![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/372-hazards-helen-at-phone_thumb.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSoon people began to swing off The Goose, as the dinky train serving Shoshone was called, and head for Chicago Valley. Among the victims was a widow named Holmes with a family of attractive, intelligent children. One of these was a vivacious, beautiful teenager named Helen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Holmes were handicapped because of tuberculosis in the family. This, in fact, had induced the widow to invest her savings.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Helen_Holmes_photo.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nHerman Jones used to ride by the Holmes\u2019 place en route to the Pahrump Ranch on hunting trips and owning several burros; he thought the Holmes\u2019 children would like to have one. Taking the donkey over, he told Helen, \u201cYou can use him to work the ranch too. Better and faster than a hoe….\u201d He brought a harness and a cultivator, and showed her how to use the implement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was inevitable that investors in Chicago Valley would lose their time, labor, and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus when Helen Holmes returned the burro to Herman one day, Herman was not surprised when she told him she was on her way to Los Angeles to look for a job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut what can you do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wish I knew. I can get a job washing dishes or waiting on tables.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly afterward, he heard from her\u2014just a little note saying she was a hello girl on a switchboard. \u201cKnew she\u2019d land on her feet,\u201d Herman grinned, and having a bottle handy, he gurgled a toast to Helen. He had to tell the news, of course, and with each telling, he produced the bottle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So he was in a pleasant mood when somebody suggested a spot of poker. To mention poker in Shoshone is to have a game, and in a little while, Dad Fairbanks, Dan Modine, deputy sheriff Herman, and two or three others were shuffling chips over in the Mesquite Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Herman had the luck and quit with $700. \u201cFellows,\u201d he said as he folded his money, \u201ctake a last look at this roll. You won\u2019t see it again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, you\u2019ll be back,\u201d Fairbanks said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Herman didn\u2019t come back. Instead, he went to Los Angeles, and found Helen at the switchboard. She confided excitedly that she had a chance to get into the movies as soon as she could get some nice clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFine,\u201d Herman said. \u201cWhen can I see you?\u201d He made a date for dinner, had a few more drinks and when he met her he had a comfortable binge and a grand idea. \u201c… Listen, Helen. You wouldn\u2019t get mad at a fool like me if I meant well, would you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy Herman\u2014you know I wouldn\u2019t,\u201d she laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m a little likkered and it\u2019s kinda personal….\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut you\u2019re a gentleman, Herman\u2014drunk or sober….\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking of this picture business. I nicked Dad Fairbanks in a poker game. You know how I am. Lose it all one way or another. You take it and buy what you need, and it\u2019ll do us both some good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The refusal was quick. \u201cIt\u2019s sweet of you, Herman, but not that. I just couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can borrow it, can\u2019t you … so I won\u2019t drink it up?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The argument won, and soon theatergoers all over the world were clutching their palms as they watched the hair-raising escapes from death that pictured \u201cThe Perils of Pauline\u201d\u2014the serial that made Helen Holmes one of the immortals of the silent films. She died at 58 on July 8, 1950.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few miles east of Shoshone is Chicago Valley, which began in a startling swindle and ended in fame and fortune for one defrauded victim. A convincing crook from the Windy City found government land open to entry and called it Chicago Valley. It was a desolate area; the only living thing to be seen … Continue reading “Hazards of Helen”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-valley","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3730,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/3730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digital-desert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}