The town the boosters left out of the brochure

Before the mountain town learned to pose for postcards, it poured, gambled, and paid its fines on a schedule the mayor negotiated personally. Susan Johnson, Flagstaff’s historian of record, spent years in the newspapers and ledgers of the territorial years and came back with the town’s unauthorized biography.

From the publisher: A rowdy red-light district, secret tunnels, and scathing newspaper editorials. Once home to sheep herders and ranchers, the railroad brought a new breed of pioneer to Flagstaff. Entrepreneurs and outlaws alike flocked to the growing town, some finding success and others finding their end at Greenwood Cemetery. When saloons and bawdy houses rebelled against new blue laws, quick-thinking mayor Thomas E. Pollock found a compromise that appeased most locals. Incorrigible characters like Commodore Perry Owens and Ben Doney could be found in town at the Parlor Saloon, while Dutch May Prescott kept the red-light district in the black. Author Susan Johnson uncovers the weird and wicked side of Flagstaff.

Murder and suicide, or was it double murder. The Coconino Sun set the question in type over the death of Dutch May Prescott, the businesswoman of the restricted district, and a century later the question still stands. The actual front page is on her page here, and the full story is in the book.