It is known that the woman known in Old Tascosa as “Frenchy McCormick” began her life in 1852, in the vicinity of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is also known that she left her birthplace at a young age, and possibly worked as a dancer on a Mississippi riverboat before taking a stagecoach to Dodge City.
The trail herd town was rough and rowdy, and the nameless girl worked the dance halls and saloons. It was there that she likely received the name ‘Frenchy,’ from a Texas cowboy who admired her looks and her dancing abilities.
In Dodge, Frenchy heard there was money to be made down south in Mobeetie, Texas, dancing for the cowboys and buffalo hunters . So she packed her dance costumes in a travelling trunk and made her way to the Texas Panhandle. There she met the man who would be her bridge between dance halls and respectability. He would also be the love of her life.
Mickey McCormick, or ‘Mack’ as she called him, was a dapper Irish gambler who also operated a hunting business and livery stable in Tascosa, about 100 miles up the Canadian River. He met Frenchy at the gaming tables, and it seemed he always won when the dancer was beside him. He called her his luck, and when he returned to Tascosa, he kept that luck by his side…