COWGIRL LUCILLE MULHALL, LAUDED BY PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT

It’s Frontierado Eve! Tonight is when many of us start our cookouts, poker games and Western Movie Marathons for the 3-day weekend. It goes on tonight and especially tomorrow, with the leftovers feeding us all through Saturday and Sunday.  Here’s another seasonal post.

LUCILLE MULHALL – This incredible woman, the first to defeat male competitors in roping and riding contests, was born October 21st, 1885 in St. Louis. Missouri. In 1889 her family moved to Alfred, Oklahoma which was soon renamed Mulhall, Oklahoma in honor of her father Zach Mulhall as they established their ranch there.

Lucille virtually grew up in the saddle and with lassos and guns in her hands. The year 1899 saw her father launch the Mulhall Wild West Show & Congress of Riders & Ropers in the spirit of Buffalo Bill Cody’s more famous traveling troupe. Fourteen-year-old Lucille was one of the show’s original performers at trick riding and roping as well as hazing the bulldoggers.

In 1900, Zach Mulhall bet $10,000 that his daughter could out-rope any of the cowboys in El Paso, Texas. Lucille did just that, following which she and her brother Charlie had to fight their way out of a mob of angry losers determined to strip the young lady to verify that she wasn’t a boy disguised as a woman.

Our “Queen of the Saddle” and the rest of the Mulhall Wild West Show performed at President William McKinley’s second Inauguration celebrations in March, 1901. Then-Vice President Theodore Roosevelt pushed for their appearance because of his previous experiences with Lucille and her family at the Mulhall Ranch.

While visiting there, Theodore mentioned his interest in prairie wolves, so our heroine saddled up and caught one for Roosevelt with her bare hands. The following year they held a special competitive wolf hunt in Theodore’s honor.

As President, Roosevelt designated Mulhall “the Golden Girl of the West” and “the Original Cowgirl.” (No offense, I’m assuming, to the many decades of cowgirls who came before her.)

After performances from Madison Square Garden back to St. Louis, Missouri, our Queen of the Range suffered a torn muscle during a relay race. Lucille kept performing for the rest of the 1902 tour despite the pain.

In 1903 astride her horse Governor, Mulhall set the Rodeo Record for steer roping (30 seconds) during an event in Denison, Texas. Around 1907 our Rodeo Queen signed on as a star attraction with the Miller Brothers’s 101 Ranch Wild West Show. Later, she downsized her show for Vaudeville Theaters as Lucille Mulhall & Her Ranch Boys. 

Mulhall married vaudeville singer and composer Martin Garrison Van Bergen on March 22nd, 1909 but they later divorced. Martin performed in Lucille’s Cowboy Opera on the Orpheum Circuit. Their son William Van Bergen was born January 29th, 1909. (Yes.) 

The year 1912 saw this cowgirl performing at Canada’s Calgary Stampede. Lucille branched out into her very own touring Wild West Troupe in 1913 and toured with it while still competing in rodeos, winning events from Walla Walla, Washington to the Mississippi River. 

She added Queen of the Western Prairie to her titles and launched her own rodeo events beginning in 1916. Our lady married wealthy rancher and Spanish-American War veteran Thomas L. Burnett on May 3rd, 1919.

Thomas had served as one of Lt. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders. He and Lucille separated in 1920 and divorced in 1921.

In 1922, after a career in which she had performed alongside the likes of Will Rogers, Tom Mix and Chief Geronimo, Mulhall retired from performing and competing at the ripe old age of 37. For the rest of her life she resided on the family ranch. In 1935, Lucille rode at the head of Guthrie, Oklahoma’s Frontier Celebration Day Parade.

Lucille Agatha Mulhall died in an automobile accident in 1940. She was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame, into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame and the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. Meg Ryan should have played this iconic figure in a movie during the 80s or 90s.