Were you a fan of “Gunsmoke” when it was
a radio and TV staple? Although I wasn’t aware of the radio show, my family
never missed the TV version. At the time we watched “Gunsmoke”, I had no idea
that the character of Miss Kitty was based on a real person. That woman was
Carlotta J. Thompkins, also known as Lottie Deno, Mystic Maude, Angel of San
Antonio, Faro Nell, Queen of the Pasteboards, and Charlotte Thurmond. She and
Frank Thurmond were immortalized as
Faro Nell and Cherokee Hall in a series known as the Wolfville books,
written by Alfred Henry Lewis.
Lottie was born April 21, 1844 to upper-class
Kentucky farmers near Lexington and Louisville. At one time, her father served
in the Kentucky General Assembly. The area traded with both northern and
southern states and her father traveled a great deal on business. He grew
tobacco and hemp as well as engaging in horse trading, racing, and breeding.
With her younger sister, she attended school
at an Episcopalian convent. After completing her education there, the
attractive redhead traveled with her father on business to such destinations as
Detroit, New Orleans, and Europe. He had no son and intended Lottie to take
over his business for him. While on these trips, her father taught her the
intricacies of gambling with cards.
Mary Poindexter was Lottie’s seven-foot
tall nanny. Mary was loyal to and protective of Lottie. Her family didn’t have
to worry about Lottie as long as Mary was with her. On several occasions, Mary
saved Lottie from harm.
When the Civil War began, Lottie was seventeen.
Her father enlisted and was immediately killed in battle. She, her mother, and
sister were left tending the plantation. Relatives pooled money and sent Lottie
to Detroit in the hope she would find a wealthy husband to help her family. She
loved the parties and balls, but instead of finding a suitable husband, she met
up with Johnny Golden, one of her father’s former jockeys who had become a
gambler.
 |
| Carlotta Thompkins |
Eventually, Lottie ran out of money. She
and Johnny, accompanied by Mary, struck out plying the riverboat gambling
parlors throughout the war. She sent her relatives money but knew they wouldn’t
have approved of her gambling. She told her straight-laced Episcopalian family
that she had married a wealthy Texas rancher. Some say she never saw any of
them again while others insist her sister came to San Antonio after their
mother’s death.
Near the end of the war, Lottie and Mary
headed for San Antonio. At the time, the town was well-known as a wide-open
gambling town. Johnny Golden was to meet up with them there later. Lottie found
a job dealing in Frank Thurmond’s University Club, with Mary seated on a stool
behind her to watch for trouble.
 |
| Playing Poker |
It was a
winning hand that earned her a new name. A drunken cowboy yelled out to her
“Honey, with winnings like that, you ought to call yourself Lotta Denero.” She
didn’t take his full advice, but she did change her name to Lottie Deno.
Lottie’s dress and manners were those of
a genteel Southern lady. She didn’t allow cursing, drinking, or tobacco at her
table. Obviously, such a gracious lady wouldn’t cheat, would she? Men lined up
to play cards with the “Angel of San Antonio”.
 |
| Lottie Deno |
Lottie fell in love with her boss, Frank,
and was loyal to him. Frank was part Cherokee whose family was from Georgia. He and another player got in a fight and Frank killed the
man with a Bowie knife he wore on a string down his back. The deceased man’s family put a bounty on Frank so he
headed west. Lottie set out to follow Frank and searched across the state in Fort Worth, Denison, Jacksboro, and Fort Concho.
 |
| Bowie Knife |
This was during a
local economic boom on the Texas frontier as demand for bison hides spiked in the mid and late 1870s. Cowboys
and traders flush with cash during the period became targets for gamblers in
frontier communities.
Soon Lottie found Frank working in Fort Griffin
under the name Mike Fogarty. He was bartender in a place called the Bee Hive.
Lottie got a job dealing there.
 |
| Frank Thurmond |
It was at
Fort Griffin that her notoriety and legend became most established. Fort
Griffin was a frontier outpost west of Fort Worth near the Texas Panhandle
known for its saloons and the rough element it attracted. (Closest
modern town would be Albany, Texas.) Gaining fame as a gambler, Lottie became
associated with various old west personalities, including Doc Holliday, to whom she was introduced by Frank. Supposedly,
Lottie won $3,000 from Doc in one night.
At Fort
Griffin, Johnny Golden caught up with Lottie. He died mysteriously in an alley
that night. Lottie paid for his funeral and coffin, but didn’t attend. Instead,
she stayed in her home with curtains drawn.
After five years at the Bee Hive, Frank
and Lottie left for New Mexico and married December 2, 1880. Along with gambling, they picked up a couple of silver mines and owned a restaurant. Once again, Frank
was in a fight in which he killed a man. This time Lottie and Frank had had
enough of the gambling life and changed course.
They left Silver City, New Mexico and settled
in Deming. Frank was in mining and real estate and eventually became an officer
of Deming National Bank. As Charlotte Thurmond, Lottie was a well-respected
member of the community.
Although they quit gambling, Lottie Deno
hosted one more game in 1892, which may or may not have raised $40,000 to build St. Luke’s Episcopal, Deming's oldest church. Allegedly, Frank’s friend Doc Holliday participated in
that game. Lottie Deno made one of St. Luke’s altar cloths but the cloth has not been located in this century. Lottie even taught Sunday School.
Frank and Lottie had been together for over
forty years when he died in 1908. She
died February 9, 1934 and is buried beside Frank in Deming.
Sources:
Through a crazy
twist of fate, Caroline Clemmons was not
born on a Texas ranch. To
Join her
Facebook readers’ group, Caroline’s Cuties
for contests, news, and chats.
Click on her Amazon Author Page for a complete
list of her books and follow her there.
Follow her on BookBub.
Subscribe to
Caroline’s newsletter here to keep up with new releases, contests, and receive a FREE novella
of Happy Is The Bride, a humorous
historical wedding disaster that ends happily—but you knew it would, didn’t
you?
