PUBLISHED: 06:00 07 June 2020<\/p>\n
Katy Sandalls <\/p>\n
Poker Alice may have grown up in Sudbury but it was her life away from the town that hit the headlines Picture: GREGG BROWN<\/p>\n
Archant<\/p>\n
Sudbury may seem an unlikely place for the birth of a legendary character of Americas Wild West but its not impossible says Suffolk history buff Peter Driver. <\/p>\n
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Alice Ivers, later to become Poker Alice was born February 17, 1851, she was the daughter of a schoolteacher. <\/p>\n
Alice is quoted as saying that her birth place was Sudbury though some historians believe that she may have actually been born in Devon or even America. <\/p>\n
The story goes that when Alice was 12 years old her family decided to emigrate to America. <\/p>\n
The family settled in Richmond, Virginia, where Alices father secured a teaching role. <\/p>\n
They remained there until the end of the American Civil War when they moved to Denver, Colorado. <\/p>\n
In those days Denver was made up of mainly log cabins built around the silver mines and it was there that Alice met her first husband a mining engineer who was killed just a year later when a mine collapsed.<\/p>\n
Alice was forced to look for a way to support herself, and, having watched her husband playing cards in a local saloon, she persuaded the owner to teach her to become a dealer.<\/p>\n
This earned her the nickname of Poker Alice and she travelled many of the frontier towns following her new profession, <\/p>\n
She took to carrying a gun and smoking cigars giving her the appearance of a formidable woman who made a lot of money and spent most of it on spending sprees in the city.<\/p>\n
In 1892, she took a job in the Number Ten saloon owned by Bob Ford, the man who shot and killed the famous outlaw Jesse James. <\/p>\n
She was dealing on the evening when he in turn was gunned down by a man who wanted to be known as the man who killed the man who shot Jesse James.<\/p>\n
After this Alice moved to Deadwood, South Dakota where one evening, a drunken miner attacked a fellow dealer named Tubbs, with a knife. <\/p>\n
Without hesitation, Alice is said to have pulled out her revolver and shot him in the arm. <\/p>\n
Soon after Alice married Tubbs, retired from gambling and bought a farm where they adopted seven orphans. <\/p>\n
Tubbs died of pneumonia in 1910 during a blizzard that was said to be so bad that fire had to be lit on the ground for four hours before a grave could be dug. <\/p>\n
Alice did marry again but her third husband soon died and instead Alice opened her own saloon. <\/p>\n
One night, after she had closed up, a group of drunken soldiers tried to force their way in and a frightened Alice.<\/p>\n
After shouting a warning, fired through the door killing one of the men. <\/p>\n
At her trial, she was found guilty but a kind hearted judge released her saying that they were unable to send a white-haired old lady to prison.<\/p>\n
Poker Alice died aged 79 on the operating table after taking her final gamble in 1930.<\/p>\n
Since her death Alice has been fictionalised on film in a number of different tv shows and films.<\/p>\n
The most notable of these portrayals was by legendary actress Elizabeth Taylor in a made for tv film in 1987. <\/p>\n
These days you can visit Alices home in Sturgis, South Dakota where it forms part of a local motel. <\/p>\n
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Who was Poker Alice? The gunslinging gambler of the Wild West who may have come from Sudbury - East Anglian Daily Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PUBLISHED: 06:00 07 June 2020 Katy Sandalls Poker Alice may have grown up in Sudbury but it was her life away from the town that hit the headlines Picture: GREGG BROWN Archant Sudbury may seem an unlikely place for the birth of a legendary character of Americas Wild West but its not impossible says Suffolk history buff Peter Driver. Email this article to a friend To send a link to this page you must be logged in. Alice Ivers, later to become Poker Alice was born February 17, 1851, she was the daughter of a schoolteacher Continue reading