Mary Gleim

Mary Gleim (née Minnie Winifred Gleeson) (9 February 1845 – 22 February 1914) was the leading and most successful madam in the Old West days of Missoula, Montana, owning eight brothels in 1890. her father, Thomas Gleeson, was reputed to be a landowning squire. Gleim received a good education in England, including in the Romance languages.

In 1869 she met John Edgar Gleim and the couple were married in Sussex, England the following year. John Gleim came from a wealthy St Louis family and enjoyed drinking and gambling. The family's financial affairs were entrusted to Mary so John could carry on his lifestyle without worrying about the financial matters. The couple soon emigrated to America.

The couple lived in San Francisco and New York City, where Gleim was reputedly included in the "Rogues Gallery" of New York's most wanted felons. The couple settled in St Louis where they amassed a sizeable fortune, probably from prostitution.

In 1888 the couple set out for Alaska to take advantage of the gold rush there. They were refused admission at the Canadian border twice, Gleim's reputation proceeding her.

Missoula, Montana After failing to move to Alaska, Mary Gleim came to Missoula in 1888 with her husband, and quickly saw the potential for prostitution with the large number of railroad workers in the town. She set up brothels one after another in West Front Street and ruled them with a fist of iron, becoming the "Queen of Missoula's Bad Lands". By 1890 she owned eight brothels.

Gleim's lawyers launched an appeal in November 1894 but this was turned down by the District Court of Missoula. That decision was appealed to the Montana Supreme Court, who overturned the previous decision. In October 1895 Gleim was released from jail pending a retrial. Two of the witnesses against her had committed suicide and others had moved away from the area. Bobby Burns died of a heart attack in March 1895. With no remaining witnesses, the state dropped the attempted murder charge against Gleim on 23 May 1896.

Death Gleim died of influenza on West Front Street on 22 February 1914. Although she had lost $135,000 in a failed brick making enterprise, she left an estate of over $148,000. She died without a will and as her husband John had died in October 1896, her niece and nephew inherited her fortune. Her estate included property in Missoula, Ignatius, Ronan and Canada.

Gleim left explicit instructions for her burial in the city cemetery. While other headstones faced east and west, Gleim's faced the railroad so she could say goodbye to the railroad men who were her customers. Both buildings are registered on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places and bear plaques on the wall in tribute to Mary Gleim.