On the night of July 10, 1889 Frank Leslie kills a prostitute named Mollie Williams also known at the Bird Cage Theater as “Blond Mollie." After Leslie and his wife of seven years divorced, Leslie who worked at the Cosmopolitan paid regular visits at the Bird Cage. He was known as a gambler and a heavy drinker. Leslie was introduced to “Blond Mollie” and they instantly hit it off.
At that time, she had a boyfriend who also promoted her named E.L. Bradshaw. It wasn’t long after that Bradshaw would end up dead. Many suspected the Leslie was behind it but there was no prof behind those suspicions. Soon after, Mollie would move in with Leslie on a ranch he owned. The night of the shooting, Leslie, Williams, and their friend James “Six-Shooter Jim” O’Neil where drinking pretty heavily and Leslie and Williams started to argue like most of the time when alcohol was present. Leslie took out a pocket revolver and shot Williams in the chest. Then realizing what he did
then turned the gun on the only witness O’Neil. He shot him twice as he ran away but he would survive his wounds. Leslie was arrested and with the O’Neil’s testimony was sentence to 25 years in the Yuma territorial prison.
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