(Photo by Calvin Shepherd - Use By Permission)
Alderson West Virginia - A History
Well Known Women
It
is
unusual
that
more
women
residents
of
Alderson
have
attracted
fame
or
attention
than
men.
One
reason
is
that
Alderson
is
the
location
of
a
famed
woman’s
prison.
Elsewhere
in
this
history
are
recounted
facts
about
Miss
Emma
Alderson,
Dr.
Mary
B.
Harris,
Tokyo
Rose,
Axis
Sally,
Edith
Gurley
Flynn,
and
other
women.
The
last
three
women
named
were
prisoners
and
certainly
did
not
engage
in
any
community
activity
but
they
lived
here and had Alderson in the headlines across the nation.
Recently
Robert
C.
Ruark,
nationally
known
columnist
and
author,
wrote
a
lengthy
article
a
bout
"Bricktop".
Ruark
says
red-headed
freckle-faced
"Bricktop"
was
the
Queen
of
Paris
in
the
roaring
20's,
where
in
1924
she
opened
a
world
famous
club
in
which
she
sang
many
songs
in
fractured
French,
smoked
big
black
cigars,
and
could
drink
all
the
brandy
customers
would
buy
her.
To
her
place
came
the
world's
great,
the
kings,
the
queens,
the
writers,
composers,
poets,
the
politicians,
the
rich,
the
big
business
men.
"Bricktop's"
place
was
chic
and
the
place
to
go.
Ruark
said
"Bricktop"
told
him
she
judge
the
success
of
a
night
by
the
number
of
kings
in
the
house.
One
night
she
had
five
kings
and
the
Prince
of
Wales.
In
1951
she
left
Paris
for
Rome
and
there
she
became
equally
successful.
To
her
place
near
Hotel
Excelsior
came
the
resident
Romans,
the
tourists,
and
the
foreign
colony.
Ada
Smith
has
become
a
Catholic
convert,
and
is
devout.
She
has
been
very
active
in
charities
for
Italian
orphans.
The
last
three Popes knew "Bricktop" and granted here semi-private audiences.
Ruark
says
that
now
"Bricktop's"
liver
is
going
back
on
here,
and
she
is
tired
of
staying
up
all
night. She
must
be
more
that
75.
Besides,
kings
and
queens
are
getting
scarce,
so
"Bricktop"
has
closed
up
here
Roman
place.
She
plans
to
return
to
the
United
States
and
open
a
small
cocktail
lounge
in
New
Youk
probably,
or
San
Francisco,
and
go
to
bed
early.
(Here
is
a
YouTube
video
of
Bricktop
at
about
the
age
of
70)
Also
see
Bricktop’s
Wikipedia
page.
One
of
Alderson’s
famous
women
was
Mrs.
Alex
McVeigh
Miller.
She
had
fine
literary
talent
yet
deliberately
set
out
to
write
the
most
"sensational"
fiction
of
her
time,
solely
for
money.
She
succeeded.
Mittie
Frances
Clark
Point
was
born
in
Virginia
before
the
Civil
War,
in
a
family
of
ten
children.
She
was
graduated
from
Richmond
Female
Institute
at
nineteen,
where
she
was
considered
talented
in
literary
work.
She
married
Thomas
Jefferson
Davis
and
lived
in
Washington
for
a
time.
There
she
began
writing.
Her
first
novel
was
Rosamond
which
sold
for
$100.00.
Her
husband
and
little
daughter
died
in
Washington.
For
a
time
Mrs.
Davis
earned
$5.00
per
week
writing
a
syndicated
letter
on
the
actions
of
Congress.
This
was
hard
work
for
the
money,
so
she
returned
to
her
father’s
home.
In
1878
she
married
Alex
McVeigh
Miller.
They
lived
at
Hawk’s
Nest
briefly
and
then
tried
farming
in
Nicholas
County.
Then
they
returned
to
Miller’s
parent’s
home
in
Alderson
where
their
first
daughter,
Irene,
was
born.
(Irene
Miller
Chainey
died
recently
and
is
buried
in
Alderson.) (Click on photo for larger view)
After
two
years
Alex
was
given
ten
acres
of
land
by
his
father
on
which
they
built
a
small
house
which
they
lacked
money
to
complete.
Then
Mrs.
Miller
decided
she
would
return
to
writing.
No
fine
prose
or
poetry
for
her.
She
read
the
most
sensational
stuff
she
could
find
until
she
had
mastered
the
cheap
style.
Her
first
"dime
novel",
actually
sold
for
15
cents,
was
Bride
of
the
Tomb.
The
first
editor
to
whom
she
sent
the
story
paid
her
$20.00
for
each
installment.
This
put
her
in
the
serial
story
business
and
soon
she
was
under
contract
to
three
weekly
papers:
New
York
Weekly,
New
York
Family
Story
Paper,
and
New
York
Fireside
Companion.
She
had
a
long
contract
with
New
York
Fireside
Companion
for
$1,200.00
per
story
and
later
$2,000.00.
She
wrote
three
novels
for
F.
M.
Lupton
Publications.
Some
of
her
poems
and
stories
appeared
in
The
Greenbrier
Independent.
Mrs.
Miller liked poetry but there was not enough money in it.
She
had
two
sons,
McVeigh
and
Lawrence,
and
all
three
of
the
children
were
graduated
from
West
Virginia
University
with
honors.
Money
was
coming
in.
The
small
house
was
enlarged
and
a
beautiful
home,
The
Cedars,
was
built.
Mr.
Miller
took
charge
of
her
money
and
his
management
was
not
always
wise.
Mrs.
Miller
achieved
her
goal
—
money.
She
and
her
husband
separated
and
never
lived
together
again.
She
and
her
daughter
Irene, lived in Boston, and later in Washington for years after the separation.
In
all,
Mrs.
Alex
McVeigh
Miller
wrote
80
novels,
more
than
100
poems
and
numerous
short
stories.
In
the
West
Virginia
Department
of
Archives
and
History
a
shelf
about
five
feet
long
holds
her
work.
It
is
not
even
cataloged.
The
lurid,
sensational
stuff
is
not
literature
and
no
one
knew
it
better
than
its
author
who
said
after
earning
almost
$100,000.00
with
her
pen,
"The
most
urgent
of
all
incentives
to
a
career
is
—
poverty."
Considering
the
time
in which Mrs. Miller wrote, with no income tax to pay, she earned a large fortune. The most popular novel she wrote was The Senator's Bride.
Ref: West Virginia Review, V. Vll, No. 2, April, 1930, p. 202, "A Weaver of Romances" by Ethel Clark Lewis. West Virginia Archives, Charleston
The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV Used by permission - November 18, 2008
Main Index
The History of Alderson, West Virginia
From The Journal Of The Greenbrier Historical Society On Alderson, West Virginia
Written by Kenneth D. Swope - Compiled and Transcribed by Barry Worrell
A
woman
who
probably
has
known
more
of
the
world's
great
over
a
longer
period
of
time
than
anyone
now
living
is
Ada
Beatrice
Queen
Victoria
Louisa
Smith,
better
known
as
"Bricktop"
Smith.
She
was
born
in
Alderson
and
spent
here
childhood
here.
Her
step-father
operated
a
barber
shop
located
between
the
present
Methodist
Church
and
the
old
Alderson
National
Bank
building,
and
the
Smith
family
lived
there. "Barber"
Smith
whose
first
name
is
not
known
was
a
well-liked
hunch-backed
Negro.
His
wife,
Hattie,
an
expert
seamstress,
will
be
remembered
by
the
older
generation
as
she
constantly
went
about
in
her
old
age
with
a
poodle
dog,
and
was
a
woman
of
unusual
appearance.
According
to
local
information,
when
Barber
Smith
died
Mrs.
Smith
took
little
Ada
to
Chicago,
where
Mrs.
Smith
opened
a
boarding
house
patronized
by
theatrical
clientele.
There
Ada,
or
"Bricktop"
as
she
was
nicknamed, learned some entertainment lore. (Click on photo for larger view)