Lavinia Fisher is perhaps the most notable female serial killer in Carolina history. Lavina was indeed lovely. According to all accounts she was a startlingly beautiful woman with milky white skin, big blue eyes, and curly raven hair. We don't know what her husband looked like, he is largely forgotten, but the Lovely Lavinia lives on in fantastical tales and local legend. Lavinia, however, was never convicted of murder. Neither was her husband. Perhaps the legend is more interesting than the truth, but I don't think so.
According to local legend John and Lavinia Fisher owned and operated an inn on the outskirts of Charleston, SC in the 1800s. There is, however, no evidence that the Fishers actually owned or operated an inn. They did, nonetheless, frequent an inn known as the Six Mile House just outside of town. This inn was a favorite stop for wagon traders carrying their goods to Charleston, SC to sale. It was also a favorite haunt of a local anonymous gang of highway robbers. This gang was responsible for the brutal robbery of multiple wagon traders, and their enterprise threatened the prosperous Charleston wagon trade. As a result "lynch's law" was put into affect, and a mob of angry citizens set out to put an end to highway robbery.
Five Mile House, you guessed it--a neighbor of Six Mile House, happened to be the inn the gang had hunkered down in that night in the early months 1819. The angry mob forced the gang and other occupants out of doors and gave them 15 minutes to depart the premises before burning the Five Mile House to the ground. The gang of highwaymen were outnumbered and they knew it. They left without much fuss.
The next day the angry highwaymen set out to get their vengeance. They had heard that some of the mob members were staying at Six Mile House and sure enough when they showed up at Six Mile House, David Ross, one of the men from the mob, was outside guarding the premises. The highwaymen rode on up to Six Mile House accompanied by a beautiful woman. The unsuspecting Ross greeting this woman and was stunned by her reaction. She smiled and leaning down from her horse she wrapped her lovely white fingers around Ross' neck and began choking him. She also apparently ran his head through a window. This woman was none other than our Lovely Lavinia.
Shortly after Ross was accosted another man, John Peoples, rode up to Six Mile House to water his horse. One of the highwaymen asked to borrow Peoples' bucket and when Peoples refused the man flew into a rage. Nine or ten men and a woman then flew out of Six Mile House and beat Peoples pretty severely. According to Peoples the "beautiful woman" took a "large stick" and beat him over the head with it. She also stole about $40 from him.
Peoples barely managed to escape, and when he did he went straight into town and alerted the local police force. Lavinia, her husband, and 2 other men were arrested for highway robbery. Upon the searching the grounds of Six Mile House 2 bodies were found. The body of a white man and the body of a black woman, both suspected to have been in the ground for at least 2 years. There wasn't enough to proof to convict either Lavinia or her companions of these murders. The authorities knew that Lavinia and John frequented both Five and Six Mile House and they were both suspected of the murders. However, after 2 years of decomp, the bodies offered little evidence with which to prove it.
John and Lavinia Fisher were convicted of highway robbery, a hanging offense in 1819. John was convicted to hang. So was Lavinia. That is, until she said, "You can't hang me. I'm a woman." Well that caused quite a stir. A woman had never been hanged in South Carolina and there were quite a few people opposed to the idea. So Lavinia set smugly in her jail cell fully expecting to be pardoned for her crimes. On February 4th gallows were erected just past Meeting Street and the Fishers were marched to their deaths. Lavinia realized she would hang, regardless of her gender, and she was angry about it too. While John spent his last moments pleading for his life, Lavinia watched her husband hang with nary a tear in her eye. She cursed and screamed amazing profanities at the crowd and the governor. She pitched a royal fit and shocked the crowd into silence. Her last words, the most shocking of all, are perhaps the fuel behind the legend and are undoubtedly the reason that everyone remembers the Lovely Lavinia Fisher. She stared angrily down at the crowd and said, "If you have a message you want to send to hell, give it to me--I'll carry it!" And then she hanged. The crowd, a crowd that usually jeered and cheered while someone hanged, was silent and horrified. Lavinia died in seconds. Her legend, however, lives on.
9/1/2009 Update: I did all of the research on this article myself, simply because I am a history buff and I like spending time in dusty archives. One of my readers just emailed me. Apparently there is a book out that chronicles Lavinia's story, as well as a few others. The book is Wicked Charleston by Mark R. Jones. It can be purchased online or at the Preservation Society of Charleston.
Showing posts with label Charleston. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charleston. Show all posts
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My Favorite Hooker
I recently visited Charleston, SC. Charleston just happens to be one of my favorite places in the world. It was also home to my favorite prostitute (in history of course): Grace Piexotto.
Grace Piexotto was likely born sometime in the late 1700s, but we cannot really be sure of the exact date. In fact, Grace herself may not have known the exact date of her birth. We know from Grace's own recollections that she witnessed a speech by George Washington at a young age and this particular appearance by our first president occurred after the Revolutionary war. Thus Grace must have been born sometime in the late 1700s. According to some records Grace was the daughter of Selomoh Piexotto, a music leader at Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston, SC. According to others, Grace did not know who her parents were and she was raised in a brothel. Then again Grace was fairly notorious in her time and notoriety breeds legend. It is much more likely that Grace was the daughter of a religious Jew than that she was raised in a brothel.
In any case Grace grew up to be a brazen and bold businesswoman. She defied convention. She did what society forbade her. By 1852 Grace had somehow come up with enough money to build a brothel. This was no small feat my friends. First, it was very difficult for a woman to have anything constructed in the mid 1800s. Women simply did not have buildings built and should a woman decide she wanted to have a building constructed gender norms of the time made it nearly impossible for her to do so. Second, Grace hardly hid the fact that she intended to use this new building as a brothel. She would have had to possess not only enough money to construct the building, buy the materials, and pay the laborers; Grace would have needed enough money to bribe city officials for a building permit. Somehow, despite all the obstacles against her, Grace had one of the most infamous brothels in all of Charleston, SC raised from the ground up in 1852.
This brothel came to be called the "Big Brick", likely because the structure itself was made of big red bricks. So in 1852 Grace opened the doors of 11 Beresford Street, currently called Fulton Street, and set her girls to work. The Big Brick offered patrons something most other brothels did not: privacy. The upper floors were divided into several very small rooms. These rooms were just large enough for a bed, after all Grace was a wise businesswoman and she knew a bed was all her clients required. She also knew that the men who frequented her establishment would appreciate the privacy afforded by a wall. Most brothels had several beds crammed in larger rooms and such an arrangement often meant that men would quite literally see their friends and relatives "going about their business" if you will. Of course no man wanted his comrades to know that he frequented a whore house, so you can see why Grace's innovation was much appreciated.
Grace also required discretion of all her girls. She would fire anyone foolish enough to publicly greet a client. Upper crust gentleman appreciated such discretion and Grace's Red Brick was soon the brothel of choice among the higher classes. The Red Brick quickly became a popular port of call for sailors and free blacks as well. If you could pay Grace would give you a good time. If you couldn't pay--well Grace would just see to it that you didn't come back. In fact, brazen Grace Piexotto was so upset by students from the College of Charleston that she wrote the faculty of the college a letter asking them to keep their students away from her establishment.
City leaders turned a blind eye to Grace's establishment, likely because many of them were frequent customers. Grace was well educated and pretty savvy so she became quite wealthy. She lived in style.
Grace also died in style. When Grace died the local churches argued over who was going to have to bury her. None of the churches wanted to be responsible for burying the most notorious Madam in the South. The Unitarian Church finally stepped up and paid for Grace to have a funerary service. Of course who could attend a hooker's funeral? No man could dare show his face at Grace's service because then the whole town would know how he knew her. No woman would socialize with a prostitute, even a wealthy one. What about the "ladies" who worked for Grace? Well they figured the men in the town would need consoling so they went to work and were otherwise disposed at the time of her service. They figured Grace would understand, and she probably would have too.
So no one came to Grace's funeral. However, Charleston has a quite a strange tradition. If you find yourself unable to attend a friend's funeral then you can send your empty carriage to be a part of the funeral procession in your place. The longer the funeral procession, the more loved you were by the town. Apparently local men saw nothing wrong with sending their empty carriages to be part of Grace's procession. Grace had the 2nd longest funeral procession in the history of Charleston, SC--topped only by John Calhoun, a politician.
The Big Brick was the hub of Charlestonian prostitution until the 1940s when the city finally shut it down. The infamous building still stands and is currently home to an upscale retailer.
Grace Piexotto was likely born sometime in the late 1700s, but we cannot really be sure of the exact date. In fact, Grace herself may not have known the exact date of her birth. We know from Grace's own recollections that she witnessed a speech by George Washington at a young age and this particular appearance by our first president occurred after the Revolutionary war. Thus Grace must have been born sometime in the late 1700s. According to some records Grace was the daughter of Selomoh Piexotto, a music leader at Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston, SC. According to others, Grace did not know who her parents were and she was raised in a brothel. Then again Grace was fairly notorious in her time and notoriety breeds legend. It is much more likely that Grace was the daughter of a religious Jew than that she was raised in a brothel.
In any case Grace grew up to be a brazen and bold businesswoman. She defied convention. She did what society forbade her. By 1852 Grace had somehow come up with enough money to build a brothel. This was no small feat my friends. First, it was very difficult for a woman to have anything constructed in the mid 1800s. Women simply did not have buildings built and should a woman decide she wanted to have a building constructed gender norms of the time made it nearly impossible for her to do so. Second, Grace hardly hid the fact that she intended to use this new building as a brothel. She would have had to possess not only enough money to construct the building, buy the materials, and pay the laborers; Grace would have needed enough money to bribe city officials for a building permit. Somehow, despite all the obstacles against her, Grace had one of the most infamous brothels in all of Charleston, SC raised from the ground up in 1852.
This brothel came to be called the "Big Brick", likely because the structure itself was made of big red bricks. So in 1852 Grace opened the doors of 11 Beresford Street, currently called Fulton Street, and set her girls to work. The Big Brick offered patrons something most other brothels did not: privacy. The upper floors were divided into several very small rooms. These rooms were just large enough for a bed, after all Grace was a wise businesswoman and she knew a bed was all her clients required. She also knew that the men who frequented her establishment would appreciate the privacy afforded by a wall. Most brothels had several beds crammed in larger rooms and such an arrangement often meant that men would quite literally see their friends and relatives "going about their business" if you will. Of course no man wanted his comrades to know that he frequented a whore house, so you can see why Grace's innovation was much appreciated.
Grace also required discretion of all her girls. She would fire anyone foolish enough to publicly greet a client. Upper crust gentleman appreciated such discretion and Grace's Red Brick was soon the brothel of choice among the higher classes. The Red Brick quickly became a popular port of call for sailors and free blacks as well. If you could pay Grace would give you a good time. If you couldn't pay--well Grace would just see to it that you didn't come back. In fact, brazen Grace Piexotto was so upset by students from the College of Charleston that she wrote the faculty of the college a letter asking them to keep their students away from her establishment.
City leaders turned a blind eye to Grace's establishment, likely because many of them were frequent customers. Grace was well educated and pretty savvy so she became quite wealthy. She lived in style.
Grace also died in style. When Grace died the local churches argued over who was going to have to bury her. None of the churches wanted to be responsible for burying the most notorious Madam in the South. The Unitarian Church finally stepped up and paid for Grace to have a funerary service. Of course who could attend a hooker's funeral? No man could dare show his face at Grace's service because then the whole town would know how he knew her. No woman would socialize with a prostitute, even a wealthy one. What about the "ladies" who worked for Grace? Well they figured the men in the town would need consoling so they went to work and were otherwise disposed at the time of her service. They figured Grace would understand, and she probably would have too.
So no one came to Grace's funeral. However, Charleston has a quite a strange tradition. If you find yourself unable to attend a friend's funeral then you can send your empty carriage to be a part of the funeral procession in your place. The longer the funeral procession, the more loved you were by the town. Apparently local men saw nothing wrong with sending their empty carriages to be part of Grace's procession. Grace had the 2nd longest funeral procession in the history of Charleston, SC--topped only by John Calhoun, a politician.
The Big Brick was the hub of Charlestonian prostitution until the 1940s when the city finally shut it down. The infamous building still stands and is currently home to an upscale retailer.
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