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West of the Creek: Murder, Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio
West of the Creek Murder Mayhem and Vice in Old San Antonio Author:David Bowser Desperados made San Antonio a roaring Old West town just as they put their stamp on Tombstone, Deadwood and Dodge City. But San Antonio shed its raucous frontier image as it grew into a modern metropolis. Most books on this colorful phase of San Antonio s history are long out of print. West of the Creek fills this void, reminding readers that ga... more »mblers like Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson came to San Antonio, that Rowdy Joe Lowe ran a saloon on Main Plaza, that Butch Cassidy got away in time to escape the fate of fellow train robber Deaf Charley, who found himself at the business end of a lawman s six-shooter. San Antonio had its own Hell's Half Acre, this one a 22-block area west of San Pedro Creek where a red-light district flourished for decades, complete with its own Blue Book guide to the ladies. City boosters didn't talk about it. But author David Bowser shatters the silence with a carefully-researched, first-ever map of more than 100 houses of ill repute. And he identifies inhabitants. The author tells of madams like Fannie Porter, who entertained the gang of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid while they hid out from the Pinkerton men, and Mary Volino, who reformed and turned her house into a rescue home for "fallen women" and unwed mothers still operated, in its third location, by the Methodist Church. Also included are 38 illustrations plus a first-ever map to San Antonio's red-light district, with many inhabitants identified by name.« less