Preoccupied with view of the stars, Frank did not see Tessie hurry across the street and race over to him. Standing on the steps of the building, he lit up a cigar and cast a glance into the night sky. It wasn’t long until Frank walked out of the theatre, alone. Hiding the weapon in the folds of her dress, she stepped back into the dark alleyway and waited. It’s not right.” She chocked back a torrent of tears, reached into her handbag, and removed a silver-plated revolver. “You’ve got my husband,” she mumbled to herself. The words he had said to her played over and over again in her head. Frank angrily warned Tessie that if she started anything he would put her “so far away that no one would find her.” After accusing the man of being a liar and a thief, Tessie begged him for another chance and promised to make him forget anyone else he was involved. Several hours before, Tessie and her ex-husband, Frank Daroux, entertained passersby with a robust argument over the other woman in his life. The pain of seeing the man she loved with another woman was unbearable. Tears streamed down the svelte blonde’s face. Once the couple entered the building, Tessie Wall stepped out of the darkness into the subdued light of a row of gas lamps lining the busy thoroughfare. A figure across the street, hidden in the shadows of an alleyway, eyed the pair intently. A handsome couple, holding hands and cooing as young lovers do, emerged from one of the vehicles. Read on…Ī parade of horse drawn carriages deposited fashionably dressed San Francisco citizens at the entrance of the Tivoli Theatre. She knew many men, but in the end it was a bothersome tooth at claimed her life. Today it’s Barbary Coast Madam Tessie Wall’s turn at the spotlight. There seems to be no end to the Wicked Women in the West.

Wicked Women by Chris Enss