s/o Daniel John Swearingen / Keziah Montgomery

Twin of Lemuel Abraham

He was found near the Denver & Rio Grande railroad tracks where they cross Alameda Avenue [that's where Santa Fe Drive is now]. In the coroner's report his name is listed as Albert Ellis Swearengen, a passerby found his body. No one saw him die, but his injuries were more extensive than a blow to the head. Instead, his skull was fractured, his ribs on the right side were broken, and both his legs were badly crushed. The coroner said he was a miner and supposed to be going up to the mountains. According to his report, he had nothing of value on him other than a "cheap watch," knife, and dynamite fuse and cap for his mining work.

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SWEARINGEN - The body of Albert Swearingen, who was killed in Denver last Wednesday, Nov. 15, 1904, arrived in the city Monday afternoon at three o'clock via the Rock Island from the west. The casket was taken to the L. A. Swearingen home on Second avenue west, corner of D street. Funeral services held at the home this [Tuesday] afternoon, at two o'clock, and internment was made in Forest cemetery. The body was accompanied to this city by T. J. Swearingen , a brother, who resides at Leadville. ref: Oskaloosa Herald [Oskaloosa, IA] 24 Nov 1904 -excerpt

ref: Denver Public Library; CO Coroner's Report Record; Obit

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∼Frontier businessman, entrepreneur, and pimp.

Al Swearingen was a businessman, pimp, and entertainment entrepreneur in Deadwood, South Dakota. He arrived in Deadwood in May 1876 with his wife, Nettie. Nettie later divorced him on grounds of spousal abuse, and Swearingen would marry two more times, both marriages ending as the first.

He first built a very small saloon called the Cricket Saloon, which featured miners engaged in what were advertised as "prize fights", although no prizes were actually awarded.

Within a year, Swearingen had accumulated enough money to build the much larger and more opulent Gem Variety Theater, which opened on April 7, 1877, and featured traditional prize fights, stage shows, and prostitution. Swearingen owned and operated the Gem Variety Theater for 22 years.

After the Gem burned--along with much of Deadwood--on September 26, 1879, Swearingen rebuilt it larger and more opulent than ever, to great public acclaim. His talent for alliances and financial payoffs kept him insulated from the general drive to clean up the town.

The Gem burned again in 1899 and he left Deadwood to visit family in Iowa. That same year, Swearingen married Odelia Turgeon.

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