horse

The Horsewoman and the Millionaire

Reported site of the grave of Sally's white horse, in section C

Love was not in the cards for Sarah Elizabeth Halthusen. Better known in Cripple Creek as Sally, hers was a striking figure. She was a towering amazon with dark eyes and an ample bosom. She was also an accomplished equestrian with a knack for breaking difficult horses. But for some reason, Sally's talents and admirable features failed to attract men. It was even rumored that she was paid $10,000 in 1892 by one gentleman's father in Denver, upon agreeing to cancel their wedding engagement.

In 1894, Sally moved from Colorado Springs to Florissant where her father had grown sheep and grain since 1888. As a true pioneer, Herman Halthusen even had a lane named after him in the early days. Today his red barn, known locally as the Bee Barn, remains situated near the Hornbek Homestead and across from the Florissant Fossil Beds on Teller County Road 1.

In Sally's eyes, her father's proceeds were not the quickest way to fulfill her dream of a huge horse farm. Ultimately, she moved her beloved horses to a place on Bennett Avenue in Cripple Creek and began scouting for a rich husband. Soon it was no secret that Sally was not beyond courting millionaire Spencer Penrose, whose wealth came from investments in Cripple Creek and the copper mines of Utah. The two first met in Colorado Springs.

Neighbors were often aghast to see Sally riding her favorite white horse right up to Penrose's shack. And she declined to use a side saddle! Perhaps such brazen tactics turned Penrose away. Others said Spencer's brother talked some sense into him, enumerating the dangers of a marriage between an eastern blue blood and a western horse trainer. In any event the affair allegedly ended nearly as abruptly as it started.

Penrose and his riches merely whetted Sally's appetite for a millionaire husband. For a time, she continued cruising the streets of Cripple Creek on her magnificent white horse, looking for love but finding none. Sally's last act of record in Cripple Creek was in 1895, when she lent her white horse to promoter Joe Wolfe for a parade down Bennett Avenue, advertising the world-famous bullfight in the district town of Gillett.

If Sally's love was not requited by the male species, however, it was at least returned by her horses. When her trusty white steed died, Sally had him buried with dignity in Cripple Creek's Mount Pisgah Cemetery. Even today, the horse is the only known four-footed creature at Mount Pisgah to have such an honor. In 1895 Sally returned to Colorado Springs. Eventually she did marry, to hotel owner Thomas Gough Jr., and continued her favorite occupation of breaking horses.

Still, rumors abounded about Sally's brief fling with Penrose. One day, after overhearing a chambermaid talking about the affair, Sally beat the woman with a horsewhip and was arrested for assault. Her fine was $10 and costs, but the additional mark on her reputation secured her place in the lower middle class. Despite cruel references to her as a budding prostitute, however, Sally retained her dignity as well as her secrets. It is said her fine was paid by none other than her old beau Spencer Penrose, but the truth will never be known.