The outrageous characters of the Old West are often found to be the product of dime novels and less-than-rigorously researched newspaper articles written to thrill those back east. One such character is "Cattle Kate," born Ellen Watson. Her life was interesting enough without the extras heaped upon her, but those extras found a willing audience.
“Cattle Kate” Watson was one of early Wyoming’s most scandalous outlaws. She was a prostitute, a cattle thief, and a mean, aggressive Amazon who would beat you up as soon as look at you. She was, in short, a public menace. In 1889, her harassed neighbors finally had had enough, and resorted to classic rough frontier justice. Watson, along with her equally disreputable husband/pimp, were captured and strung up. No one mourned them.
It is a colorful story, one which made Watson one of the Old West’s most famous villains. There is just one problem: not one of the “historical facts” listed above is even close to being true.
Aside, unfortunately, for the lynching part.
What really happened was more of what we now call "shocking but not surprising." We touched on Cattle Kate's life in a previous article, but you can get the full story of the persecution of Ellen Watson at Strange Company.