Alice Chambers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alice Chambers was a frontier prostitute who worked in Dodge City, Kansas, and other towns in the nineteenth century American West. Chambers was knicknamed Squirrel Tooth Alice because she was frequently seen (and even photographed) with her pet Prairie dog, which many people mistook to be a squirrel. It is the photograph of Alice Chambers with her pet prairie dog that makes her famous. The photograph is reproduced in numerous books detailing a history of frontier prostitution.

Alice Chambers is reputed to be the only woman buried in Dodge City's Boot Hill cemetery.

Alice Chambers should not be confused with Libby Thompson, an early twentieth century prostitute who sometimes went by the name of Squirrel Tooth Alice. Thompson was madam of a brothel in Sweetwater, Texas until her retirement in 1921. Thompson is buried in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Scholarly resources

Photographs of Squirrel Tooth Alice Chambers and a small bit about her life can be found in:

Butler, Anne M. Daughters of Joy, Sisters of Misery: Prostitutes in the American West, 1865-90. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987. ISBN 0252014669