In the Shadow of Billy the Kid by Kathleen P. Chamberlain

Author:Kathleen P. Chamberlain [Chamberlain, Kathleen P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Women, History, United States, State & Local, Southwest (AZ; NM; OK; TX), Social Science, Gender Studies
ISBN: 9780826352798
Google: ZPDdE2RzCXQC
Publisher: UNM Press
Published: 2013-01-15T05:39:53+00:00

“A LEWD AND IMMORAL” REPUTATION IS BORN

UPON HER RETURN TO LINCOLN, SUSAN MOVED INTO THE FORMER BACA house. Chapman sometimes stayed there with her, and from time to time, Regulators resumed sleeping there. Once Hatch forwarded the complaints to Washington and put a military investigation in motion, the backlash came quickly. Dudley hired Thomas B. Catron as his attorney. He also lashed out at the widow McSween with an attack on her character and reputation. Western chivalry gave women some leniency of expression, but Dudley believed Susan had gone too far. Because a man in the late nineteenth century depended on a manly character and honor to give him status and authority, Dudley believed he must defend his reputation even if it meant exacting revenge against Susan. Without authority, his military career was over. On the other hand, the character of a Victorian-era woman depended on sexual purity and fidelity. As historian Kristin L. Hoganson argues, “Whereas women’s honor was intertwined with their sexual virtue, men’s honor involved a demonstration of self-worth before the public.” Moreover, any display of economic or political ambition also “desexed” women in the eyes of many men. Thus Dudley’s attack was very much in keeping with contemporary views and actions. Considering that some students of the Lincoln County War today still associate Susan with lewd behavior, Dudley’s strategy proved remarkably effective.72

To accomplish his goal and in anticipation of the upcoming court of inquiry, Dudley filed a civil suit against his adversary and asked eight of his associates to swear out affidavits lambasting Susan McSween. According to rumor but otherwise unverified, the colonel offered $1,000 to several of those individuals to lie so that he might “get something against her” and destroy her credibility. Several of the men already despised Susan. Saturnino Baca, for instance, still bristled from her outburst and the attempt to evict his family. In addition to detailing her behavior on that day, he swore that for the past two years “Mrs. McSween has deservedly borne the reputation of being a profane, lewd, and unreliable woman.” Lincolnites, he claimed, had frequently discussed her notorious and loose character, and some believe she had previously worked in a house of ill repute. Susan had told him, “A woman who [has] a pretty face and good appearance [is] a fool if she [does] not make money.” Moreover, she and Alex had come to Lincoln to make their fortune, and she “cared little for how she did it.” The sexual implications in Baca’s statement are clear, but he obviously considered her ambition immoral as well. In addition, Baca stated that Regulators frequented her house in May, June, and parts of July 1878 and after Alex’s death. These men had even visited her while she lived at the Patrón house, he said.73

Peppin similarly declared Susan an unprincipled, lewd, and untruthful woman who had once told him that “she would be damned if she would not clean out . . . the parties who opposed her husband’s action if she had to spend twenty five thousand dollars to do it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.