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| Elizabeth "Baby Doe" Tabor |
Facts on Elizabeth McCourt Tabor:
- Born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt in 1854 Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Irish immigrants.
- Married Harvey Doe in 1877; moved with him to Central City, Colorado that same year.
- Earned the name "Baby Doe" in the years her husband owned and ran the Fourth of July gold mine.
- Grew disenchanted with Harvey Doe, likely due to his alcoholism and financial troubles, and went to Leadville, Colorado, where she met silver baron Horace Tabor, who left his first wife Augusta, to spend time with her.
- Divorced Harvey Doe in March 1880; became established in fancy hotel suites in Denver and Leadville with financial support from Tabor.
- Went with Tabor to St. Louis in September 1882 to be married in secret. (More on this below!)
- Augusta Tabor, long steadfast in refusing to grant a divorce, finally relented in January 1883.
- Two months later, Baby Doe (28) and Tabor (52) were married publicly at the Willard Hotel in Washington D.C. during Tabor's brief tenure as U.S. Senator.
- After performing the ceremony, the Catholic priest learned both husband and wife had been divorced and refused to sign the marriage license, an action that set off a scandal which tarnished the Tabors' societal standing.
- Gave birth to two daughters: Elizabeth Bonduel Lily (1884) and Rose Mary Echo Silver Dollar (1889).
- Promised to fulfill her husband's dying wish that the Matchless Mine--their motherlode of fortune--be held onto, which she managed to do until ultimately losing the mine in 1927 to satisfy a debt.
- Despite loss of the mine, the owners allowed Baby Doe to live in the cabin near the mine shaft.
- In Winter 1935, neighbors discovered her body in the cabin, frozen to death on the floor.
- In contrast to the size of Augusta's estate (more than $1.5 million), Baby Doe's possessions were auctioned off to souvenir collectors for a mere $700. Buried next to Horace in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.
"Without having papers served on Augusta, Horace quickly obtained a divorce, garlanded with fraud and perjury though it was. He and Baby then journeyed secretly to St. Louis, where they were married by a justice of the peace. Technically, they were now living not in sin but in a state of bigamy. He promised that they would be married in a Catholic ceremony once the legal obstacles were cleared.
Baby was pacified for the moment--at least she had a marriage certificate to fondle--but a secret marriage was almost as unsatisfactory as the previous arrangement. She was getting awfully tired of wearing that heavy veil whenever she and Horace ventured into public view; of tripping over curbstones and blundering into lampposts. Furthermore the disguise wasn't fooling people anymore."
The role of Baby Doe in the Douglas Moore opera is a veritable gold-- or shall we say silvermine of arias for lyric coloratura sopranos. Baby Doe sings five arias throughout the opera: the Willow Song, the Letter Aria ("Dearest Mama..."), an aria sung to her romantic rival Augusta ("I Knew It Was Wrong"), the Silver Aria ("Gold is a fine thing...") sung to make peace between gold- and silver-standard supporters, and "Always Through the Changing," sung to her dying husband at the conclusion of the opera. Listen to an interpretation of the Willow Song by soprano Beverly Sills, who sang the role in its 1958 New York City Opera premiere.
The Ballad of Baby Doe runs February 8th (8pm) and 10th (3pm) at the Skip Viragh Center for the Arts on the campus of Chaminade College Preparatory School (425 S. Lindbergh Blvd; map). Tickets may be purchased by calling 314-865-0038 or online at http://winteroperastl.tix.com/ $10 Student Rush Tickets available at the door; valid Student ID required. For more information on this and future productions, visit WinterOperaSTL.org
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