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Along with many other Coloradans, we ventured to Leadville Saturday for the trial of Horace Austin Warner Tabor (1833-1899). He was charged with adultery, bigamy, white male chauvinism, worker exploitation, environmental degradation, whisky consumption and cigar combustion.
He got off. One defense counsel was Walter Gerash. The other, Tom Noel, supplied the judge with whiskey through the four-hour hearing and with cash afterward. Noel and Gerash persuaded their boughten and sotten judge to dismiss all charges except adultery and bigamy.
They also confined the adultery question to Horace and
Baby Doe. Under Colorado law, if the partners later marry,
all is forgiven. Tabor's other flings -- Alice Morgan and
Willie Deville, to name but two -- were never mentioned.
However, Cripple Creek madame Pearl DeVere did testify as
an expert witness on family values.
Tabor was thus innocent of adultery with Baby Doe. But was he guilty of bigamy?
Horace and Augusta Tabor were married Jan. 31, 1857. We can skip forward to 1878, when they got rich and Tabor's generosity to GOP made him lieutenant governor.
In January, 1879, Horace and Augusta moved down to a Denver mansion. On a business trip to Leadville in 1880, Horace took up with Lizzie McCourt, recently divorced from Harvey Doe and known as Baby Doe.
In January, 1881, Horace moved out of Augusta's house. He sent his bagman and fixer, Bill Bush, to ask Augusta for a divorce. She refused. Horace stopped supporting her.
Augusta sued for separate maintenance in March, 1882. Shortly thereafter, Horace slipped off to Durango and purchased a divorce decree from a compliant judge. On Sept. 30, 1882, he and Baby Doe were quietly married in St. Louis.
Was the Durango divorce valid? If so, Tabor was merely the rare man who actually divorced his respectable wife to marry his mistress. If not, Horace was a bigamist.
Augusta said she'd never been notified of the Durango divorce, so it was invalid. She pressed her suit for separate maintenance; if it went to court, Horace would have to acknowledge her as his lawful wife. He'd be known for his bigamy, which would end his political career.
Horace threatened to ruin Augusta unless she changed her suit to divorce and kept quiet about the Durango divorce and St. Louis marriage. She grudgingly agreed, and he settled $280,000 upon her in January, 1883.
If Horace believed that the Durango divorce was valid, he wouldn't have pushed Augusta to sue for divorce. He thus knew it was a fraud when he married Baby Doe in 1882. He was a bigamist, despite the findings of that rowdy jury in Leadville Saturday.
Did family values matter then? Not to the Republicans. They sent Horace to Washington in 1883 for a 30-day Senate term. He married Baby Doe again on March 1 with President Chester Arthur in attendance.
America is more open now. Tabor paid millions for respectability; these days, you can get your picture taken with the president for a mere $50,000.
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