Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
95 – Dell Burke: Lady of Lusk
0 Playsin 3 hours
This week Jeff shares the story of Dell Burke, a legendary figure of Wyoming’s frontier history.
Dell Burke operated the iconic Yellow Hotel in Lusk for nearly six decades, running a brothel and speakeasy that became both infamous and respected in the region. Known for her sharp business sense and commanding presence, she built a lasting enterprise in a time and place where survival required grit, strategy, and resilience.
But her legacy goes beyond notoriety. Dell was also known for her generosity and philanthropic contributions to the local community, creating a complex and fascinating story of a woman who thrived outside societal norms while quietly giving back.
This is a story of power, contradiction, and carving your own place in history.
Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at jeffandsamshow@gmail.com.
Sources
Read, June Willson. Frontier Madam: The Life of Dell Burke, Lady of Lusk. Twodot
Prairie Public – Dell Berke and the Yellow Hotel
https://news.prairiepublic.org/podcast/dakota-datebook/2021-11-04/dell-berke-and-the-yellow-hotel
Niobrara County Library – Obituary Records
https://www.niobraracountylibrary.org/obituaries/obituary-details/?id=872
Ranchers.net – Little Wyoming History discussion
https://www.ranchers.net/threads/little-wyoming-history.58154/
My Favorite Murder – Episode “Cow Women”
Recommended
Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, Sam. Hi, Jeffrey.
00:00:23
Speaker
I don't know if we can talk here because this is when he puts in the intro music. Yeah, I don't think you have to pause because he'll he'll chop it because it's Alan. Alan, you can just leave that in. Now put the intro music in just because they can see what's happening. I wish I could take a picture of you doing the awkward like, don't know what to Okay, welcome to the Jeff and Sam show. I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam.
00:00:46
Speaker
And you can find us on Apple, Spotify, Audible, iHeartRadio.com.
00:00:52
Speaker
rate us, review us. Why are you, what's up? Because you're like your face, you're like confused and it's for just thrown off. Oh yeah. i don't even know what I'm doing half the time. Uh, Jeff and Sam show at gmail.com.
00:01:05
Speaker
The Jeff and show at Instagram. And yeah, the most important thing is, um, we just started that off. So like, well, this is, that this is like a, this is like a shotgun recording session. So it's going to be a little wonky. It's going to be a lot wonky.
00:01:23
Speaker
But that's okay. Is it a little? I think it's going to be a lot wonky. Well, I don't deny that. But um yeah, yeah. Just like you said, find us listen to us, share us, rate us, review us. And hopefully that does something to some sort of algorithm.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah, that's what it's supposed to do. That's what they say. They do say that, don't they? I wonder who they is. Yeah. Algorithm. The algorithm people. The overloads. Do you ever look at Instagram and you're like, what just happened to my algorithm?
00:01:53
Speaker
Well, yeah. And it's really funny because i constantly, Ashley always yells at me because I constantly send her, my Ashley, I send her like medical stuff and it's like really gross. Like, you know, yeah and then it changes her algorithm. And so next thing you know, she's getting like really violent looking like trauma injuries or things like that. And she's like, God damn it. Stop sending me this shit. And she knows you did it? Oh, yeah, because you sent it to her. I did. Yeah.
00:02:20
Speaker
Oh, hey. But first let's cheers quiz so that we don't get yelled at. Cheers quiz. Cheers quiz. What's new? What's going on?
00:02:29
Speaker
I don't even know how to answer that right now because I feel like I'm kind of in, yeah you know. Yeah. and Yeah, that's our energy today. Well, it's just because, like,
00:02:43
Speaker
yeah It's just off. Today's just off. And I wish that we were outside. Like, I wish I could spend the day outside. I think it is where it's at. Oh, I have a friend coming in tonight from California who I can't wait to see. i worked with him in Hawaii.
00:02:56
Speaker
So the last time we saw each other was 2019. So this will be fun. We're going to catch up. We're going to go to a restaurant on the river. he going recognize you? I don't know. Probably. Hi, I'm Jeff.
00:03:07
Speaker
Hi, my name is Jeff. My name is Jeff. My name Jeff. never seen that movie, but so many fucking people have said that to me throughout the years. It's what I think about every time I say, like, anything to you. Because normally I call you Jeffrey, right? But any time I say Jeff, that goes in my head. Hi, my name is Jeff. My name Jeff. And I know who said it. I know what movie it's from, but I haven't seen it.
00:03:34
Speaker
I think I know what movie it's from. The remake of 21 Jump Street. oh Yeah. Yeah. I mean, i you know, it's worth a watch. It's a goofy, stupid humor kind of movie. but Also, can we talk about the fact that I have so much pizza in my in my freezer?
00:03:53
Speaker
Do you know how to reheat it? Yes. Not in a microwave. Not in a microwave. Kayla. Not in a microwave. Kayla. And honestly, I wish it could just be left at Caleb, but there's so many people who do that.
00:04:08
Speaker
And it causes like the angry red monster in me to awaken. And your dad. it's just It's just a sin. Right?
00:04:19
Speaker
It's a sin. So good. He made us pizza again this past Saturday, and it was delicious. It was lovely. yeah it was a good day. So many children. Kids everywhere. My mom, i because I was trying to give them like a general headcount for how many people were going to be there. And was like, oh, this many people and like this many kids. And I guess I told her that it would be five children. um and That was a gross miscalculation. I don't think they care. They don't, but I walked downstairs at one point and she and my brother were sitting on the couch, just like watching the chaos around them. yeah And my mom looks up at me and goes, this is more than five. i was like, it does appear to be more than five, yes. But they seem to enjoy it. And like your dad, just just for the love of making pizza, your dad makes the pizza and it is so good. i only wish my dad could have came.
00:05:12
Speaker
Yes, me too. Because he was here until Saturday morning. Yeah. But we had a good couple of days together. we went to St. Michael's. He loved St. Michael's. You've been there? Yeah. Yeah, it's like, um reminds me of a little town I used to live in, in New York, called Port Jefferson.
00:05:28
Speaker
It's on the water. It's old-timey. It's historic-y. It's like... Looks like New England. It does. It does. It very New England-ish. Cute. And the real reason I went there is for this restaurant named Gina's.
00:05:41
Speaker
And Gina's was closed. <unk> But it said it was open on when you search it. But it is open only on Friday and Saturdays. Yeah, and so then he came with me to get the tattoo and ah he does not want a tattoo, did not want a tattoo, but in case at some point he listens to this in the future, he did tell me the other night, ah you know, i kind of like to have an American flag tattoo on my arm or somewhere.
00:06:15
Speaker
He should get one in the same spot you got one. I was like, Ronnie, we can do that. That'd be so cute. We can do that, Ronnie. I know a guy and a girl. I know a bunch of people. Ella. Ella was so great. She was the one that did my tattoo.
00:06:29
Speaker
She was great. And then, of course, we had dinner Friday night. That was fun. It was lovely. Yeah. With Christopher, Daniel, Blythe, Dad.
00:06:41
Speaker
All the good people. Minus a couple of good people. Yeah. But we'll make up for it. And she left us. She left us. She left us. She did. We're going no i'm never gonna forgive her We'll make her pay. We'll make her pay.
00:06:56
Speaker
Wait. Speaking of her and making her pay.
00:06:59
Speaker
You know, the balloons with the confetti that we set up for like welcome to work embarrassment thing? Yeah. Well, The other night at work, Dr. French was sitting in that chair and he put his bag down and there was a secret balloon still hiding under there. oh And so it took a moment. Like it wasn't the same time that he set the bag down. Like it wasn't like set down pop. It was like sitting there and I guess it rubbed against something on the backpack and it popped. And when I tell you that like the sound that it made, it was like,
00:07:32
Speaker
oh fuck did somebody just fall from the ceiling but then we saw the glitter floating down and dr. French was he found it so fucking funny that he was now sitting in a puddle of glitter that's what we leave behind glitter tons of glitter and chaos and chaos yeah what else there was something else was gonna tell you but I can't remember welcome to my world Yeah, can't remember. it was going to be good too. it Didn't write it down.
00:08:05
Speaker
Hey, you once created a note in your phone and it was blank. Don't look at me like that. so for for your For the people who are listening, she just like jaw dropped. Look at me.
00:08:17
Speaker
It was like a gasp. The most judgmental. Yeah. And i was like, oh, no, no, no, no. She created a note, got drunk, forgot to put this stuff in the note. are You did. I got so excited that I made the note that I forgot what I was going to write in the note. That's funny. And then I opened it up and I was like, fuck, it's blank. Yeah.
00:08:34
Speaker
Okay, well, should we just get into it? Let's get into it. God, please tell me I hit record. I did. Oh, how do you know? There goes the damn heart and the wand. Okay, I did hit record. We're doing good today.
00:08:48
Speaker
We're doing good. But okay. Sorry, think. You want a story? want tell me story. but Normally, well, less normally than before. I don't know how to say that, but...
00:09:00
Speaker
there Look, the show is usually Sam and I telling a story to each other and we flip a coin and we don't know what the stories are going to be. i understand now. And so Sam does not have a story ready for today.
00:09:13
Speaker
So she will not be doing a story today, but she did the one last week. So recently we've only done. Yeah. I did the one the week before that. That was the dude the. don't want talk about it. Yeah. don't want to talk about Oh, no. And then I did my... Okay. I remember now. Horrible, horrible stories. So I'm doing a course correction.
00:09:35
Speaker
for ah But normally we like flip a coin and then we tell each other stories. That's kind of the how we do the podcast. But when we're super busy... And times get tough. And Sam forgets to set aside time. Yeah, yeah. I almost did too, but I've been, I literally read a book for this story.
00:09:54
Speaker
And I wanted to put the whole fucking book in the story, but you gotta narrow that shit down. And that's why this story that I'm doing, it's a really important one that I think ah that it is important. But when I was heading over here today, I was like, I just don't feel like it's like I've got it right because there are things that need to be.
00:10:17
Speaker
I think maybe in different spots. And I think that I left out some details for, um, because I was trying to get it done. um and I just didn't feel right about doing it cause I need to do it.
00:10:32
Speaker
justice. Yeah. So that's kind of how I feel about this one. So I'm hoping proofread it. Number one, i did proofread it, but I'm hoping everything is where it goes and I don't repeat anything in the story.
00:10:46
Speaker
You know what i mean? but you know, but I don't care. Whatever. If I repeat it, I repeat it. It needs to be repeated. Okay. And you can just pretend like you didn't and then make people feel crazy.
00:10:57
Speaker
Yes, our... Alan can edit it out. Oh, he can't. What are talking about? Our fancy smancy Medusa. Producer. Medusa producer. Editor.
00:11:11
Speaker
Okay, so... Dolly Parton, okay? I know I've told you before, 1984, she's singing Islands in the Stream with Kenny Rogers, and eight-year-old Jeff was like, oh, I'm a little different than most of the boys.
00:11:29
Speaker
And then, mom and Dad let me watch her movie in the 80s. think it came out like around 1980 with Burt Reynolds, and it's called Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
00:11:41
Speaker
And in this movie, she plays a madam of a chicken ranch, which that's what they called it, right? And it was so gay because Dolly was so fabulous and it was a musical. And if you have you ever seen that classic cut and Dolly later said that she did this role because though the women in that story you need they have a voice, too. A story worth telling. A story worth telling.
00:12:13
Speaker
So that's kind of when I heard this story that I'm going to tell you today, I still think about Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Okay. Okay. And I know you know this story. The sources that I read, the book that I read is by June Wilson. It's called Frontier Madam, The Life of Del Burke, The Lady of Lusk.
00:12:35
Speaker
Prairiepublic.org ranchers.net Sounds like a dating website. And the where I heard of this story was on My Favorite Murder. Georgia did an amazing job with this story. sit And we love them. We do. We really do. Love them. So that's where I heard of this story.
00:12:55
Speaker
All right. Mary Ada Fisher was born in Somerset, Ohio in 1888, the fourth child of John and Amita Fisher. When Mary was 10, she moved with her family to North Dakota to settle the affairs of a deceased uncle.
00:13:10
Speaker
The Fisher family decided to stay and bought a new homestead near Wolf Creek where John built the Fisher store and the post office, which would later become to be become known as Fisher, North Dakota.
00:13:24
Speaker
Wanting a daughter to get an education, wanting their daughter to get an education, the family sent 13-year-old Mary to St. Bernard's Academy in Grand Forks. As Mary matured, she found the strict religious environment too confining. i feel you. Yeah.
00:13:40
Speaker
Yeah. We get you, girl. And she rejoined her family, which had left Fisher and moved to Omimi, North Dakota. You just made that. it could It could be Amami or... um'm Oh, my, my. Oh, my, my. But it could be Omimi. Okay. I don't know.
00:13:58
Speaker
I don't know. Mary or Marie, she's now, she likes to be called Marie, worked at the Omimi train depot. There she met railroad conductor Stephen Law, and the tune were so the two were soon married. Marie, 17 years old, was 15 years younger than Stephen.
00:14:15
Speaker
The newlyweds, it was like, you know, 1910 or whatever. The newlyweds lived with Stephen's overbearing spinster sister. Unable to live under those conditions, Marie left Stephen and fled on her own to Banff, Canada.
00:14:31
Speaker
She said, fuck this, I'm on. Fuck it. All the while, Marie was thinking about what she could do for work and where she could go next. And Alaska had gold mines. And this meant a lot of men.
00:14:44
Speaker
And in the early 1900s, there wasn't exactly a lot of work for women. She knew that, like, as a lady of the night, she could make 300 bucks a month. A lady of the night.
00:14:56
Speaker
Marie wrote to her family and she told them Stephen had died thinking, okay, this is not a conversation we will ever have again. He's dead. Yeah. He was not dead, but she ended it right there. Stephen died.
00:15:09
Speaker
I'm a widow. Marie was moving to Alaska. So Marie went to the train station with all the money in her pocket and said to the man at the counter, I want to go to Alaska. How far will this get me? And he said, I suspect you can get to Juneau.
00:15:24
Speaker
And off she went. Taking odd jobs along the way to make her way, the petite, attractive redhead received much attention from men in the mining camps and began her life as a dance hall girl. I do love a good redhead.
00:15:38
Speaker
I do love a good dance hall girl. It's, and dance hall girls are, it's, Considered like adjacent to sex work. Yeah. Right? So Marie knew that wherever there was a large number of men on the frontier, a swarm of women would set up tents or cribs.
00:15:58
Speaker
And Juneau was a bustling town. Gold had been discovered there in 1882, and young men had moved there to make their fortune. Of course. As a dance hall girl, dance hall girl, Marie learned that she could make a lot of money...
00:16:12
Speaker
and have men buy her drinks. And the more people that she danced with, the more money that she made. Weird. She would dance with them, even the men from the Alaskan legislature, as well as the rougher men from the mines. Wait, you're talking about, when you say Alaskan legislature, you mean politicians? Oh, yes, I They fornicated with dance hall girls? They danced. No way. Allegedly.
00:16:38
Speaker
Danced. Allegedly. Yeah. Politicians never sink so low. Right. Yeah. you know and What are we going to do when they can see our faces? I don't know. But when I was thinking of this story, I remember when I worked at the video store when I was like 20...
00:16:56
Speaker
I don't know. So last year. 21. Yeah, the other day. And I remember in the small town that I was from, they put in like the porn section of the video store. Of course.
00:17:07
Speaker
Behind, like in the back area? In the back corner was the porn section. They put up walls to put, you Keep it out of the site. All the VHS pornos were in the back room. And, ah All the the men that would come in and rent those movies, was i assume it's a lot like this. You know what I mean?
00:17:27
Speaker
Don't tell anybody. Don't make eye contact. And I think a lot of them would come there when I was there because I didn't give a fuck. You know what I mean? Preacher man. um So where was I at? and I digress. Sorry.
00:17:41
Speaker
She learned that the more she danced with, the more Alaskan legislature she danced with, the more money she made. And she once said it seemed like the entire Alaskan legislature was at the dance hall on Saturday nights.
00:17:55
Speaker
So the decision to make even more money through sex work was a step that Marie would soon take. So there the sex workers were referred to as sporting girls. They were... I love it. Sporting girls.
00:18:09
Speaker
Different meanings in different circles. They were very independent and they often were the major social center of the community. And many of the women made socks, they sewed buttons back onto the shirts for the men, and even nursed the sick men back to health. Well, you know what they say about good sex.
00:18:29
Speaker
What? What do they say about it? i don't want to talk about it. Soon the heavy traffic from the gold rush would slack off and politicians were forcing sex work underground, so Marie decided it was time to leave Alaska. But she would always look back at her time in Alaska with fond memories. She even told her friends that she made $10,000 one year there. wow And...
00:18:50
Speaker
That time, today's money, that would be $330,000. She made in one year. i need to switch careers. Dancehall girl is where it's at, I'm saying. I don't think I could be a sporting girl, but I could be a dancehall girl. You could be a dancehall girl.
00:19:05
Speaker
Marie headed down to the lower 48. As her professional life progressed, she changed her name to Del Burke. But whenever she went home to visit her family or she corresponded with them, her name would always be Marie Fisher, the widow.
00:19:20
Speaker
Del's career took her to Montana, it took her eventually to Casper, Wyoming, but Casper cracked down on alcohol and prostitution, so Del moved to Lusk, Wyoming, and built a brothel known as the Yellow Hotel where Del became Madam to provide a safe space or a safe place for young ladies to work in the world's oldest profession.
00:19:43
Speaker
I just envy her so much. She's our people. if If ever there was our kind of people, she's our people. like What a great, like i what a lady. Del arrived in Lusk in 1919, sweeping into the little town with the Lance Creek oil boom that was brought in that brought in hundreds of virile, young oil-filled workers.
00:20:03
Speaker
She said, quote, I thought the name of the place was Lusk. She mixed it up for Lusk. Setting up a tent, Del and her girlfriend immediately begin serving the customers. They rented a house from the mayor of the town, and on January 5th, 1920, Del was in the lawyer's office with her her longtime coworker and friend, Bessie. She was excited about the prospect of owning her own place.
00:20:26
Speaker
This place that she was interested in and would buy was a modest place on First Street with 10 bedrooms upstairs and a reception room and a kitchen downstairs. It also had a double garage that could easily be converted into a dance hall.
00:20:41
Speaker
And just like that, Dale's name was on the title. Dale slapped a... This is a true story. There's probably so many of these stories that we don't know. yeah I just love this.
00:20:54
Speaker
So, Del slapped a fresh a coat of bright yellow paint on the property and she named it the Yellow Hotel. And she was in business. She started collecting menus from other restaurants around town to see kind of what they were eating. And she put out the word that she needed girls to work for her.
00:21:10
Speaker
She also found a bootlegger in another town over who produced clean whiskey. So the hotel had clean whiskey and really good food. Despite... Exactly.
00:21:23
Speaker
Best steak I ever had was in Cody, Wyoming. They do do beef out there. Best steak. So despite, or maybe even perhaps her success, perhaps of her success, prohibition-sensitive men of the law regularly busted her for business. Not only for alcohol, but for lewdness, for prostitution, and for other related related crimes.
00:21:45
Speaker
I'm trying to bring a lady down. Exactly. Because of this, Del... She was smart. She came up with a plan. In 1929, she learned that the Lusk Power and Light Department's engine and generator failed, leaving the city without power.
00:22:00
Speaker
As the all-male city council struggled to find the $22,300 for the replacement, Dale was like, wait a minute, I gotcha. so she gave them a personal loan to a personal loan to keep the power on.
00:22:13
Speaker
They later paid paid her back with a 6% interest. She was fined monthly for having alcohol, for lewdness, for prostitution, but essentially, like, she just paid the fine and it was kind of like a bribe.
00:22:26
Speaker
Yeah. Eventually, one of the judges did shut the Yellow Hotel down, but that was only temporary. Authorities kindly let her reopen the Yellow Hotel on December 31st, 1930, and Del never had any more official interference. Happy New Year.
00:22:40
Speaker
So railroad workers, hunters, servicemen swarmed the Yellow Hotel for evenings with the ladies. One of the ways that Del would let the locals know about the new lady was that Del would send the new girl on an errand into town with Del's own Perkinese... Pekingese? Pekingese? Pekingese dog on her shoulder.
00:23:00
Speaker
Once the men saw the beautiful lady with Del's dog, they knew that Del had a new girl. Way to advertise. Brilliant yet subtle way to advertise the hotel. Walking the dog wasn't the only method Del used to promote her brothel. Her Yellow Hotel was advertised on roadside billboards as Del's Yellow Hotel. Along with other civic-minded citizens, Del paid for the painting and the upkeep of several billboards on the roads leading to Lusk.
00:23:26
Speaker
She's so smart. She is. God damn, she's so smart. What business woman. The signs included the name of the sponsoring business just as a courtesy. Del also took care of her girls, all of her employees. She hired local doctors to give the women checkups and to treat them if needed.
00:23:41
Speaker
If an employee drank or became too obnoxious, she wouldn't hesitate to stop that behavior. But on the other hand, she also took her employees to her 415 acre ranch outside of Lusk where she would have barbecues for them. She'd give them gifts.
00:23:56
Speaker
Between billboards and word of mouth, the Yellow Hotel's fame spread. Del's eight girls were kept busy entertaining Johns, who dined on, quote, the best steaks in Wyoming prepared by Del's chef, danced to music from a live orchestra, and eventually found their way upstairs with the companion of their choice.
00:24:16
Speaker
for For conversation, right? Obviously. Now, it's the Depression in the 1930s. Times are tough. Often men are looking for work. So, Del being the person that she is, she hired a lot of the men to do work around the hotel, and she also feeds them from the hotel's kitchen.
00:24:35
Speaker
She puts her money where her mouth is, right? She seems like a wonderful lady. Yes. I want to know her. Wait, you're going to love her. I say that like I'm going to meet like introduce you to her. You did say that again. I meant like. Like, is she here? By the last page, you're going to love her. You already do. I do.
00:24:52
Speaker
And she, so she walks around town. She dresses really conservative conservatively in Lusk, right? And she walks around with her dog. She doesn't speak until spoken to. She never speaks until spoken to. And she, I think this is in here later, but like she...
00:25:09
Speaker
does not permit herself or any of her girls to say it call anybody by their name. Yeah. Hey, Bill. Can you imagine? no If he was with his wife? Del and her girls always wore perfume, and the money they brought into the bank always made the place smell really good. The smell would last until the money had been withdrawn, and it was always a rush in the morning to open up the vault and get the first whiff of the perfume. Mm-hmm.
00:25:34
Speaker
Although successful at getting the law off her back, Del set aside her own code of conduct for her business. She closed the hotel on Sundays so that, quote, none of the boys could come here instead of going to church because she didn't want them to compete with God.
00:25:49
Speaker
okay Her girls were warned about speaking to anyone outside of the hotel unless spoken to first and firmly told that they must never divulge the identity of any customer.
00:25:59
Speaker
So when they went into town, they had to dress up in a classy way, but not fancy. Yeah. Don't draw too much attention, but also be respectful. Exactly. She was making it like a classy establishment. Del didn't drink and the women weren't allowed to drink either.
00:26:14
Speaker
The oil boom faded kind of in the 1940s, so Dell realized that she needed to diversify. She invested smartly in real estate and stocks. However, she also luxuriated in that leisure time by spending more time with traveling and entertaining friends.
00:26:30
Speaker
Del kept the hotel going through and after World War II, through the Korean War. And by this time, many of the people in town are so proud of the hotel because it's been around for a long time.
00:26:44
Speaker
Or they're not like ashamed. You know what I mean? yeah It's like a part of history by this point. And it does a it does a ah lot for the economy. Right. Well, and here's another thing Del did. She gives generously to the churches in town.
00:26:58
Speaker
She's always the top donor to the charitable causes in town. And every year she pays for college tuition for students from the town. All the while, she is very modest. She knows that people don't want to see her in her like fur coats in the town of Lusk. She's aware of this, right? Yeah.
00:27:17
Speaker
She's so savvy. But she does like to go out, like dress up. So she takes trips to Denver where she does put her jewels on, her mink coat, her fur coat, whatever. She wears it in Denver.
00:27:28
Speaker
That makes sense. Time and a place. So around 1978, Dell starts winding down the Yellow Hotel. After all, she's turning 90 years old. Holy fuck.
00:27:39
Speaker
She does eventually close the hotel, and the Yellow Hotel was open for business from 1920 1978. It was open nearly 60 years. Holy shit. it was open nearly sixty years Life took a turn for Dell, however, on August 4th, 1979, when the aging woman tripped and fell on the sidewalk in front of her hotel, breaking her hip.
00:28:00
Speaker
Oh, no. Never good. Following the treatment at a hospital, her physician had her brought back to Lusk and taken to the county's local memorial hospital. And once her condition stabled, she was moved into a nursing home. No.
00:28:16
Speaker
Once she had a visitor in the nursing home and when the visitor arrived, the TV was turned up really loud so that Del could hear the TV, but neither of the women could figure out how to turn the TV off. So Del said, just unplug it.
00:28:31
Speaker
So the visitor started and about having grown up in a convent and she asked if she could pray with Del. Del ignored it. and started talking about something else, and the lady persisted.
00:28:44
Speaker
And the lady said, quote, I'm not going to try to push you, but can I come and pray with you from time to time? To which Del replied, plug the TV back in on your way out.
00:28:56
Speaker
let's See? Our people. I'll need your shit. Plug it in on the way out. Del had a good relationship with the nursing staff at the nursing home too. For example, they were able to take care of her, but she would, they were there to take care of her, but she would find ways to help them out. After many years of taking care of her own girls, it was natural that her concern flowed out to the girls around her.
00:29:18
Speaker
When a young aide walked into Del's room one day with a worried look, Del became concerned. She said, ''Are you okay?'' Del asked. ''Do you have enough to eat?'' Del knew that she had enough cash stashed nearby that she could easily pull it out.
00:29:33
Speaker
She kept track of the aides and the nurses to make sure that they had whatever they needed because she was still taking care of her girls. Dale claimed, I wouldn't trade my life for anything. I've made a lot of money. I've traveled the world. For me, it's been a good life.
00:29:48
Speaker
On November 4th, 1980, Del Burke passed away from natural causes. A longtime friend of Del's wrote that one of the wealthiest women and the most charitable women in Wyoming had died virtually unnoticed, at he as he described her as a living legend.
00:30:06
Speaker
Del Burke had, in fact, lived... as quietly as she died. a couple of months later, there was a headline in the paper, though. Lusk Madam left a $1 million estate.
00:30:20
Speaker
At the time of her death in 1980, Del worth million. that in today's money is thirteen point four million dollars amazing Incredible, isn't Wow.
00:30:38
Speaker
Her estate included a hotel with 11 lots on 1st Street in Lusk and a country house of 495 acres of land. hell. In Wyoming. Right.
00:30:49
Speaker
Jesus. Del did have a little black book with some potentially compromising information, but that was handed over to her lawyer. I would love to see the book.
00:31:00
Speaker
On the evening of her estate sale, a crowd of 2,000 people came to tour the Yellow Hotel. Mind you, that was double the population of the town. Navajo rugs, clothing, pictures, paintings were displayed in the reception room.
00:31:16
Speaker
Traffic was routed through the front door along the hallway past the reception room and up the stairs into the working rooms. As they passed pictures along the wall, one family stopped to stare at a picture that matched one in their family's barn. Oh no! Sparking some conjecture that a bachelor uncle may have given that to Del.
00:31:36
Speaker
Stories were told during the tour. One man was walking down the stairs ahead of his wife and commented, that step always did squeak. Oh no! One of the renters there said, you couldn't get away with anything around old Del.
00:31:49
Speaker
Someone said, really, why? The renters said, one time this old boy got himself in such a bad way with his missus and told Del all about it. Del had him sit down for a spell and then sent him upstairs. And when he when he went inside the bedroom door, he almost came right back out.
00:32:05
Speaker
How come, said the other man. Well, there stood his missus with a smile on her face. Did she work there? did they all set him up? The rancher said, he never said, and he didn't tell the divorce judge about it either.
00:32:18
Speaker
Some of the things sold at the auction, I would have loved to gone to this action auction tour. Honestly. Seriously. Some of the things sold at the auction were room keys, 100 bucks a pop, clocks that signaled the end of a session, silver whistles, a 1932 Mills Studio jukebox, a Wolitzer jukebox, and ah even a pair of Dell's dentures.
00:32:42
Speaker
leather Leather benches used by the gentlemen who were waiting their turn. but The internal bell system, which the ladies would use to signal that they were ready for a new client. So classy. Sold for $800. A velvet painting.
00:32:58
Speaker
Yes, please. There were buyers there from New Mexico, from Florida, from California, from Colorado, from Montana, all over. Her family had just found out two years prior that Marie was in fact Del Burke.
00:33:14
Speaker
And her grandnie said, the notoriety the notoriety has taken some time to get used to, but honestly, I'm having a great time. In 1973, an interview, Del reflected on her life in Lusk, saying that after 1930, nobody really ever threatened to shut me down because maybe, just maybe, i knew too much for everybody's good. but In the 1980s and the 1990s, the Yellow Hotel would fall into disrepair, and in 2012, it would be burned down because there was nothing that they could do with it.
00:33:46
Speaker
Whether people liked Del or not, or whether they even knew Del at all, Lusk residents could not completely ignore Del Burke. Like a thread on the loom of small town life, Del and her yellow hotel are deeply woven into the history of the Western frontier.
00:34:03
Speaker
And that is the story of the Lady of Lusk, Del Burke, the madam. God, she's amazing. I love that story. That's one of my favorites.
00:34:15
Speaker
Honestly, it might be one of mine too. Like just... Just... Like a... Like a
00:34:22
Speaker
like a badass woman. Yeah. But like not in your face. Not in your face. You know, like... And she was doing something that's considered unconventional, but also it's the oldest profession on earth. And, and you know, you have to have... I'm sorry. You don't have to have. I have very...
00:34:42
Speaker
a very high respect for madams who know that things are going to happen, whether that person is there or not, and makes a safe place for people to do what is going to be done regardless. And like, she did it in such a fucking baller way. Yeah, that's the cool thing about her.
00:35:09
Speaker
Oh, I mean, one of the many. The book was really, really good. oh I love that. Such a good book. I read it a long time ago, and then I reread it. and like I said, I wanted to put all the details in it, but I just couldn't have a 20-pager for this one.
00:35:24
Speaker
Or maybe I could have, but whatever. Probably not. The Lady of Lusk. I had to, like, do Redemption. I did a couple of bad stories in a row. And, you know.
00:35:35
Speaker
You don't like dwelling darkness. I'll do a bad story. That's fine. But then I'm like, I need something happier, you know, in my life. Like Lawn Chair Larry or, like, it's Dolly Parton. That's the one in Austin, Texas.
00:35:47
Speaker
That was a good one. Thank you. that that That turned us around because the one that I have is not and' not the good. So, okay. We said Cheers, Queers, Hall of Flames. This is a good this is I think this goes in the Hall of Flame. Definitely. I think it does. i think because she lived quietly, but she was such a powerhouse.
00:36:12
Speaker
With dignity too. And I just also love that she was like, oh fuck this Steven guy. He's dead. He's dead. No more conversation about him ever. That's how we're gonna end that. He died. I love it. i love it.
00:36:23
Speaker
Did we miss anything? Have we missed anything at all? Probably. hope you guys have a good Thursday. Have a good weekend. What's today? to Tomorrow's Thursday. Yes, hello. It's Thursday. This comes out on Thursday. This is our fake Thursday.
00:36:37
Speaker
yeah i don't think i'll ever get used to that yeah like the concept of recording on a day that this is not coming out and then having to process like before you went to europe we had to record like four shows in one day brain dead like yeah and and and like it's hard because you know when we talk on the show about something like if we're recording on a monday and the show comes out on thursday but we have a dinner on wednesday it's like That Thursday that you're listening to us, we'll be talking about how, oh, we have upcoming plans.
00:37:08
Speaker
yeah And then by the time you're listening, the plans have already passed. And we don't remember anything we do. Absolutely not. Period. Absolutely not. Ever. Ever realized how horrible I am with that. like I don't remember. This goes into the vortex of fuckery and I just forget it all. Domp. are Look at you pulling in all the thingamabobbers. You know, I'm feeling good today. That's good.
00:37:32
Speaker
That's good. Anyway, that's it. That's it for today. We love you for listening. Thank you so much for listening. It means a lot to us. Happy April. Happy April. God almighty, it's April. Jesus. And remember, Christopher, we're here for a good time. Sal.
00:37:47
Speaker
Not alone. Okay. Bye-bye.