Was “Little Gertie, the Gold Dollar” real?
Ramona Briggs
Denver, Colorado
Old West boomtowns had a shortage of eligible women, a void often filled by soiled doves. One such red-light district denizen was “Little Gertie, the Gold Dollar.”
A feisty, petite gal with long, golden tresses, Gertie plied her trade in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, around 1880. Her nickname became “Gold Dollar”—the cost of earning her favors.
![Gertie gold dollar true west magazine](https://truewestmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/gertie.jpg)
Another lady of ill repute, Margarita, wanted to steal away Gertie’s man, Billy Milgreen. One night at the Bird Cage Theatre, Gertie caught Margarita sitting in Milgreen’s lap. She grabbed a handful of Margarita’s long, dark hair and threw her to the floor. The fight continued until Gertie grabbed a stiletto stashed in her garter and stabbed Margarita to death.
Gertie and Milgreen disappeared from town. Margarita got a grave at Boothill.
Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and vice president of the Wild West History Association. His latest book is Arizona Outlaws and Lawmen; The History Press, 2015. If you have a question, write: Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or email him at marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu.