belle
Those of us who remain enamored with the life and times of Belle Brezing seem unable to get enough of the details. Certainly, she chose a profession we would not condone today. But a lesson in history that bears repeating is that one cannot understand an earlier culture through our 21st century filters. During most of her life, prostitution was an accepted profession. One simply needs to peruse 19th-century Lexington city directories to see the madams listed by profession, alongside physicians and attorneys.
To be sure, being the illegitimate daughter of a prostitute may have preordained Belle’s chosen profession, but for the most part, Belle was an impoverished little girl growing up in the town’s Western Suburb. And, like most little girls, she enjoyed fancy dresses and jewelry. Being shunned at school by her classmates who told Belle their mothers would not allow them to play with her, Belle grew a thick skin early on, and developed a sense of confidence that allowed her to make her way in the world.
In a way, that sense of confidence, however, contributed to Belle’s undoing. In 1872, 12-year-old Belle and her mother, Sarah, lived in a house on the northeast corner of West Main and Georgetown streets (now the site of a gas station). Directly across Georgetown Street was a house and business owned by two brothers, Dionesio and Zachariah Mucci. Belle caught the eye of Dionesio, noticing her as she walked alone to and from the old Harrison School on the opposite side of Main.
Dionesio’s personal life is a bit sketchy, as apparently he was on his second marriage in almost as many years (he would marry a total of three times within 13 years). And it boggles the modern mind why a 36-year-old man would take up with a 12-year old girl. [For a fascinating connection between Belle, Dionesio and Gen. John Hunt Morgan, C.S.A., see the August 2011 issue of this magazine.]
Of course, Belle was no innocent. Being shunned at school, she soon learned that boys would pay her attention in return for make-out sessions at the Lexington Cemetery. Twelve being the legal age of consent in Kentucky at that time, one thing led to another, and Belle was “ruined” by Dionesio.
According to the late Buddy Thompson, “Belle realized in later years that she might have had a very different life had it not been for Mucci. She once told one of her ‘girls,’ Blanche Patterson, that she’d kill any man who ever took advantage of her daughter. Blanche said Belle was full of emotion as she said it.”
But no one cared. Belle fell into a relationship with Dionesio that lasted at least two years, as evidenced by the date in a scrapbook he gave her on Valentine’s Day in 1874.
Scrapbooking was every bit as popular then as it is today. And Belle’s scrapbook offers insight to the person who would become the nation’s most famous madam. Belle’s devotion to high fashion that would manifest in her sartorial expectations for her “girls” is evidenced by the clippings she pasted in her book from Godey’s and Peterson’s magazines.
Only two people are recognized in her scrapbook – neither of them Mucci. One is Kate Parker, whose name appears several times and who may have been a classmate. The other is Willie Sutphin, possibly the first true love of Belle’s life. He wrote an articulate poem to Belle that she pasted in the book:
I’ve often wished to have a friend,
With whom my choice hours to spend,
To whom I safely might impart,
Each dream and weakness of my heart,
And who would every sorrow hear,
And mingle with my grief a tear,
And to secure that bliss for life,
I’d wish for that friend to be my wife.
Yours truly,Willie Sutphin
Just a few months after Willie wrote those words, he was accidentally shot in the head and died on May 23, 1874. About the same time, Belle wrote a rambling entry rife with misspellings that she titled “Kisses”:
Sitting to night in my chamber,
a school girl figure and lonely,
I kiss the end of my finger.
that and that only.
Reveries rises from the smokey mouth
Memories linger surround me.
Boys that are married or single.
Gather round me.
School boys in pantalets roumping.
Boys that now are growing to be young lads,
Boys that like to be kissed, and like to give kisses.
Kisses – well I remember them;
Those in the corner were fleetest;
Sweet were those on the sly in the Dark are the sweetest
Girls are tender and gentle,
To woo was allmost to win them.
They lips are good as ripe peaches, and cream for finger.
Girls are sometimes flirts, and coquettish;
Now catch and kiss if you can sin;
Could I catch both — ah, wasn’t I a happy Girl,
Boys is pretty and blooming sweetly, yea
Sweetness over their rest
Them I loved dearly and truly, Last and the best.
Were it not for an errant bullet, Belle’s life may have been dramatically different. Had she not made her fateful decision on Christmas Eve, 1879, to join the girls at Jenny Hill’s house, she would not have entertained officers during the Spanish American War, would not have earned a national reputation, would not have been part of the tales John Marsh told his wife, Margaret Mitchell, about old Lexington, and “Gone with the Wind” would not have been graced with the presence of Belle Watling.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Lexington History Museum holds its fourth annual “Belle’s Birthday Ball,” 5-8 p.m., Friday, June 22. For reservation information, call (859) 254-0530 or visit www.lexingtonhistorymuseum.org.