Belle Siddons, The Debutante Outlaw of the Wild West
Belle of society. Confederate spy. Wild West gambler. Newspapers crowned Belle Siddons the debutante outlaw of the frontier.
“There was a woman sitting there in that cell whose history is a very remarkable one,” a jailer told a reporter in 1881, “but she has such an utter detestation for officers and newspaper men that I doubt whether you could get her to talk to you. She is too drunk now, and when she is sober she won’t talk.”
The prisoner was none other than Belle Siddons, also known as Madame Vestal.
Although she grew up on a Southern Plantation, Belle longed for a more exciting life. So she became a Confederate spy and then a card dealer in Old West saloons. And when that grew dull, Belle partnered with a gang to rob stagecoaches.
A Civil War Spy
How did a debutante become a Confederate Spy?
Born in the early 1840s, Belle Siddons grew up outside of St. Louis, Missouri. The daughter of a powerful political family, Belle seemed to know everyone in the state. After attending school in Lexington, Belle debuted in Jefferson City, where the society columns made sure to print her name.
Belle charmed the rich and powerful in Missouri, using her social connections to help the Confederacy when the Civil War broke out. The debutante romanced Union soldiers while secretly gathering intelligence for the rebels, leaving a string of broken hearts in her wake.
But Belle’s spying days didn’t last long. In 1862, a Union general issued a warrant for Siddon’s arrest. The spy fled with a cache of incriminating documents. And when the Union caught up with her, Belle was forced to admit to spying.
Sent to prison in St. Louis, Belle managed to receive a pardon only four months into her sentence. She spent the rest of the war working as a nurse, but quickly returned to politics when the war ended.
While working as a lobbyist in the state capital, Belle met Newt Hallet, a surgeon and gambler. The newlyweds left Missouri for Texas and took up gambling. Less than two years later, Hallet was dead, leaving Belle with the challenge of supporting herself.
The Gambling Halls of South Dakota
As a young widow, Belle Siddons once again had to reinvent herself. Rumors of gold pulled her to South Dakota, where Belle began working in the gambling halls, adopting the name Madame Vestal.
Draped in velvets, lace, and diamonds, Madame Vestal worked the faro tables from Deadwood to Cheyenne. Whether shuffling cards or spinning the roulette wheel, Madame Vestal kept a pistol at her side. And when Madame Vestal dealt the cards, the house rarely lost.
“My luck was invariable, and I had a superstition that if I allowed the first thought of kindness to enter my soul it would break the spell,” Belle Siddons later confessed.
“I hated every man who came to play against me; they came to break my bank. Why should I spare them? My husband never gave back money or spared either friend or foe in play; why should I?’”
But the gambling halls of the Old West also led Belle Siddons down a dangerous path. She began to drink heavily and experiment with opium. And she fell in with the rough sorts who visited the gambling halls.
Archie Cummings fit the bill perfectly. A stagecoach robber, Cummings was part of the “well-organized gang of stage robbers and road agents, who for several years made the stage roads between the Black Hills and the Union Pacific railroad anything but a pleasant route for people with money.”
Belle fell for Archie and decided to join his gang. The gambling hall queen picked up all sorts of news at the faro tables. And Belle passed along the information to Archie.
As the newspapers reported, “No robbery was undertaken which she disapproved of and none failed when she advised and planned the details.”
The Downfall of a Beautiful Wretch
The papers described Belle Siddons as a “beautiful wretch.” But Belle might have continued her life of crime if not for a twist of fate.
Belle’s information plus Archie’s gunslinging made the couple rich. But when bounty hunters tracked down Archie and his gang, the scheme fell apart. The law sent Archie to the gallows, leaving Belle despondent.
Madame Vestal tried to end her life with an overdose of opium but failed, because, as the papers noted, Belle was “both an opium-eater and an inveterate opium-smoker.”
Then Belle vowed to get revenge on Archie’s killers. But taking on the law proved too much for the gambler, who landed herself in a San Francisco jail cell, arrested for public intoxication.
The Legend of Madame Vestal
While in jail, Belle told her life story to a less-than-sympathetic newspaper reporter.
“There have been fewer women who started out into the world with brighter prospects or under more brilliant auspices,” the reporter declared. “Beautiful, accomplished, highly connected, well educated, she might have chosen her place in the higher walks of life.”
Instead, Belle turned as wild as the frontier.
After a brief stint in jail in 1881, Belle seemingly vanished from history. Did she die in jail? Or did a life of drinking and drugs catch up with the former spy?
While Belle Siddons disappeared, her story became a legend.
For more true stories of the Old West, check out Wild Life, a book on the outlaws, gamblers, and cowboys who made the West wild.
Bruce Wilson Jr. is the author of nine books on history. Visit Bruce Wilson’s website to learn more.
