Catherine Lawder - FortCollins’ “Lady” Moon
- Lady On The Moon Picture
- Lady On The Moon Award Sororities
- Folk Tales About The Moon
- Lady On The Moon Miller High Life
Lady On The Moon Picture
Imd 7 years ago Comments Off on A Story of the Moon Lady 7.5 K A long, long time ago, there was a beautiful lady named Chang Er who was married to the heavenly archer Hou Yi By Frances Kai-Hwa Wang, AAV Contributing Editor.
Lady On The Moon Award Sororities
An Irish barmaid at theElkhorn Hotel divorced her miner husband and married Cecil Moon who inherited atitle in 1898, giving Fort Collins a sense ofaristocracy to have “Lady” Moon living in the Fort Collins area on a ranch.
Lady Moon gave the town a lot to talk about.Catherine (Kate) first showed up as Mrs. Gartman whose husband had a homesteadon the Upper Pine Creek. She worked part-time at the Elkhorn Lodge taking inwash. Her life changed on day when Cecil Moon dropped by. He came to Fort Collins as a Remittance Man, sent out from England to stayat the Roxbys.
Roxby, a retired English army man, had a beautifulranch called The Grange. The Roxbys had made a business of making a home foryoung English men whose parents paid anywhere from $300 to $500 a year fortheir sons to experience life on a ranch.
The word soon got out that Cecil Moon was the oldestson and a direct heir of his grandfather, Sir Richard Moon, then Chairman ofthe Great Western Railway Company in England. Not only was Cecil in linefor the title of Baron but he also had a considerable estate in England.
Kate also heard the news about Cecil and set out tocapture his affections. This was not a hard job as she was a handsome andshapely Irish lass with gorgeous blue eyes, rosy Irish cheeks and black hair.She was also healthy and strong and could take care of any man. She could ridea horse like no one else. She soon divorced Frank and married Cecil.
Shortly after their marriage, both Cecil’s Father andGrandfather died and he soon acquired the title Sir Cecil Moon and Catherinebecame Lady Catherine Moon. They madea trip back to England in the 1900’s where Cecil’s family thought Kate wasquite scandalous and had unconventional Western ways. His family refused toaccept Lady Moon as the proper recipient of the family title and madearrangements to get rid of her by paying her a large sum of money to return –alone – to the United States.However, Catherine and Sir Cecil soonreturned to Coloradotogether and Sir Cecil tried desperately to divorce.Catherine controlled all the money andproperty in the divorce and became the first woman to pay alimony to herex-husband. Eventually generous terms were made and Cecil was granted hisdivorce.
While she was still married, Cecil and Lady Moon hadpurchased a beautiful ranch above the Elkhorn.Many rumors circulated about Catherine including one that she and her ranchforeman were involved in cattle stealing. In addition, she burned down her ownhome to collect the insurance money. Immediately following the fire, Lady Moonhad to borrow a dress to wear but ironically, all of her fine clothes, furs andjewelry that she supposedly had lost to the fire, reappeared in Fort Collins. When sheappeared in town it was usually with a great flourish, wearing a plumed hat,though the rest of her outfit was often disheveled.
Lady Moon ran her ranch like a man. On weekends, Denver businessmenflocked to her ranch house where they could always find a party going on. Manyof the men accompanied her to town during her buying trips escorted by the 20or so mangy flea-bitten dogs who resided at the ranch. She eventually sold herproperty, but not before she and several of her men made bootleg whiskey, whichshe peddled in downtown Fort Collins.Bootleggers often snuggled booze into Fort Collins,usually from the State of Wyomingwhere liquor sales were legal. Lady Moon was once caught trying to sneak liquorinto town in her bloomers. Her bloomers had been specially made with an innerlining to hide her stash.
Folk Tales About The Moon
Lady Moon died in Fort Collins in 1926. It was rumored that shedied of alcohol poisoning but Arlene Ahlbrandt, a local historian, relates thatshe died of cancer. Lady Moon may have had a terrible reputation, but she was awarm, caring individual. When her will was read, it was noted that she sharedher wealth with people less fortunate than she. She gave her jewelry to some ofthe poor women in town and even gave one of her ponies to a little girl she hadbefriended.