Cast of Characters

WPA Slave Narrative Collection (1936)

Henrietta Lee—Ninety-two-year-old former slave

Grace Williams—Interviewer

Marshall Pass Stage Robbery

Grace Trumbull—A bluestocking from Chicago traveling the West to write her memoirs

Emily Butler—Margaret Parker’s alias during the Marshall Pass stage robbery

Benjamin Adamson—Callum Connolly’s clerk

Stella Elbee—Member of the Parker Gang; Joan’s older sister

Joan Jennifer Elbee—Youngest member of the Parker Gang; Stella’s younger sister

Toddy—Wells Fargo stagecoach guard

Jehu Lee—Wells Fargo teamster

Hattie LaCour—Former slave and Buffalo Soldier; co-leader of the Parker Gang (Henrietta Lee)

Margaret Elizabeth Standridge Parker, Duchess of Parkerton—British widow; co-leader of the Parker Gang

Thomas Parker, Duke of Parkerton (deceased)—Margaret’s husband; hero of the Charge of the Light Brigade

Horace Whatley—Miner

Timberline

Newt Valentine—Twelve-year-old son of Timberline’s blacksmith

Ulysses Valentine—Blacksmith; alcoholic and violent man

Lou Valentine (deceased)—Ulysses Valentine’s wife

Sheriff Luke Rhodes—Timberline sheriff who enforces one law: no killing

Rebecca and Harvey Reynolds—Owners of the Timberline general store

Opal Steele—One of two whores in Timberline

Ruby Steele—The other whore; Opal’s “sister”; half-Chinese

Eli—Bartender/bouncer at the Blue Diamond Saloon

Salter—Stranger

The Spooner Gang

Jed Spooner—Outlaw; Margaret Parker’s former lover

Hank “Ought-Not” Henry—Jed Spooner’s lieutenant; safecracker

Domino Jones—Cardsharp

“Sly” Jack Fox—Pickpocket

Maurice “Scab” Williams—Explosives expert

“Dead-Eye” Deacon Jones—Religious fanatic

The Connolly Family

Colonel Louis Connolly (deceased)—Colorado militiaman during the Civil War; cattleman; owner of Connolly Enterprises

Dorcas Connolly—Colonel Connolly’s sister; Callum’s aunt

Callum Connolly—Colonel Connolly’s son; Dorcas’s nephew

Poudre River Ranch and Dinner Party

Zhu Li—Connolly’s Chinese cook; formerly worked for Margaret

Bohai—Her husband

Zeke—Cowboy

Governor John Routt and his wife, Eliza—First governor of Colorado

Nathaniel P. Hill—A gold smelter

Lewis and Dorothy Wilson—A dry goods proprietor with stores in Cheyenne, Denver, Golden

Alexander Bisson—Callum Connolly’s lawyer; helped Colonel Connolly steal Margaret’s ranch

Evangeline White—His paid companion

Denver/Colorado Springs/Cheyenne/Black Hawk

Claire Hamilton—Female detective hunting the female gang; former Pinkerton, hired by Dorcas Connolly

Dr. Alida Avery—First female physician in Colorado; president of the Colorado Woman Suffrage Association

Kaye Hunter—Suffragist

Ashley Perkins—Suffragist

Sally Dove—Colorado Springs prostitute

Rosemond—Photographer and portraitist

Portia Bright—Rosemond’s partner

Clay Cooper—Cheyenne sheriff

Frank Chambers—Owner of the Chambers Lodge in Black Hawk, Colorado

Lana Chambers—His wife; Margaret took Lana and her son, Zeke, in when they ran away from her abusive former husband

George—Pinkerton

Wilson—Pinkerton

Mingzhu—Ruby Steele’s given name

Yung Su—Denver tailor; Mingzhu’s uncle