DUANE
Duane's take
The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Mollie Bailey — and friend, it is some story. A native of Alabama, Mollie Arline Kirkland married James Augustus Bailey — everybody called him Gus — in 1858. Now Gus came from circus blood.
His father was a circus owner, and that world was in Gus's bones. So he did what any son of the sawdust naturally does: he put together a troupe. The Bailey Family Troupe featured Gus, Mollie, Gus's brother Alfred, and Mollie's sister Fanny.
They took their show through Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas — until the Civil War put a hard stop to the music. Gus and Alfred Bailey joined the Confederate Army in 1861, both of them becoming members of Hood's Texas Brigade. Gus led the regimental band.
And Mollie? Mollie didn't go home and wait. She traveled with them — as a nurse, and as a performer with Hood's minstrels, entertaining the troops through the whole grinding misery of that war.
After it was over, Gus and Mollie and their children kept right on traveling, kept right on performing, because the road was the only life they knew. Then in 1879, they bought a small circus and moved to Texas. They billed it — and I love this — as 'A Texas Show for Texas People.' That show grew into the Mollie A.
Bailey Show after Gus stepped back into retirement. Then in 1896, Gus died. A lot of people might've folded the tent right there.
Mollie Bailey did not fold the tent. She kept operating that circus, kept it rolling into towns across the region year after year, until folks came to call her the Circus Queen of the Southwest. In 1906 she married A.
H. Hardesty — known as Blackie — a circus employee. She kept the name Mollie Bailey, kept running the show, and didn't stop until 1917.
She died at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Houston on October 2, 1918. Born in Alabama, she gave her name to a Texas institution.
The Circus Queen of the Southwest earned that crown the hard way — in wartime field hospitals, on muddy Southern roads, and under big tops from one end of Texas to the other.
What the marker says
A native of Alabama, Mollie Arline Kirkland was married to James Augustus (Gus) Bailey in 1858. The son of a circus owner, Gus Bailey formed the Bailey Family Troupe with Mollie, his brother Alfred, and Mollie's sister Fanny. They traveled throughout Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas with their show until the beginning of the Civil War. Gus and Alfred Bailey joined the Confederate Army in 1861 and became members of Hood's Texas Brigade. While Gus led the regimental band, Mollie traveled with them as a nurse and as a member of Hood's minstrels, entertaining the troops. Gus and Mollie Bailey and their children continued to travel as entertainers after the war. In 1879 they bought a small circus and moved to Texas. Billed as "A Texas Show for Texas People," it became the Mollie A. Bailey Show following Gus' retirement. After his death in 1896 Mollie continued to operate the circus, a popular annual event in many towns. She was known as the "Circus Queen of the Southwest." In 1906 Mollie married A. H. "Blackie" Hardesty, a circus employee. she continued to be known as Mollie bailey, however, and ran the show until 1917. She died at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Houston on October 2, 1918.