Auction on Tap At Bawdy House

By Red Fenwick Special to the Denver Post 1981

Lusk Wyo. Auctioneers preparing for the historic sale Friday and Saturday of Wyoming's most famous bawdy house, its contents and the late madam's 415-acre ranch were elated Saturday by the discovery of a box of once-expensive fur remnants.The discovery was made by workers for Madden Brothers Auction Co. while they were opening huge stacks of boxes stored in the warehouse adjoining the two-story stucco hotel owned by the late Mrs. Dell Burke. Several boxes believed to contain cast-off clothing actually yielded several remnants of mink, ermine, fox and Russian lamb which once were collars and cuffs on fashionable women's garments.

Shawn and Lex Madden and Cody Thompson

"The furs are in fine condition," said Lex Madden, one of the auction company brothers,and we were surprised at the find-and happy." Madden said the find included a large number of mink muffs and whole mink hides, from which shoulder pieces once were for fashionable ladies of the 1920s and 1930s.

Yet another box contained a large set of antique silverware.

"We don't have any idea what this stuff is worth," Madden said, 'but the buyers will and we intend to sell it fast. We have to. We have to sell several hundred items in a very short time."

The newly discovered items will be sold individually to the highest bidders along with an already amazing assortment of household and hotel fixtures, furniture, desks, a vintage Victrola, a Mills studio jukebox, crystal candle holders, an autographed photo of Will Rogers, bits of Roseville pottery, Navajo rugs and a few oil paintings, two of which were at first thought to be original works of the immortal Charley Russell.

E.O. Davis of Cheyenne, Wyo., executor of the estate, said the paintings had been examined by an authority on Russell's works and were judged to be only "fair imitations." A News Service erroneously reported a week ago that he paintings were originals. The Madden brothers, Lex and Shawn, and their business partner, Cody Thompson, were besieged with calls from collectors and art galleries from distant cities. The mistake apparently occurred when the wire service rewrote and misinterpreted a story that appeared in last Sunday's Denver Post.

Two vintage automobiles were authentic. One, a 1955 Chrysler New Yorker which had been housed idle in a garage for many years, has only 43,000 miles on its odometer, Madden said. The paint is original and "the car runs good," he said. The other antique car, a 1952 Packard, also was said to be in "mint condition."

As final arrangements were being made to put on sale the entire estate of Lusk's only madam, who died last November at age 91, a festive atmosphere prevailed in the old cow town of about 1,600 persons.

The auctioneers were concerned that the influx of buyers might overwhelm the town's accommodations.

"This is going to be the biggest thing that's happened in Lusk since Lance Creek Oil Field was brought in," they agreed. It was that oil boom that brought Burke to Lusk in 1919 to cater to the baser instincts of thousands of unattached oil field workers.

Lusk's population at the time boomed to more than 10,000. But when the boom faded and only 1,500 remained, Dell stayed and became one of Wyoming's wealthiest women. Her estate is valued around $750,000. Her 415-acre ranch, which she used only as a haven of rest and relaxation, has been described as having a high yield potential with sufficient underground water for irrigation.

Burke's personal possessions and household items at the ranch will go on the block at 3 p.m. Friday. Saturday at 9 a.m., the hotel furnishings- radios, televisions sets, an old butter churn, tableware, dishes, cookware, linens, antique beds, prized Fiesta Ware, a coal and wood-burning stove and hundreds of other collectibles, usables and some plain junk-will go on auction. Sale of the ranch and hotel buildings will take place after the smaller items are sold.

As the casual visitor looks up and down Lusk's peacefully pastoral main street, and contemplates the abandoned old railroad depot just across the street from the painted and well-kept hotel, one thought comes to mind:

In the final judgment this grand old dame in scarlet velvet and red high heel slippers, her many philanthropies extending as they did to the spiritual as well as the business life of her town, commands respect and justifies the last blaze of glory which will mark her departure.