Hell's Belles Summary

Hell's Belles is a book that covers prostitution, gambling and crime in Denver back in the early days just as the title describes it. The book starts by introducing us to a man named Sam Howe and giving us a basic overview of his early life, he was a civil war solider who came to Denver after the war. While in Denver he made up his fame by becoming a police officer for the then city of Denver. He was among the first and one of the finest men in the force. He was a hug influence for the police force and helped them get established. The author then moves on and talks about all the work Howe did for the police force and his scrapbooks he made which was perhaps one of his most memorable piece of work. Howe started these scrapbooks to keep records

The author then dives into the early crime of Denver and includes document of what type of crime would be seen back in those days. Secrest then continues and talks about the gambling that would be seen around Denver and how it was a common thing to see even in the streets gambling tables would be seen to the side. After that the author talks about the prostitution seen and how these house with these women would be all over Denver. The author then starts focusing on prostitution and how it became a big problem in the city and how many things were done in order to stop or put it under control but they would always bring consequences with it, the author also presents the problem of alcohol and how this had influences with the prostitution going around. Secrest then starts talking about how the conditions these girls would be treated under and how many would start off young. After this there is a chapter that focuses on Mattie Silks and Jennie Rodgers two madams who were hugely popular cause of the successful ways they would run there prostitution house and how they would sneak through the police with

Another main purpose of the book is to inform/educate the reader about the history of Denver and how it wasn't always the city that it is today. Secondly, one of the main purposes of the book is to inform the public of how crime was a major problem for the city of Denver in the beginning and how back in the day they struggled to maintain all the crime happening in the city and how they managed to put it to and end but it was a struggle to get there. One of the main reason on why the author may have written this book was so people would get an idea of how the state of Colorado was in beginning of it's state hood also it gives the reader much information about how the early crime scene in Denver shaped the city to what it is today and also shows how much of it influenced present Denver. The latest publication year of this book was in 2002 but was first published back in 1996 it was published at the university press of Colorado. The reason on why it was published in that location was to be able to be used as a resource for student all across Colorado and all over the