speaker 1: story persists in the collective memory of Deadwood, passed down
51:42
Speaker 1: through generations and occasionally revived when new details emerge from
51:47
Speaker 1: archival research. For those who know the history, there remains
51:51
Speaker 1: a certain unease about that particular location, a reluctance to
51:56
Speaker 1: linger there after dark that defies rational explanation. And somewhere,
52:01
Speaker 1: perhaps in some remote corner of the world, or perhaps
52:05
Speaker 1: in the unmarked graves that likely dot the Black Hills,
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Speaker 1: lie the final secrets of Abigail and Eleanor Wellington, the
52:12
Speaker 1: sisters who served more than meat to the outlaws, miners,
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Speaker 1: and travelers of the Wild West. Their legacy is a
52:19
Speaker 1: dark thread in the tapestry of frontier history, a reminder
52:22
Speaker 1: that sometimes the most dangerous predators are those who appear
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Speaker 1: most civilized, and that in the lawless spaces of human experience,
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Speaker 1: Some hungers transcend the merely criminal to touch the truly monstrous.