West of Lust, I mean Lusk

During the rough and ready days of the Black Hills gold rush, not far from Lusk Wyoming,  there lived a woman with feathers on her legs and  hellfire in her hair. She gave shelter to robbers, threw parties for roughians, and maintained a bank of stolen goods.  This woman was revered with the moniker “Mother Featherlegs” which was as endearing a name that could be attached to a woman who traded flesh for funds.

Without wondering too much at how this renowned woman of the world’s oldest profession acquired “Mother” in her name, the fact is that “Featherlegs” is thought to come from referring to her red pantalettes that waved in the breeze. Some questions one answers, some questions one leaves well enough alone.

Mother Featherlegs is lilely the only prostitute in the United States with a monument erected in her honor. The monument stands ten miles west of Lusk,  not far from where her murdered body was discovered in 1879. Madam Featherleg’s partner, Dangerous Dick Davis, later confessed to the Madam’s murder while also revealing her Christian name, which was Charlotte Shepherd.

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