Colourful and courageous real-life characters flourished in what we now call "the Wild West". Most would make great subjects for an astrology blog entry, but variable and unreliable data makes things pretty difficult. There was little in the way of record keeping in those wild old days, and what did exist would have been so rough and ready, that it's of little use in "proper" astrology.
Take, for instance the case of Poker Alice, a female gambling legend of old frontier days.
Sources on the internet give her birth data variously as
17 February 1851, Sudbury, England, 17 February 1853, Devonshire, England ( those years and places are interchangeable). Another writer states that sources indicate Alice was born in 1853 in Virginia, USA to Irish immigrants, and that she was wont to give out inaccurate information about herself. Perhaps, if the last theory is correct, and Alice was born in the USA, she may have felt that spreading the story that she was born in England would enhance her image in the gambling circles she frequented. Who knows?
Whether she originated in England or not, it appears that Alice Ivers accompanied her family at some point in early life to Colorado where she later married a mining engineer, Frank Duffield, a poker player who taught Alice her skills. She was an intelligent lass and soon got the hang of things. She was probably good looking enough to turn the heads of male poker players too! Frank was killed in a mining accident, and Alice took up a career on the poker and faro tables of the west. New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and South Dakota saw her skills demonstrated at the tables. In New Mexico, she broke the bank at one of the saloons, and the dealer was forced to close the game. Alice took over and played all night and left with a tidy profit. She moved to Deadwood, South Dakota, and became a local legend. Alice's winnings at the table are fabled to have reached as much as $6,000 in one night. Alice once claimed that she had won more than $250,000 gambling over the years and that she never once cheated. Both of these claims are probably true. Poker Alice didn't have to cheat. She knew how to count.
Alice married a card dealer and house painter named Warren Tubbs in the 1890s - they had 7 children. Tubbs died in 1910, Alice eventually married again, but very briefly, her third husband George Huckert died in 1913. She went on to open a brothel, and during a skirmish there accidentally killed a man with a stray rifle shot. She was arrested but later released. Many arrests for drunkenness and keeping a disorderly house followed in subsequent years. Her days of
glamour and success waned in later life. She died following a gall bladder operation on 27 February 1930.
Story in more detail
So, having gleaned something of Alice's personality, I've looked at the various birth charts to decide which, if any, makes the most sense. I reckon the differences in place of birth are secondary to the year of birth. 1851 or 1853? Whichever date is correct the constant factors are Sun, Mercury, Mars and sometimes Venus, all in Aquarius.
In 1851 Pluto and Uranus lay in Aries, along with Saturn, but by 1853 all three had moved on into Taurus.
The Moon in the 1853 Virginia chart would almost certainly be in Gemini, whatever the birth time. I like that - it blends well with those Aquarian planets and would emphasise a quick, clever mind. Although, in the 1851 chart the Moon would very probably lie in Virgo, also ruled by Mercury which could have given Alice the eye and ability to remember detail - she'd need that for success at the poker tables. Hmmmmm.
I like Pluto Uranus and Saturn in Aries (1851), better than Taurus (1853). Alice had to have a lightning quick mind, and brilliant memory for counting the cards in poker, somehow that fits Saturn in Aries better than in Taurus. Yet one report states that during the time she was raising her 7 children, she and her husband homesteaded a ranch, and it is said that she was never happier than during those years, away from the gambling tables - a hint of Taurus there? So, really, the chart for either year could be seen as a reasonable fit.
The common factor, 3 or 4 personal planets in quirky, independent Aquarius is the key. How different Alice was from most of her contemporaries, what a rebel from the norm! What a novel way she found to use her quick, incisive Aquarian mind! There's no doubt at all that Alice "followed a different drummer".
Poker Alice died on 27 February 1930 after a gall bladder operation. On that date, using the 1853 Virginia chart, transiting Saturn would have trined natal Saturn. Jupiter, then in Gemini, could well have been close to her natal Moon. I've read that Jupiter often figures in charts of a death.
I'll put my money on the theory that Poker Alice was born in Virginia 17 February 1853, and that she decided to spread tales of her English origins in an attempt to intrigue others at the poker tables. A bit of early PR work!
Photograph courtesy of South Dakota State Historical Society.
Take, for instance the case of Poker Alice, a female gambling legend of old frontier days.
Sources on the internet give her birth data variously as
17 February 1851, Sudbury, England, 17 February 1853, Devonshire, England ( those years and places are interchangeable). Another writer states that sources indicate Alice was born in 1853 in Virginia, USA to Irish immigrants, and that she was wont to give out inaccurate information about herself. Perhaps, if the last theory is correct, and Alice was born in the USA, she may have felt that spreading the story that she was born in England would enhance her image in the gambling circles she frequented. Who knows?
Whether she originated in England or not, it appears that Alice Ivers accompanied her family at some point in early life to Colorado where she later married a mining engineer, Frank Duffield, a poker player who taught Alice her skills. She was an intelligent lass and soon got the hang of things. She was probably good looking enough to turn the heads of male poker players too! Frank was killed in a mining accident, and Alice took up a career on the poker and faro tables of the west. New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and South Dakota saw her skills demonstrated at the tables. In New Mexico, she broke the bank at one of the saloons, and the dealer was forced to close the game. Alice took over and played all night and left with a tidy profit. She moved to Deadwood, South Dakota, and became a local legend. Alice's winnings at the table are fabled to have reached as much as $6,000 in one night. Alice once claimed that she had won more than $250,000 gambling over the years and that she never once cheated. Both of these claims are probably true. Poker Alice didn't have to cheat. She knew how to count.
Alice married a card dealer and house painter named Warren Tubbs in the 1890s - they had 7 children. Tubbs died in 1910, Alice eventually married again, but very briefly, her third husband George Huckert died in 1913. She went on to open a brothel, and during a skirmish there accidentally killed a man with a stray rifle shot. She was arrested but later released. Many arrests for drunkenness and keeping a disorderly house followed in subsequent years. Her days of
glamour and success waned in later life. She died following a gall bladder operation on 27 February 1930.Story in more detail
So, having gleaned something of Alice's personality, I've looked at the various birth charts to decide which, if any, makes the most sense. I reckon the differences in place of birth are secondary to the year of birth. 1851 or 1853? Whichever date is correct the constant factors are Sun, Mercury, Mars and sometimes Venus, all in Aquarius.
In 1851 Pluto and Uranus lay in Aries, along with Saturn, but by 1853 all three had moved on into Taurus.
The Moon in the 1853 Virginia chart would almost certainly be in Gemini, whatever the birth time. I like that - it blends well with those Aquarian planets and would emphasise a quick, clever mind. Although, in the 1851 chart the Moon would very probably lie in Virgo, also ruled by Mercury which could have given Alice the eye and ability to remember detail - she'd need that for success at the poker tables. Hmmmmm.
I like Pluto Uranus and Saturn in Aries (1851), better than Taurus (1853). Alice had to have a lightning quick mind, and brilliant memory for counting the cards in poker, somehow that fits Saturn in Aries better than in Taurus. Yet one report states that during the time she was raising her 7 children, she and her husband homesteaded a ranch, and it is said that she was never happier than during those years, away from the gambling tables - a hint of Taurus there? So, really, the chart for either year could be seen as a reasonable fit.
The common factor, 3 or 4 personal planets in quirky, independent Aquarius is the key. How different Alice was from most of her contemporaries, what a rebel from the norm! What a novel way she found to use her quick, incisive Aquarian mind! There's no doubt at all that Alice "followed a different drummer".
Poker Alice died on 27 February 1930 after a gall bladder operation. On that date, using the 1853 Virginia chart, transiting Saturn would have trined natal Saturn. Jupiter, then in Gemini, could well have been close to her natal Moon. I've read that Jupiter often figures in charts of a death.
I'll put my money on the theory that Poker Alice was born in Virginia 17 February 1853, and that she decided to spread tales of her English origins in an attempt to intrigue others at the poker tables. A bit of early PR work!
Photograph courtesy of South Dakota State Historical Society.
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