Doña Tules: Santa Fe's Courtesan and Gambler

by Mary J. Straw Cook

Gertrudis Barceló, New Mexico's celebrated gambler and demimonde of the 1830s and 1840s, was born at the turn of the nineteenth century in the Bavispe valley of east central Sonora, Mexico. Young Gertrudis, who would later achieve fame under the name "Tules," discovered how to manipulate men, reading their body language and analyzing their gambling habits.

This power, coupled with a strong-willed and enterprising nature, led Doña Tules to her legendary role as a shrewd and notorious gambling queen and astute businesswoman. Her monte dealings and entertainment houses became legendary throughout the southern Rocky Mountain region. Her assistance to U.S. Army officers during the Mexican War brought her additional fame.

Doña Tules's daring behavior attracted the attention and condemnation of many puritanical Anglo travelers along the Santa Fe Trail. Demonized by later historians, Doña Tules has predominately been portrayed as little more than a caricature of an Old West madam and cardsharp, eluding serious historical study until now. Mary Cook sifts through the notoriety to illustrate the significant role Doña Tules played in New Mexico history at a time when the Spanish and Mexican eras were ending and the American era was about to begin.

184 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2007

Reviews

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seems tailor-made to my personal interests - I love reading about the Southwest, social history, and women's history, and I generally enjoy biographies - and yet I have been unable to get into it so far. Instead of the interesting, easily flowing narrative biographies that seem common, this book reads like the author wanted to stuff as much of her knowledge onto each page as possible, no matter how relevant it was nor how it made the narrative flow. Each page is so densely packed with trivia, people, and events that it takes me three times longer to get through than a typical book, and yet its flow is quite slow (I discovered the first night I tried to read it in bed that it is a great cure for insomnia) and I have difficulty keeping the tremendous number of people straight simply because there are so very many of them. So far, instead of drawing me in to her world, it makes me want to write my own book about her, one that does justice to this fascinating historical figure.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about this powerful Santa Fe woman. The author uses a circular narrative with each circle starting either near the beginning or middle of Tules' life and ending around the time of her death. This book spends time explaining the cultural and political world that Dona Tules lived in and use those topics to explain how this gambler, mother, lover, and entrepreneur moved through and thrived in a changing New Mexico. This book was not a page turner for me but did hold my interest and keep me coming back to find out more.

[Lonnie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sin in the Second City was a better historical novel about courtesans. I thought this was going to be better. It's too academic for me.

[Jesus V.]

The Bavispe Valley beautiful people.