Deadwood Quotes

“None who graced Swearingen’s stage was more alluring, or mysterious, than Lurline Monte Verde. The singing and dancing of the “sultry and sensuous”—to use Al Merrick’s words—raven-haired beauty, habitually costumed in black or red velvet, lace, and gaudy jewelry, captivated audiences. Monte Verde kept a cabin on the edge of town. When not performing, she presided over a faro table, dealt twenty-one, or spun a roulette wheel at the Gem or in her own gambling hell. Born Belle Siddons in Missouri around 1840 to a privileged and wealthy family, Monte Verde attended the Baptist Female College in Lexington before the Civil War. Her grace and beauty made Yankee officers talkative, which was unfortunate for the Union cause in Missouri because Siddons was a southern spy. She was found out, but the same sensuality that loosened Union lips also won Siddons an early release from federal captivity. Deported beyond Union lines, she reappeared in Missouri in 1871 and married Newt Hallet, a handsome gambler. The couple moved to Texas. Before dying of yellow fever, he taught her the tricks of the trade. She proved an apt pupil.”
― Peter Cozzens, Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American West

“He walked no farther. A bullet slammed into his chest. Smith’s heart exploded, and he tumbled face forward onto his Bible. Death came instantly. Blood soaked his sermon and puddled the trail. Deadwood’s first clergyman had died. Deadwood would claim him as a “martyr in the cause of advancing Christian civilization,” rather than as a trespasser on sacred Lakota soil, which he and his mourners truly were.”
― Peter Cozzens, Deadwood: Gold, Guns, and Greed in the American West