Summer 2021 Issue

Summer 2021
House Leadville
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
by Patrick Lawler
Page 26
The 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act
went into effect, hoping to stabilize
fluctuating silver prices, but when this was
repealed in August 1893 and the Tabors
went flat broke. The repeal wasn’t entirely
the source of their demise, but August 08,
1893 turned out to be a terrible day for the
new couple. Many of his properties were
sold to cover loans, and the downward
spiral became so bad that Horace took a
job as a mine worker at age 65 to cover
living expenses. Some well-connected
friends got him a postmaster job in 1898,
but he died just 15 months later. Baby Doe
managed for a few years, but eventually
moved back to Leadville to try and
reinvigorate the Matchless Mine (without
success).
Around 1911, things got so bad for Baby
Doe that she moved into the former tool
shed at the Matchless with one of her
daughters, Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar
Tabor, who left shortly thereafter for a wild
life in Chicago. Baby Doe took up residence
in the cabin, guarding it with a shotgun and
living as a recluse, and occasionally
wandered town in rags. Good-hearted
neighbors kept an eye on her, though she
was known for not taking handouts. After
nearly 25 years in the one room cabin, she
was found frozen on the floor in the winter
of 1935.
The Matchless Mine and Baby Doe’s
Cabin
There are many details to this story
that add to the lore. Horace and Baby
Doe are buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery
in Wheat Ridge, you can see the
opera ‘The Ballad of Baby Doe’ (every
now and then), and you can visit the
Tabor Opera House, Matchless Mine,
and Baby Doe’s Cabin in Leadville.
Today, the Tabor and Baby Doe
names are attached to buildings,
restaurants, retail shops, and
campgrounds all around Colorado. By the
way, Augusta Tabor retained her business
sense after her divorce from Horace,
rebuilt her wealth, was a noted
philanthropist, and lived a productive life
before passing away in 1895 as one of the
wealthiest women in Denver.