Third Annual Kingman Historic Ghost Walk 2019

          On the morning of September 3, 1905 “Belgian Jennie” Bauters was murdered in the streets of Acme, AZ 23 miles outside of Kingman. During our Ghost Walk on Tour B, you’ll watch the intense scene play out in the streets, just like it had over 100 years ago.

          But in death, we must also celebrate life, and Jennie Bauters was one notorious woman for her Wild West times.

          Jennie Bauters, or “Belgian Jennie” as her neighbors in Jerome called her, was born in 1862 in Belgium. When she was 20, she gave birth to a son called Joseph Phillipe on August 26, 1882. When Joseph was 14, Jennie knew they needed a life somewhere only she could make. So, the two climbed a boat called the Obdam and arrived on Ellis Island on July 6, 1896. Their destination was Chicago.

          3 months in, however, Jennie needed more. Leaving her son with nuns at the St. Ignatius School in Chicago, Jennie hopped on a train to Jerome, Arizona. Jerome, at the time, was a mining boom-town, and Jennie knew exactly where she belonged there. As soon as she arrived, records show she took out $1,000 to buy 3 lots on Block 11 and later owned an extra 3 lots on Block 1. She then opened a Brothel and Saloon on East Main Street.

          These businesses were highly successful. In fact, Jennie was the only woman that owned a saloon in Jerome. It is thought that she learned her tactful “people” and business skills while in Belgium, but Jennie knew better than to share her secrets. Her girls made almost as much as the town’s miners did, although she always did collect her share. Melanie Sturgeon, the author of “‘Belgian Jennie” Bauters: Mining-Town Madam’, wrote, “Contemporary newspapers celebrated Jennie Bauters as a gutsy, kind-hearted companion of lonely miners. Public records reveal her as an astute businesswoman and property owner” (pg 359).

          With all this success, Jennie knew she had to protect herself. On November 27, 1897, Jennie registered a Separate Property document with the Yavapai County Recorder’s Office. Under the Registration of Separate Property of Married Women Act, this protected Jennie’s full property from a husband.

          But Jennie wasn’t married. Was this perhaps to protect her and her son from a past husband she may have left behind in Belgium? That is yet a mystery to be solved.

          3 days later, she made a will stating that her son, Joseph, was her sole heir to all her properties. A month later she would lose almost everything.

          On Christmas Eve of 1897, a thrown lamp caught fire in a neighboring building. With the Jerome buildings made of feeble wood, the fire spread and victimized an estimated 10 businesses, including Jennie’s brothel. Jennie lost $5,500 worth of property (about $100,000 today) and insurance only covered $900.

          These businesses obviously had to rebuild. During the rebuilding, however, another tragedy struck. On September 11, 1898, a fire caught and the first building burst into flames. 200 buildings were destroyed, 5 lives were lost, and Jennie Bauters lost everything. She was one of many that dotted the hills with tents as Jerome struggled to rebuild yet again.

          On April 21, 1899, another fire destroyed Jennie’s house and she lost $2500 worth of property.

          “Belgian Jennie” Bauters would not give up and she did rebuild, and quickly. Her buildings were made of stone, and much more fire-proof than before. In the next 3 years, however, Jennie became lost in the crimes and violence of Jerome and decided to leave.

          Fast-forward to 1903. Jennie moved to Gold Road, or Acme, Arizona. Acme was just 23 miles outside of Kingman and it was a new boom-town she could sink her teeth into. She opened a saloon and primitive brothel. Life was starting fresh for Jennie Bauters when she met Clement Leigh, or Clem as we know him today.

Clement Leigh would be her final doom.

Want to know the end of “Belgium Jennie” Bauters and her quarrelsome lover? Make sure to buy tickets for Beale Street Theater’s Ghost Walk Tour B. You can buy your ticket at bealestreettheater.com/tickets or go to the ArtHub at 402 E. Beale St. in Kingman. We hope to see you ghosties there.

Source

Sturgeon, M. (2007). “Belgian Jennie” Bauters: Mining-Town Madam. The Journal of Arizona History, 48(4), 349-374. Retrieved October 16, 2019, from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41697076?read-now=1&seq=10#page_scan_tab_contents

The Tong Wars is an important but hidden away story Kingman keeps, but the tour guides of Beale Street Theater’s Ghost Walk (Tour A) 2019 will gladly unravel it for you. Although they will talk about Tom King and Don On’s roles in the end, we should now cover the beginning of these devastating murders.

          To start, the Tong Wars was a collection of feuds between gangs of Chinese immigrants and descendants throughout U.S. cities, including our very own Kingman. The word “tong” means “meeting place” or “hall.” Originally, tongs were legal, safe places and protection for Chinese immigrants from criminals and hate crimes.

The word “tong” was picked up by the U.S. white population to refer to illegal secret societies and activities, like gambling and opium trade. As the protective legal tongs were established in the Chinese-American community, criminals took this new word reference and created illegal tongs. These Chinese criminal tongs made money from opium trade as well as gambling, which were legal in China, but not in the U.S. As criminal tongs sprouted throughout the country, feuds exploded over territory and money. These vendettas lasted from the 1850s to the 1920s. It is estimated that dozens of people were killed by the end of the wars.

But how did all the senseless wars end? What (or…who?) had to be sacrificed to finally create a treaty after 70 years of murder?

You’ll just have to wait until your Ghost Walk tour…

In a few weeks, Beale Street Theater will be hosting the 3^rd Annual Ghost Walk in downtown Kingman, AZ. One of the most infamous gunslingers you’ll hear about down in the dark tours is Tap Duncan. Nobody knows for sure his story, but maybe we can take a peek, eh?

          Tap Duncan was known far and wide throughout the west. Born in 1869 Texas, Duncan was a part of a rough and tough family. So rough, in fact, he watched one of his brothers hanged for murder in 1892. With no intent on roaming around the Texas parts with a murderous brother on his soul, Duncan married a woman named Ollie Binion and moved to Idaho to learn the cattle ranch life that same year.

          Life could have been pretty sweet for ole’ Duncan, but the rough bunches just couldn’t leave him alone.

          Harvey Logan, also known as Kid Curry, made himself quite familiar with our cowboy Tap and that only meant trouble. You see, Kid Curry was a part of the Wild Bunch, a gang of outlaws consisting of infamous Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid. It sure didn’t take Tap Duncan long to find himself into some trouble.

          Sooner quicker than later, Duncan himself murdered a man in Idaho 1898.

          Rumors have it that Duncan was out for blood, but courts say it was nothing, but self-defense gone sour. We struggle to see the innocence in a certain light.

          Either way, Duncan flew from Idaho with Ollie and his family shortly after. He supposedly said goodbye to Kid Curry and the Wild Bunch to start fresh here outside Kingman, Arizona.

          But did he?

          Multiple reports suggest Tap Duncan never stopped his gunslinging and wild riding. He was officially reported to be a part of the Parachute, Colorado train robbery of 1904, shooting at the law with his Wild Bunch.

          But wasn’t he down here in good ole’ Mohave County? And what did that man get up to here?

Guess you’ll just have to wait for the Ghost Walk to find out Tap’s resting place is.

If he ever really did find one…