Della Moore (1880–1926?), also known as Annie Rogers or Maude Williams, was a woman working as a prostitute during the closing years of the

Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...

, best known for being the girlfriend of

outlaw An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so that anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them ...

Harvey Logan Harvey Alexander Logan (1867 – June 17, 1904), also known as Kid Curry, was an American outlaw and gunman who rode with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's infamous Wild Bunch gang during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite bein ...

(Kid Curry), who rode with

Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch was one of the loosely organized outlaw gangs operating out of the Hole-in-the-Wall, near Kaycee in Wyoming, a natural fortress with caves, with a narrow entrance that was constantly guarded. In the beginning, the ga ...

gang.

Early life and life with Curry

Little is known about Moore's early years. She is believed to have been born around 1880 in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

near

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

. She was pretty, with a petite build, and began working in

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub p ...

s in

Mena, Arkansas Mena ( ) is a city in Polk County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Polk County. The population was 5,558 as of the 2020 census. Mena is included in the Ark-La-Tex socio-economic region. Surrounded by the Ouachita National ...

, Fort Worth and

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

around the age of 15. By 1899, she was working in the famous brothel of Madame Fannie Porter, having met and becoming involved with Curry some time around mid-1898. She would help hide Curry after his robberies, and often helped him resupply before he would leave again. By 1900, Moore had left prostitution and began traveling with Curry, who was between robberies. The two traveled to Tennessee where they met with other members of the gang to include

Ben Kilpatrick Ben Kilpatrick (January 5, 1874 – March 12, 1912) was an American outlaw during the closing years of the Old West, American Old West. He was a member of the Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, Wild Bunch gang led by Butch Cassidy and Elzy Lay. He was a ...

and

Laura Bullion Laura Bullion (October 1876 – December 2, 1961) was an outlaw of the Old West. Most sources indicate Bullion was born in Knickerbocker, near Mertzon, Texas, Mertzon, in Irion County, Texas; the exact day of her birth is unclear. Data in the 1880 ...

. On October 14th, 1901, Moore was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee for passing notes associated with an earlier robbery Curry had committed. She and Curry never saw one another again. She was jailed, but was later acquitted on June 18, 1902. There is no evidence to suggest that Moore and Curry reunited after her release from jail. Both Kilpatrick and Bullion were arrested in St. Louis, Missouri while she was incarcerated, and Curry killed two Knoxville policemen to avoid capture only one day after their capture. He was later captured, but escaped again. She traveled to Arkansas, where she returned to prostitution, and by the time that Curry was killed in Colorado by a

posse Posse is a shortened form of posse comitatus, a group of people summoned to assist law enforcement. The term is also used colloquially to mean a group of friends or associates. Posse may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Posse'' (1975 ...

in 1904, Moore had returned to Texas, and for a time, she worked again for Fannie Porter in her brothel. It is believed that she later became a teacher, dying around 1926, but that is unconfirmed. She often changed her name, and it is not known what path her life took after her involvement with Curry. It is unknown if they ever married.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Della 1880 births 1926 deaths People from San Antonio American prostitutes People of the American Old West Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch