Haunted Breckenridge by Gail Westwood

Haunted Breckenridge by Gail Westwood

Author:Gail Westwood
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2015-07-14T16:00:00+00:00


THE CURTIN FAMILY

The first occupants of 114 North French Street were the Fletcher family, a prominent Breckenridge family back in the late 1800s. However, it is the Curtin family members who are mostly associated with this house and who occupied it for over seventy years. Mr. Curtin had come to Colorado to work for the railroad, and his wife, Martha, had emigrated here from Ireland. They moved to Breckenridge just in time for Mrs. Curtin to give birth to the first twins born in Summit County in 1882. They named the girls Martha and Margaret, and to outward appearances, they all led a very respectable life. Their house was situated on the corner of French and Wellington Roads, and the latter was a very busy thoroughfare for the miners of Breckenridge. It led to the extremely successful Wellington Mine. Just east of the house, there was a hill that was known locally as Curtin Hill after the family. However, this area also had another reputation.

Curtin Hill came to be known as the second red-light district of the town, and it was rumored that a house of ill repute was owned by the Curtins. One of the daughters was also rumored to have had an illegitimate child. This bawdyhouse (or sporting house, as they were often referred to by the newspapers of the day) on Curtin Hill was later run by a madam called Minnie Cowell. By all accounts, this was a fairly luxurious bawdyhouse—it boasted a piano worth $1,200—and was referred to as a “sporting palace” by the Summit County Journal in 1909.

It was also a very lively house for other reasons—there were at least two male suicides in this building. The first involved a man by the name of Carl Halverson, whose wife was working there as a lady of the night, with his permission. At some point, he must have changed his mind about this decision and asked her to leave. She continued working there, and so he arrived one day, armed with a gun. Wielding it, he demanded that the madam bring out his wife. She had been hidden in a closet as soon as everyone realized that Carl meant to shoot her. Infuriated by this, he instead went into the middle of the parlor room, put his gun to his temple and fired. The bullet went clean through his skull and exited near his left ear.



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