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Libby Thompson

American brothel owner

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ6540463
Source-derived summary

Elizabeth Thompson (born Mary Elizabeth Haley; 18 October 1855 – 13 April 1953) was a prostitute and dance hall girl who worked in Dodge City, Kansas and other frontier cattle towns during the 1870s. She later became famous as Squirrel Tooth Alice, madam of a brothel in Sweetwater, Texas.

Early life

Born Mary Elizabeth Haley in Belton, Texas, Haley had a difficult childhood. The family lost its fortune during the Civil War, and in 1864 Comanche Native Americans raided the Haley farm in Texas and took young Haley captive. She remained a captive until 1867 when her parents paid a ransom for her release. From this point forward, Haley was a marked woman. Even though she was only thirteen, many people assumed that she had sexually submitted to the Indians during her captivity. Haley found herself shunned and ostracized from society. She soon took up with an older man who did not care about her past, but James Haley found the idea of an older man taking advantage of his daughter so objectionable that he shot and killed the suitor. Haley's reputation was soiled even further.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Libby Thompson” as american brothel owner. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1855, 1953, 1864, 1867—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1855-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Libby, Thompson and American can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as american brothel owner. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6540463. VIAF identifies the subject as 65843306. The Library of Congress control number is n2003033629. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1855, 1953, 1864 and 1867.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Three-step research path

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  2. Expand the search: follow Libby Thompson primary sources, Libby Thompson archive and Libby research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Libby Thompson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.