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While all of the madams of the Wild West lived life on the edge, Fannie jumped right over it with both feet. Her legend includes being close friends with Butch Cassidy’s gang, willingly providing her brothel as a hang out for cowboys on the run, and playing matchmaker for outlaws. 

Fannie’s family arrived in Texas when she was just one year old, immigrating from England. Growing up as both an immigrant and in the middle of the Wild West may have inspired her to enter “the sporting life”, as she took up the trade as a teenager and opened her own brothel at age 20 in San Antonio. It was known as a high-quality establishment and outlaws loved spending time there following their successful heists. Most famously, the mysterious Etta Place is said to have met the Sundance Kid while working for Fannie. One would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in that place! Fannie was trustworthy, known for never giving up information about any fugitive customer. 

Fannie was successful partially because of her shrewdness. When public opinion started to turn aggressively against brothels, she closed up shop and quietly shifted careers. She drifted into obscurity, with various theories about what she did with the remaining years of her life.