Home
The Hard Life of Frankie Howe
by
Pete Clouse

Have you had a hard life, gotten in trouble with the law, or disappointed your parents? Have you ever had a bully beat you up? These are hard things, and Frankie Howe has endured them all. This is the story of Frankie and her adventure through life. She went through many hard times and lived a rough life. The troublesome life of being a poor bar girl in the Saginaws during the late 1800s lumber era impacted her greatly.

This is the story of Frankie Howe and her bizarre life. Frankie was born around the time of 1864 in a small town near Detroit. She lived with both her parents until her mother died, about 1874. Frankie was ten years old at this point. She left her home in 1876, around the age of twelve, to go to Lansing, Michigan, where she worked as a servant for a police officer named John Wiser. While there she cleaned and took care of two children. Frankie stayed there for approximately six months. When she went back she found out that her father had left for the Dakotas and was never heard from again. Frankie then went and lived with her uncle for six months. Frankie's uncle gave her money to go to Saginaws in search for her sister and brother-in-law (Circuit Court Testimony 1-3).

 

At the age of fourteen Frankie left her uncle's house for East Saginaw. Frankie arrived at the Potter Street Station in January 1879. She searched for her sister and brother-in-law very little, calling it quits the first day, after she got to the Blair House. Frankie went to the Blair House for supper, and while there three girls came in who boarded there. They talked to Frankie and asked her to come see the stage show at Bordwell's Opera House. Frankie was interested because she had never seen one performed. The three girls were ET Williams, Sadie, and Mollie; they all worked at Bordwell's Opera House.

 

After dinner the three girls and Frankie walked to the Opera House. The girls had to work and Frankie went to see the variety show. Frankie went and sat in a box by herself, but soon after Warren Bordwell came and sat by her. He was the owner of the Opera House and started to talk to her, offering Frankie a job making eight dollars a week. He told her to return the next morning and he would give her money to get a few dresses. He also told her she must drink whiskey or she would be useless to him as a server (Circuit Court Testimony 3-6). Frankie had never drunk alcohol or been in a saloon before. Frankie accepted the job and went back to the Blair House to stay the night with the girls she had met earlier (Circuit Court Testimony 10).

The next day Frankie went and got the money from Bordwell, so she could go get a few dresses to work in later when she'd be serving drinks and going on stage. Her first night she only drank a small amount of wine (Circuit Court Testimony 11-13).

 

Warren Bordwell was a heavy drinker who had a short temper and was known to strike a lady. He had men who beat others up and robbed them, and he also short-changed customers he didn't know and overcharged others. Bordwell was a cheat and a no-good scoundrel. his opera house was located at 225 S. Washington Ave, in East Saginaw. Inside there was a bar and a stage room. There were also little stalls, or rooms, where men would take women for elicit intercourse. This was a place where lumberjacks and businessmen would come to get away and have a good time. Bordwell told Frankie never to go into one of these stalls with any man. Frankie was still a virgin at the time (Circuit Court Testimony).

After a few weeks passed Bordwell told Frankie he needed her measurements for a new pair of tights for a play coming up. Bordwell got Frankie drunk and measured her. He then seduced her by telling her he would marry her when she got older, and he would put three thousand dollars in her account at the bank. He told her he would make her a star. She was tricked into losing her virginity by alcohol and the sly words of a scoundrel. Soon after, around July of 1879, Frankie moved in to the Opera House. She never received new tights or performed in a play. In addition, Bordwell never gave her the money he promised (Circuit Court Testimony 24-28).

Frankie is still only fourteen-years-old and is now pregnant by Bordwell. He told her he was going to Detroit, and he would come back and marry her. Bordwell returned the same day and told her to tell everyone she was going to visit her father, even though she doesn't know where he was or what has happened to him (Circuit Court Testimony 28).

Frankie did tell everyone she was going to see her father. The next day they went to Flint instead, because Bordwell said his friend had moved. They went to a large house, similar to the Opera House, about a mile away from the city. A woman greeted them and they went and drank whiskey that night (Circuit Court Testimony 28-29). Bordwell returned with a man he claimed was a doctor. Frankie knew she wasn't sick and she wouldn't cooperate with the doctor. Bordwell then began to beat her. The doctor put chloroform on a handkerchief and covered Frankie's face until she was passed out. Frankie woke up later to Bordwell and the women who had greeted them drinking by the bed. Bordwell went back to East Saginaw and Frankie was forced to stay locked up in a room at this house. Frankie would not take the pills, and Bordwell came back and he was furious at Frankie for not cooperating. The doctor returned the next and made her pass out from chloroform and then he preformed an operation on her. Frankie woke up dizzy, nervous and weak. She also had an older lady named Mat who was staying in her room to watch her. Frankie lay in bed, too weak to move for around three weeks. Bordwell came back and learned of an attempt to escape by Frankie, and he had all her clothes and belongings taken from the room. He knew surely that at Frankie's next chance to escape that she would (Circuit Court Testimony 29-31).

Frankie's escape happened one dark night, when she was pretending to sleep and Mat left the room. Frankie then got up and pulled the bedstead over by the window of her room tied two sheets and tied them to the bedstead and she climbed out the window and ran. Frankie ran to the hotel where a woman let her stay the night. The next morning Frankie asked the women for a job she let her work for her board. Frankie refused to tell her new employer anything about her life, even her name.

While working at the hotel Frankie became involved with a young man named Walter Campbell. The two got married in St. Johns, Michigan, and moved to Grand Rapids around October 1879. Frankie did this to flee Flint; hoping Bordwell wouldn't find her in Grand Rapids (Circuit Court Testimony 32-33).

Frankie was walking one day in Grand Rapids and Bordwell saw her. He came up and boldly stated, " So, I have got you now Miss runaway" (qtd. in Circuit Court Testimony 33). Frankie told him not to draw attention and Bordwell agreed. They went into a saloon/restaurant called The Art Café, and Bordwell took Frankie to the basement and he began to punch and slap her around. Frankie told him she was married; however, Bordwell wouldn't believe it. Frankie responded, "I told him if he would wait there that I would go up to our rooms and get the paper and bring it back" (qtd. in Circuit Court Testimony 33). She said this because the people in her building are nice and she would be ashamed of Bordwell.

Bordwell followed her by walking behind her; he thought she was trying to get away. She got the paper and the two went back to The Art Café where Bordwell read it and then tore it up and throw it into a spittoon. Bordwell then demanded: "Now I want you to leave him and if you don't I will shoot you before you can get out of this town" (qtd. in Circuit Court Testimony 34). Frankie knew Walter Campbell was good to her and she didn't want to make a show. Bordwell then gave Frankie fifty dollars because she promised she would leave Campbell and go back to him (Circuit Court Testimony 33-34).

Frankie got her first chance to get away from Campbell a couple a weeks after she talked to Bordwell. She took a train to Owosso and she wrote to Bordwell that she was there. Before she received an answer, Campbell found her on the street one day. After he found her she was forced to go back to Grand Rapids by a constable. She never told Campbell anything about why she had left him. Frankie then stayed for a week and she made her second attempt at fleeing. She went to Toledo, Ohio, and sent Bordwell a telegram. Bordwell told her to stay there so that Campbell wouldn't find her. He rented Frankie a room at the Delphy Theater, where she stayed in a room with a woman named Nell Wright. Bordwell also got Frankie a job working there. One day when Frankie was out walking the streets she ran into Campbell. He asked why she had left once again, and she told him all about Bordwell. Campbell then replied, "Well, if that is the case Frankie, I don't want you. If old Bordwell is after you, you go back to him" (qtd. in Circuit Court Testimony 34).

After a few days Frankie headed back to Saginaw. The year was 1881 and she was about seventeen years old. When she arrived she found Bordwell living with another woman, but Bordwell made the other woman leave so Frankie could once again come back to her hard life working at the Opera House and living with Bordwell. This is the third time she has caught Bordwell with another woman (Circuit Court Testimony 35).

In the April of 1881, Bordwell, Frankie and a few others went camping out on Heisterman's Island for a vacation. Frankie was pregnant and Bordwell was aware of it. Everyone was drunk and they did no work, except Frankie, and when she said something to Bordwell, he went into a violent thunder. He took her and threw her around like a like a large doll. She then had a miscarriage in the tent. She was only about seventeen years old (Circuit Court Testimony 41-42).

In the following April of 1882, Frankie was arrested for drunkenness, but Frankie didn't go easy and she tried to resist arrest. She was at the police station: however, Bordwell broke her out and Frankie took a boat named The Perry to Cleveland, Ohio. Frankie stayed and worked on the boat even once she was at Cleveland. Frankie soon came back to the Opera House in Saginaw. She went on as if she never broke out, and one day the police saw her and asked how she got out. Frankie would not tell them so the police let her go, but they kept a close eye on her. Frankie slipped up and was sent to a workhouse for three months (Circuit Court Testimony 36-37).

After Frankie's three months was over she went back to Bordwell and the Opera House (Circuit Court Testimony 37). In the winter of 1882, Frankie caught Bordwell with May Halley at May Halley's Bed House. This is the fourth time she has caught him (Circuit Court Testimony 23). Soon after Frankie went to a correctional facility for being drunk and disorderly. She spent six months there (Circuit Court Testimony 38).

Once Frankie, who was twenty-five at the time, got out she went and got a room on Genesee Street in Saginaw. Frankie lived off and on with Bordwell until 1889 (Circuit Court Testimony 38-41). Once in 1887 Frankie attempted to commit suicide by hanging herself while in jail. A guard saw and saved her ("Back to Saginaw" 1).

Frankie had been pregnant a total of four times by Bordwell. The time when she was locked up at the hotel and when she went camping out on Heisterman's Island. Another time is when she was in the hospital for a drug overdose and she had a miscarriage. This is the fourth and last time. Bordwell went crazy on her and beat the life from her. This was the worst beating she had by him. Frankie lost consciousness and when she awoke she was covered in blood. She had a miscarriage a few days after she woke. "I often have hemorrhages ever since he kicked and pounded me that time," said Frankie (qtd. in Circuit Court Testimony 45). She was locked in a room and one night Bordwell came in and took all her belongings and he told her he was going to kill her that night. Frankie had a young woman unscrew the lock and let her free. This was in 1889 (Circuit Court Testimony 38-41).

According to "Frankie's Clever Trick" in October of 1890, Frankie was convicted of being a disreputable character and she was sentenced to thirty days in the county jail. However, she said she would leave the city, so they let her go. She didn't leave the city; in fact, she married a Mr. Duell. She then had to serve her thirty days in jail. She was about twenty-six at the time ("Clever Trick" 6). Two years later Frankie was found in horrible condition. Her face was pummeled in and she was sent to St. Mary's Hospital. Frankie was released from a Detroit house-of-correction prior to her beating ("Additional Local" 6).

At around the age of twenty-eight Frankie tried to attempt suicide while at St. Mary's Hospital, where she was receiving medical treatment. She was found in the old part of the hospital and returned to her former place ("Attempt at suicide" 6).

When Frankie was around the age of 34, Bordwell passed away and he had an estate worth about fifteen thousand dollars (1898 monetary value). Frankie was an inmate of the Saginaw County Poorhouse since 1896, and it is now 1898. Frankie claimed she was the legal widow of Warren Bordwell ("Claims Her Share" 7).

Frankie was mentioned in the Saginaw Evening News October 26, 1899. The court stated that Frankie is not the lawful widow of Bordwell. She received a settlement of seven dollars a week to support her. The Supreme Court stated she was not the lawful widow of Bordwell and she received another settlement of money and real estate for relinquishing her rights ("Frankie Howe Again" 5).

According to "Back to Saginaw" Frankie received about two thousand four hundred dollars from Bordwell after his death on December 12, 1897, at the age fifty-eight. Frankie then married Millard Sanders of Toledo, Ohio. He tricked Frankie and took her money and left Saginaw. He left her penniless ("Back to Saginaw" 1).

As you can see, Frankie lived a hard and poor life. She had many hardships and she faced many beatings. In my research I couldn't find a death record of Frankie. I couldn't find anything after Millard Sanders is with her. This may remain a mystery forever. I couldn't track down the information. I believe she died a poor woman. Frankie is a person who can say she lived a hard life. Can you say you lived a hard life?


Works Cited

  • "Additional Local." Saginaw Evening News 1 Feb. 1898: 7.
  • "Attempt at Suicide." Saginaw Evening News 29 Aug. 1892: 6.
  • "Back to Saginaw." Saginaw Evening News 16 July 1900: 1.
  • Circuit Court Testimony. Frankie Howe Saginaw County Michigan 31 Dec. 1895.
  • "Claims her Share." Saginaw Courier Herald 20 June 1898: 7.
  • " Frankie How Again." Saginaw Evening News 26 Oct. 1899: 5.
  • "Frankie's Clever Trick." Saginaw Courier Herald 5 Oct. 1890: 6.
 
The written and visual works in Mid-Michigan Remembers-Stories about Us were chosen on the basis of their quality, diversity, community interest and appeal. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the College. This space is provided as a service by Delta College.