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Julia Bulette, Lady of the Evening - Page 2

© Elizabeth Gibson

A warrant was issued for Millian's arrest on May 26. At first he broke down and confessed, but later retracted his statement. His trial began July 2, 1867. The evidence against him was overwhelming. Several people came forth verifying that the goods he had in his possession belonged to Julia. His lawyer continued to defend him, but he had no evidence to give. He stated that if Millian was guilty of anything it must be insanity, since anyone who had "stored the murdered woman's possessions so openly and to have sold so easily recognizable a dress," had to have been crazy. A few hours later, the jury came back with a verdict of guilty. His sentence was death by hanging.

His lawyer appealed the case, but the State Supreme Court upheld the verdict. So on April 24, 1868, he was put to death. There were about 3,000 witnesses to the hanging. But it wasn't the end of the story. Millian had claimed to have been one of three men involved in the killing. In fact, he said he was only the lookout and did not have a direct part in the killing. The other two men were named Douglass and Dillon. He claimed they murdered Julia and stole her goods and gave them to him for storage. No evidence of these two men was every found. It is not known if they ever even existed.

But five years later, an editor of the Sacramento Union contacted Virginia City asking for information about the murder of a prostitute there. A man named Durkin had been arrested and was being held in the Sacramento jail. He had been in Virginia City at the time of Julia's murder. He was never arrested for the crime.

In the 1940s the Virginia City chapter of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E. Campus Vitus erected several memories to Julia Bulette. One is near her home and one is at her grave site. There is also a saloon named for her in Virginia City today. On January 20, 1967, on the 100th anniversary of her death, the Order held a parade in her honor. Their was a severe snowstorm, but it did not keep people from coming out.

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