Baby Doe Tabor was one of the richest women in Colorado but she died one of the poorest women. Where did all the money go?

Elizabeth McCourt was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 1854. She had 14 brothers and sisters. She was the loveliest of them all. Her family and friends called her Baby.

Baby was marred at the age of 22 to Harvey Doe. She and her husband moved to Colorado. While she was there she grew more in love with Colorado and less in love with her husband. Then she divorced Harvey.

She moved to Leadville. In Leadville she met Horace Tabor but he already had a wife named Augusta. Horace was 24 years older than Baby Doe. He divorced his wife and married Baby on March 1, 1883. Horace and Baby Doe had a very fancy wedding. Baby's wedding dress cost $7,000. The invitations had real silver borders and the letters were written in silver.

Horace made a lot of money on the Matchless Silver Mine in Leadville. Horace bought a big home in Denver for Baby Doe. They had two children, Lille and Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar. The people in Denver liked Augusta and they didn't like Baby Doe so they never invited her to parties.

Soon after Silver Dollar was born Tabor's mines started losing money. By 1893 all the mines were closed and the Tabors had no money. Horace got a job for $3.00 a day. William Stratton, a friend, gave them $15,000. Horace became very sick and Baby Doe took care of him. He died in 1899. Lille ran away after her father died and Silver Dollar moved away but never told Baby Doe where she was going. One night Baby Doe was reading the newspaper and saw that Silver Dollar had been murdered.

Before Horace died he told Baby Doe not to sell the Matchless Mine and she never did. She lived in a shack by the mine. When a movie about Baby Doe Tabor came out she refused to see it because it was about her old life. She was very, very poor and had to wear rags and newspapers on her feet to keep warm. One day in 1935 a friend came to see Baby Doe and she found her lying on the floor dead. Baby Doe had frozen to death.

Augusta moved to California and invested her money. When she died she had 1.5 million dollars and gave it to her son.

We got our information from:
Colorado Chronicles, Volume 2: Famous Colorado Women
Hiking Through Colorado History by  Vickie Leigh Krudwig
Those Spirited Women of the Early West by Phyllis Zauner

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