Hell's Grandchild: The Red Dog Saloon, OKC

In 1911 a serial newspaper story carried mention of several mythical saloons. "Sandy Bent Hoke" by M. Quad, copyright 1911 by the American Literary Press was carried in several Oklahoma newspaper including the Capital Hill Press (Oklahoma County). "M.Quad" was a pseudonym of  Charles Bertrand Lewis (M Quad) (1842–1924).

In the series he names two saloons, The Red Dog Saloon and the Dead Shot Saloon.

They may have given inspiration in later days to local establishments made notorious. One in particular: The Red Dog Saloon.  (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc937123/m1/5/zoom/?q= "Red Dog" "saloon"&resolution=1.5&lat=5002.197888175628&lon=734.8107253333612). 

In the 1960's and the following several decades a notorious establishment was a hot spot for partying, crime, drug use and violence in general. The Red Dog Saloon was primarily a hot party site and strip club.

For most of its early years the Red Dog was located at 7118 N. Western Avenue in Oklahoma City. In 1968, they were advertising for "Go Go Girls" aged 18-25, at $75 a week. In December of 1969, the saloon was locked and closed by local law enforcement agents.

By 1992 it was up and running again, and as reported in a Feb 1, 1992 issue of the Oklahoma Gayley, it was listed - on a scale of 1-10 with ten being the most desirable- as a 1 in the northwest area of Oklahoma City among establishments serving liqueur.

"Hell's Half Acre" was considered squashed by reformers in the early 1900's when most of the houses, dens and saloons were closed, restricted or recreated. The truth was that the raw and wild creature of vice simply learned how to function in polite socitety and lived on....and on....on on.

   

Oklahoma Gazette article from 2017-  https://www.okgazette.com/oklahoma/cover-story-red-dog-documentary-chronicles-a-childhood-spent-in-one-of-okcs-longest-running-strip-clubs/Content?oid=2981077

Documentary trailer:     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQiyG-M-Ioc

MAPS: Hell in OKC

cMarilynAHudson, 2015

Ardmore and a Sad Tale: Vivia Gale aka Rose Welch 1894

Daily Ardmoreite. (Ardmore, Indian Terr.), Vol. 1, No. 214, Ed. 1 Tuesday, July 10, 1894 carries a sad story on its front page of a woman who committed suicide in east Ardmore.  She left behind a letter she had received from a brother in law that had 'blasted' her and the two letters she wrote to him and to her estranged husband.  Then, she laid down on a bed, placed a chloroform cloth over her face and died. She was known as Vivia Gale alias Rose Welch.

The newspaper alleged she was a fallen woman, who had been widely known the year before playing piano for a musical comedy troupe, but her letter indicate that perhaps more was going on in her life and that truly she was a victim of circumstances facing a woman on her  own.

Her brother in law was identified in the article and the letter as J.M. Barton of Iowa Park, Texas and her husband as John Gale of Butte, Montana.  A later article in another paper will identify him as "J.O. Gale of Spokane Falls, Washington."

The news writer was quick to point out that she was a fine example of womanhood and did not appear as many in that life but left the reader with the assurance she was indeed such a woman of ill repute.  Strangely, townsfolk, allegedly stepped forward to give her a decent burial but the second news article carrying that story does not say where she was buried or who may have shown the 'Christian charity' such an act required.  

It was a sad tale and one that may answer the questions of distant relatives of these individuals. Attempts to locate a grave for the woman have so far met with no success. The newspaper indicates she was buried in the Ardmore area but her grave may be unmarked.  If anyone knows more about this grave and these people, I would love to hear more. 

All in all it is a cautionary tale for all that forgiveness is the best gift we can give another human being and charity should be for everyone and not a select few..

Her haunting fnal words via her last letter was " my heart is breaking that I have been condemned without being given a hearing. Yours, Vivia."

Hell's In Far Off Places

In 1900, in the Oklahoma State Capital newspaper of January 30 was an article on Rose Francis Blumpkin, Girl Gambler.  The 18-year old woman  in Dawson, Yukon Territory of Alaska, was playing the tables winning like a man and acting thus unwomanly.

Some associate her vaudevillian life with prostitution, others say she was just a drink and dance girl at a house in Dawson (or elsewhere) when she was between theater shows. What this article explains is she was daring, cagey and polished player.

"The other day she lost $3000 at...risky game called "craps." That same night she "beat the house" by no less than a sum of $5000."

This, the opinionated writer stressed, just could not be because, "When a man gambles he becomes as coldly metallic in his nervous system as the coin he covets. His nerves, in face, are nerves of steel.

When a woman gambles she becomes hysterically excitable in her nervous system. The eventual result is one of two things: she either commits suicide or is herself committed to a madhouse."

Apparently, the writer never hear of Poker Alice, Elenore Dumont, or Kitty LaRoy....