#highwaymen

After the Robbery by Alfred Friedländer

Dressing room rider from a Highwaymen tour.

[ available on Redbubble ]

Pilgrim in 3/4 time

From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter (1999) P.J. Pesce

In this light, Helen Forslund is something of a transitional fi gure. Known as the “Montana Terror,” Forslund early fell in with highwaymen and gamblers and reportedly went on a bloody crime spree across not just Montana, but Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado as well. She wore men’s clothes and variously called herself Charles and Bert Miller. She committed most of her crimes, however, alongside Henry Clark, sometimes described as her lover and at other times as her husband (not that they were mutually exclusive). When the Helena city marshal arrested Helen in 1891, he required her to put on women’s clothing. Upon doing so, “she presented a stunning appearance” with petite fi gure and blond hair. While these descriptions of Forslund’s appearance and romantic associations are in keeping with earlier news accounts that secured the cross-dresser’s true womanhood, others concomitantly anticipated what became more common by the later 1890s. Th ese alternate reports claimed that Forslund’s “walk was that of a man; in fact her every appearance was of a masculine nature. Not coarse or loud, but she, when in male attire, with her short- cropped hair, would easily be taken for a young man.” Furthermore, newspapers also found it necessary, whether true or not, to report that as a child Forslund supposedly disliked the company of girls and only associated with boys. “In fact,” one claimed, “she was regarded as a ‘Tomboy,’ and there were but few about who could climb a tree, ride an unruly horse or play marbles better than she.” One day she put on a set of her brother’s clothes, looked in the mirror, and decided she made “a better- looking boy than . . . girl,” and that was that.