Taken from the The Denver Public Library’s Digital Image Collection.

From the description:

Men pose at a Faro table in Montezuma, Summit County, Colorado. The interior saloon scene includes slot machines, spittoons, a sign over the cash register: “The Senate T. J. Looney,” a burro, a dog, and kerosene lamps.

I pulled this one up by searching for the word “Faro”, which was the gambler’s game of choice in Denver in the nineteenth century. This is the only image that came up. One of the problems with the photographic record of Denver is that pictures of the good stuff don’t exist in nearly the numbers one would like. Sadly, that includes the inside of saloons. This is one of the rarities.

And that’s a shame, because Denver’s got some hellish saloons in its history. My favorite two of the nineteenth century were known fondly as “The Bucket of Blood” and “The Slaughterhouse”, and I’ve yet to chase down a photograph of either one.

Taken from the The Denver Public Library’s Digital Image Collection.

From the description:

View of Hop Alley (between Wazee and Blake Streets) in Denver, Colorado. Men who include a Chinese man and a police officer stand near the brick buildings. A sign reads: “1417 Wing Gut Clothing Co.” and has Chinese characters.

Hop Alley was Denver’s Chinese section of town, and got its name from the alley’s 17-odd opium dens. Supposedly there were also any number of secret tunnels and walkways into downtown’s more respectable joints.

Hop Alley was also the location of one of Denver’s race riots. In 1880, a fight broke out between a couple of white and Chinese pool players in John Asmussen’s Saloon. Though no one was hurt, word spread that the Chinese had killed a white man. A white mob formed and stormed Hop Alley, chanting, “Stamp out the yellow plague.” There were tens of thousands of dollars in damage to Chinese property, numerous beatings, and one lynching.

A few whites acquitted themselves well. As you’d expect, they were the prostitutes, gamblers, and saloon-keepers of Market Street, who provided refuge, clean sheets, and opium to Chinese folks hiding from the mob. A number of Madam Lizzie Preston’s girls even fought the mob off with champagne bottles.

Taken from the The Denver Public Library’s Digital Image Collection.

From the description:

A crowd stands on Market Street near City Hall, part of the “City Hall War,” a dispute over Fire and Police Board appointments, in Denver, Colorado. Horse-drawn wagons are on the street.

The description does the City Hall War no kind of justice. It was, in part, “a dispute over Fire and Police Board appointments,” but, as I’ve read, it was also an attempt by Colorado Governor Davis Waite to clean up the corruption and vice endemic to the city of Denver. At the time the city was known worldwide for its hop dens, whorehouses, gambling joints, and bunko artists.

As such, Waite ordered the Colorado Militia into action to forcibly remove several corrupt Denver city officials from city hall. And, for his part, the Denver mayor deputized a couple of hundred local killers, gamblers, pimps, and dealers to defend the city against government troops. One of them was none other than Denver crime boss, Soapy Smith.

Of course, now you can’t smoke a cigarette in the bars. And most of downtown has been turned into a theme park for the well-heeled. But I guess that’s progress.

I was trying to tell a friend about all the great historical photographs in the Denver Public Library’s collection a while back and not doing a very good job. I know I’ve posted some of the photographs before, but thought I’d start doing so again, as it gives me an excuse to browse through them, which is one of my favorite pastimes. I’ll probably repeat some of my favorites, so you’ll have to excuse me.

So, anyway . . .

Taken from the The Denver Public Library’s Digital Image Collection.

The summary reads:

Heilman, recaptured after the 1947 escape from the State Penitentiary in Canon City, Colorado, has a rifle aimed at his blood spattered, half shaved head. His hand, wounded by gunshot, is wrapped in bloody rags; he sits holding it. The guard holding the gun wears mittens. A trash can and dresser flank the convict. Heilman was convicted of kidnapping Deputy District Attorney Fred Pferdesteller in Denver, 4/24/45.