One of the many “ladies of the line.”
Charles Allen, aka Big Time Charlie, ran one of the most illicit prostitution rings in Denver, Colorado, in the early 20th century.
Shortly after Charles Allen arrived in Denver, Colorado, in 1916, he began building one of the city’s largest rings of “painted ladies” ever seen. Boasting an adventurous life in the Alaskan gold strikes and riding with Pancho Villa in Mexico, he continued his exploits in the mile-high city in an entirely different manner. He used a variety of underhanded tactics to entice women into the business and often used heroin and opium to addict his young girls before placing them in the many cribs and bordellos that he owned. Rarely were they even paid, except for in the form of dope.
Within four years of his arrival, he had made over a million dollars, half of which was paid to the Denver authorities to keep them off his back. Though the prostitution racket was overlooked, when Allen began the wholesale distribution of drugs in the mile-high city, the law no longer turned a blind eye. His home was raided in 1919, and significant quantities of heroin and opium were seized. Big Time Charlie was then sent to the penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, to serve five years for illegal drug trafficking, and his empire fell. What became of him after his release from prison is unknown.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated May 2024.
Also See:
Denver, Colorado – Mile High City