Mannie Hyman — Leadville’s Premier Saloonkeeper

The first saloon opened in Leadville, Colorado, in 1877, followed by hundreds more of varying character.  The city’s most notable “watering hole” was Hyman’s on Harrison Avenue.  Hugely popular, the Leadville saloon became famous for occasional gun play, celebrity visitors and general hi-jinx.  Overseeing the totality of those “attractions” — and reaping the profits — was its immigrant proprietor, Mannie (sometimes given as Manny) Hyman.

Hyman was born in May 1851 in Schwersenz, then part of the Prussian Empire, now part of Poland (Swarzedz), the town shown here.  Possibly to avoid conscription into the Prussian Army where many died in basic training, at the age of about 15 he exited Germany and sailed to America, landing in New York about 1866.  From there his trail grows cold.  Hyman next surfaced in 1879, age 18, living in the Colorado mountains at Kokomo, Summit County.  Once a gold and silver mining community of 10,000, today it is a ghost town.

 Hyman had gained experience in the liquor trade and sufficent funds to start a saloon and liquor store in the boom town.  His enterprise ended in October 1881 when a fire broke out, reportedly caused by a faulty lamp. Kokomo had no way to fight the flames.  Most of the town was destroyed, including Hyman’s saloon, a $3,500 loss.  While he may have rebuilt temporarily, he did not stay long in Kokomo.

The German immigrant turned his interests toward mining.  By March, 1880, Hyman owned the Grand View Mine and, according to the Leadville Weekly Democrat, the site was in in great demand from investors and speculators. “Mr. Hyman is constantly receiving letters and telegrams from parties wishing to purchase the property…”  By the following year Hyman also had mining interest at a location near Kokomo called “Gold Hill.”  Unsatisfied by his mining returns, however, Hyman yearned to return to the liquor trade.  

He found it in nearby Leadville, shown above.  By 1880, this town was one of the world's largest and richest silver camps, with a population of more than 15,000, Income from more than thirty mines and ten large smelting works producing gold, silver, and lead amounting to $15,000,000 annually.  In the early autumn of 1882  Hyman purchased the Leadville saloon license held by two locals at 314 Harrison Avenue, and later bought the adjoining storefront at 316 Harrison.  Those addresses would become central to his Leadville “watering hole” for years to come, as shown on the fire map below.

Happenings at Hyman’s’s.  Mannie’s drinking establishment rapidly became the most popular venue in Leadville.  Located on a major downtown street, it adjoined the city’s prime theater, the Tabor Opera House, property of Colorado millionaire, Horace Tabor. (See post on the Tabors, April 14, 2018.)  An 1880s photo shows the theatre right of Hyman’s saloon.  Across the street from the Opera House was the Clarendon Hotel, Leadville’s premier hostelry.  It housed celebrities and actors who performed at the theater.  As the result of these attractions, Hyman's bar, below, was a popular hangout.

Among them was Oscar Wilde, the famed British author, playwright and wit, who was on a lecture tour of the United States, apparently not fearing to appear in the “Wild West.”  Shown here he appeared at the Tabor Opera House on April 14, 1882. Speaking on the topic “The Decorative Arts,” Wilde is reported to have drawn a large Leadville audience.  After his lecture he  found time to visit Hyman’s Place for drinks.  Wilde later commented: "Where I saw the only rational method of art criticism.  I have come across, over the piano, printed a notice: Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.”

Other prominent visitors were “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, survivor of the Titanic disaster, and her considerably older husband, James J. Brown, a millionaire Colorado mine owner and engineer.  The Browns had acquired  great wealth in 1893 when Brown was instrumental in the discovery of a substantial gold ore seam at the Little Jonny Mine. They are shown here with their children.   A popular motion picture later would be made about the couple.  

Brown wrote his name in the history of Hyman’s saloon, the result of a tussle he had with another patron after accidentally bumping into him.  They exchanged insults.  Then matters got physical.  A reporter for the local newspaper told the story:  “The result was that Brown seized a chair and was about to resolve it into its original elements over Chamberlain’s head, but instead of the intended object getting it, an innocent and unsuspecting chandelier that was looking down on the fight, received the full benefit of the blow.”   And fell.  According to witnesses, Hyman’s chandelier knocked out Brown and his opponent was left unhurt.  Both men were arrested, fined $5 and court costs. 

A more serious altercation occurred at Hyram’s two years later involving the Western gunman, “Doc” Holiday, the dentist turned gunslinger and participant in the famous Gunfight at OK Corral.  Now sick and impoverished, Holiday was working for Hyman dealing cards when confronted by Billy Allen to whom he owed $5.   Although witnesses claimed Allen was unarmed and simply wanted to talk, Holiday testified he thought he was being attacked. He drew his gun and fired.  As proof of Holiday’s infirmity, the first bullet was wild, lodging in the front door.  A second  bullet hit Allen in the arm, a wound from which he later recovered.  Holiday was incarcerated.  After lengthy court procedures that received wide press attention, the dentist turned gunfighter was acquitted of attempted murder and released.  He left Leadville and died of tuberculosis two years later.

Hi-jinks at Hyman’s involved the proprietor himself. When two customers ordered a bottle of German white wine, the men bet Mannie $50 that the bottle was a not a genuine import.  Mannie took the bet and offered to double the amount.  The men agreed. Three Denver liquor importers were recruited to taste the wine and determine its authenticity.  They confirmed it.  Mannie collected $100 dollars.

In late 1883, A man approached Mannie with the story that the body of a “petrified” man had been located 50 miles south of Leadville.  He suggested the stone corpse could be displayed as an attraction at the saloon. Mannie agreed to finance an elaborate effort to recover the oddity.  Further investigation found that instead of a calcinated corpse, the body was a frozen stiff dead man. The deal fell apart. Mannie reportedly lost $1,000 in the escapade.

Mannie’s Business Philosophy.  In December of 1883, a reporter stopped at Hyman’s Place to ask about the proprietor’s success over the past year.   Gold and silver deposits were dwindling, the population of Leadville was declining, and many businesses, including saloons, were feeling the pinch.  Despite such concerns, Hyman’s establishment was always crowded and the owner continued to be a genial host.  Why, the reporter asked, was this so?

Normally reticent, Mannie opened up to the inquiry: “‘I never like to talk about myself or my business to a newspaper man… but if a discovery of a ‘secret’ as you call it, will relieve your anxiety, I shall be happy to unfold it to you.  One prime reason of my success is found in the fact that my patrons are treated alike, without discrimination as to wealth, worldly position or the clothes they wear. As a caterer to the public, I depend upon the public for success, and do not extend any more favors to the mining prince than I give to his humble employee. In my opinion all men are alike so long as they conduct themselves as gentlemen, and my employees have instructions to insult nobody until they are insulted. That is one of the reasons of my success, and, I believe the principal one.

Ask by the journalist to suggest other positive attributes, Mannie continued by saying:  ‘Well, I sell the best goods in the market at prices which rob neither my patrons or myself. I do not claim to sell better goods than my competitors. I merely claim to keep as good a stock as anyone else, and sell it as cheaply as anyone else….I have done an extensive business during the past year, for which I am very thankful to the public of Leadville.”

Mannie In and After Leadville.  As a leading businessman, Hyman was frequently solicited to make contributions to Leadville charitable causes.  In addition to being a generous donor, he had his own causes.  A staunch Republican, he financed a private poll of Leadville’s voting population.  An avid fan of baseball,  he was a director and major funder of the “moderately successful” Leadville Baseball Club.  Mannie also raised funds for a medallion honoring George W. Cook; a Rio Grand Western Railroad employee who orchestrated rescue efforts following an avalanche at the Homestake Mine. 

During this period Mannie fell in love. Her name was Fannie Goldman.  Originally from Chicago, Fannie came to Leadville in 1866 to visit her aunt and uncle, a local merchant.  The couple met during a fishing trip that included a number of prominent local businessmen.  Mannie, a 35-year old bachelor, was immediately taken with the younger Fannie. The couple announced their engagement to Leadville newspapers in September of that year and married in Chicago on February 1, 1887.  The marriage seemingly spurred Hyman’s disengagement from both his saloon and Leadville.

As Mannie sold off his assets, including Hyman’s Place on Harrison Street,  above, the Leadville Herald Democrat commented:   “The revenues that have been derived from this property since it was purchased by Hyman a few years ago, have been something enormous, and to-day it is regarded as one of the most valuable of the avenue possessions.  Taking his profits and Fanny with him, Hyman moved to Denver.  There he opened up a tobacco shop, advertising as “State agent for Palacios, Rodriquez & Co.’s celebrated Aurcliae clear Havana cigars, at wholesale. A full fine stock.”

The following years seemingly proved difficult for Hyman.  The tobacco business in Denver seemingly did not go well.  Moreover Mannie and Florence’s marriage hit the rocks and in 1911 the couple divorced.  There were no children.  Mannie moved out of Denver to live in New York City, his occupation, if any, unknown.  He is recorded living in a boarding house until his death in May 1924 at the age of 73.  In Leadville Hyman had been an important personage; in New York he was just another elderly man walking the streets of Manhattan.

Notes:  This post would not have been possible without information provided by  Temple Beth Israel and its website JewishLeadville.org.  Their article about Mannie Hyman and his saloon was invaluable.  Although the website also provides many photos of Leadville residents, unfortunately Hyman’s picture is not among them.