Baby Doe Tabor - Move To Colorado

Move To Colorado

In Central City, she quickly found out her husband's reserved temperament was unsuitable for a boisterous frontier mining town, and that he had an innate inability to follow through with his father's instructions or to manage a mine. Rather than see him fail, and enchanted with the possibility of becoming wealthy from mining gold, she helped her husband. She often dressed in mining clothes and worked directly in the mine. Despite the more relaxed culture in the frontier mining town, those in the highest strata of the city's society considered her behavior and dress scandalous, causing her to be ignored. Through both of their efforts the Does did manage to bring up a small amount of gold, but when the vein ran out and a poorly constructed shaft collapsed, Harvey gave up and decided to take a job as a common mucker at another mine and he told his wife to stop wearing men's clothing and stay at home.

At that time, they moved from Central City to Black Hawk to live in a less expensive rooming house. Greatly disappointed and disenchanted by the noise and dirt in Black Hawk, she began to take walks around the city each day, and then at age 23, she gained the name "Baby Doe" from the local men watching. She lacked domestic skills with which to work and earn money and had nothing in common with the women of the town; often with little to do with her time she visited the local clothing store, attracted by the expensive fabrics. She became friendly with the owner of the town's clothing store, Jake Sandelowsky, while at the same time Harvey lost his job and their marriage began to deteriorate. By that time Baby Doe was pregnant. Suspecting the child was Jake's, Harvey left her temporarily, and in July 1879, Baby Doe gave birth to a stillborn boy.

Meanwhile, Harvey's parents, expecting there to be a grandchild, had moved to Colorado to be with their son. Disappointed, they severed their ties with the two and moved to Idaho Springs, while Baby Doe followed Harvey to Denver, despite wishing for a divorce from him. In Denver, Harvey frequented saloons and brothels and after witnessing him with a prostitute, Baby Doe filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery. The divorce was quickly granted in March 1880, but for unknown reasons not officially recorded until April 1886. Baby Doe then moved to Leadville, Colorado, almost certainly invited there by Sandelowsky, who changed his name to Sands. Alone and without a husband, Baby Doe needed to find a means of financial support quickly. Jake Sandelowsky, who opened a store in Leadville and almost certainly wanted to marry her, offered her employment. Working at a clothing store, however, was a prospect Baby Doe found dull, boring, and too similar to the life she left behind in Oshkosh.