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Morgan, Belle

Wealthy business woman and owner of the Bella Union Hotel in King City,[1] Kansas,[2] in 1872.[1] (October 17, 1839 – who-knows-when)[2]

Married to Cyrus K. Morgan[2] in 1861 in New York. In 1866, Morgan gifted Belle with a terrier pup[2] whom she named Yum Yum. She moved to Kansas with her husband[1] in 1867[2] where they established the Bella Union Hotel in what would become King City. Upon Morgan's death in September of 1869, Belle inherited his wealth, including his shares of capital stock in the Brasada Spur and the Great Western Railroad and full ownership of the Bella Union Hotel. She found she enjoyed the power she had gained with her husband's assets and swore she would never remarry.[1]

In August of 1872[2], after dining at her table at the Bella Union, Yum Yum wandered off into the halls of the hotel and disappeared. Bart Maverick, a guest at the Bella Union and looking for a way to get invited to Rufus Elgree's exclusive nightly poker game, lured the terrier into his room where he held him until he could devise a scheme to return him to Belle and win her introduction to Elgree and the poker game. Bart charmed her into riding in the country with him and she found herself attracted to him. She soon agreed to have Elgree invite him to his poker games. Shortly, it occured to her that Bart's attentions to her were only to win a seat in the game and she decided to punish Bart by having Adam Sheppley "lose" her shares of Brasada Sput to him. Bart's win made him liable for $40,000 of the railroad's debts. When Bart discovered she had played him, he schemed with Brasada Spur President Roy Stafford to get the Great Western to pay him back, as well as to get the Brasada Spur out of debt. After forcing Elgree to agree to settle all of Brasada Spur's debts and damages, Bart invited Belle to join him for Mardi Gras in New Orleans. When she seemed to decline, Bart left town on the next train but en route, learned that Belle was traveling on the same train and they moved on together to New Orleans.[1]

After some time together, the two parted ways[1] and Belle returned to King City. After the onset of the Panic of 1873 and the railroads abandoned King City, the Bella Union no longer had enough business to support itself. She sold the hotel and moved back to New York and never remarried.[2]

See: Brasada Spur