Indeed, Tremont was notorious across the Southwest for commercialized vice — prostitution, liquor and gambling — plus the usual array of felonies and misdemeanors associated with those pursuits. The better class of brothels — the so-called resorts — featured a piano player and well-stocked bar in addition to the main attraction. Other houses were little more than shanties. City officials regularly pledged to clean up Tremont.
But just as many were willing to look the other way or even take a cut of the action, which explains why Tremont enjoyed a long, lusty, boozy, bloody run. Tremont Street sat where South St. Francis Street is located today. Maggie Plymell was latching the screen door of her brothel at Tremont against an unwanted visitor one night in when the man suddenly pulled out a revolver and fired, sending two.
Some gave in to despair, usually after reversals in love. Millie Light, a pretty year-old, died after drinking carbolic acid at Tremont in No girl will ever love you as I have. Goodbye forever. Flynn, in his early 30s, was a tall, good-looking gambler and former racehorse owner. The man who shot him, Ralph Bain, ran the Santa Fe Hotel, which sat across the railroad tracks from the terminal of the same name. One evening in September , the two spent several hours drinking and gambling at the Royal Saloon on West Douglas, which ostensibly operated as a restaurant.
There had always been a few factories, warehouses and retail stores there. Gradually, more and more legitimate businesses replaced the brothels. Tremont Street had to go. Skip to content Wednesday, February 5, Contact Donate. Jurors deliberated 26 hours before acquitting Bain.
