January 20, 1867
On this day, Julia Bulette, Virginia City’s most popular consort, was found bludgeoned to death and her bedroom ransacked.
The night before, Bulette had caused a dust-up at Piper’s Opera House, according to contemporary accounts, refusing to sit in the section set aside for the women of the Red Light District and was escorted out. Sometime between then and the next morning she met a violent end. (Right, one of two verifiable Bulette images.)
Facts regarding Bulette are, at the very least, murky. The 31-year-old is believed to have arrived in the Nevada silver boom town in 1863. Born in 1832, some say she was a French Creole from New Orleans while other sources list her birth place as Mississippi. Still others insist she was British, having been born in London.
Virginia City in the Bulette era.
Reports by the popular press at the time of her death described her as educated and beautiful, grown wealthy, built a lavish bordello, served French food and imported wine and insisted on gentlemanly conduct among the clients.
Latter-day historians, however, say she was more or less a “private contractor,” operating out of a rented house on D Street and never operated or worked for a house of prostitution. The subject of her wealth is equally disputed, several sources claiming she died nearly penniless.
What is not in dispute is her relationship with the miners of Virginia City. They loved her. Living up to that old “heart of gold” saw, Bulette nursed the sick, carried provisions to the town’s volunteer fireman and always lent a helping hand to the unfortunate.
Regardless, her brutal murder shocked the community and her funeral became a bit of a spectacle. A record number of male mourners followed the hearse to the cemetery and in perhaps the most telling tribute, all the saloons were closed, an occurance not seen since the death of Abraham Lincoln.
Fact or fiction, it is alleged that the “decent” women of the community prevented Bulette from being buried in consecrated ground. Her grave site is listed as Pioneer Cemetery, a boot hill of sorts outside Virginia City.
Nearly a year later, John Millian or Mieleain, (left) described alternately as a French drifter, unemployed baker or jewel thief, was arrested after trying to sell some of the items allegedly stolen from Bulette’s home. He spoke little English and insisted he merely had been an accomplice to robbery or at best, a fence for the robbers. They hung him anyway.
Myth appears to have taken once over again with details surrounding his incarceration. The “good women” of the town supposedly took up Millian’s cause, “bringing all manner of delicacies. . . ” to the jailhouse. Some declared they believed him innocent and others didn’t care. They were just glad to be rid of Bulette.
The details of Millian’s hanging on April 24, 1868, are available on reasonably good authority, however. Mark Twain (right) wrote of the event in a letter published in the Chicago Republican on May 31, 1868.
“I saw it all. I took exact note of every detail, even to Melanie’s [sp] considerately helping to fix the leather strap that bound his legs together and his quiet removal of his slippers — and I never wish to see it again.”
Whether they hung the right man or not, Millian’s execution was the biggest event since Julia’s funeral. But it came nowhere near to closing the books on the Bulette saga. The Virginia and Truckee Railroad dubbed a gaudy club coach the “Bulette” and her picture was said to hang in every saloon in town for years.
And the legend has persisted. Julia Bulette appears as a fictional character in a number of books and in movies and television, often portrayed by glamorous women. A more recent portrait has emerged, however, that of a rather plain woman who made her way as best she could in one of the rowdiest towns in the West. Who knows.
Julia Bulette Red Light Museum, housed at the Mustang Ranch Steakhouse in downtown Virginia City is listed as closed during winter months. When open visitors must be 18 or older, a rare R-rated museum. The Historic Virginia City Walking Tour, a more family friendly taste of 1860s boom town atmosphere, begins at the Visitor Center, 86 South C Street.
Other related museums include the Mark Twain Museum at the Territorial Enterprise, open year round, 10 to 5, at 53 South C Street and Pipers Opera House, B and Union Streets, open summers, 11 to 4. For more Virginia tourism information go to visitvirginiacitynv.com, e-mail VisitorInfo@StoreyCounty.org call toll-free 1-800-718-SLVR or write Virginia City Tourism Commission, Box 920, Virginia City, NV 89440
© Text Only – 2018 – Headin’ West LLC – All photos – public domain or fair use.