Margaret Tobin Brown

European trips, learning five languages and spending their millions with abandon, the Browns enjoyed their newly found social status and lifestyle in Denver. Molly chaired the Art and Literature Committee, organized benefits for the Working Girls’ Home and YWCA and ensured books, newspapers and magazines were plentiful at the DWC Reading Room. The River Front Park project was close to her heart, and the organization built playground and started a summer school for Denver’s indigent children. Socialite columnist Polly Pry, who in fact was Mrs. Leonel Ross Anthony, loved to report on the personable and ostentatious Molly Brown, especially when it came to her clothes and parties. U.S. Senators were entertained at the Brown home, and philanthropic parties were hosted at the Pennsylvania Avenue mansion, and the Brown’s beloved Avoca Lodge.

J.J.’s health started to decline, and in 1899 J.J. transferred the title of the Pennsylvania Avenue home to Molly, and tenants ran the productive farm known as Avoca. Lawrence and Helen were schooled in Paris, and Molly and J.J. moved to Ireland, for what was to be a four-year period. The Irish sojourn lasted less than a year, and the Browns returned to Denver in August 1890.

Molly easily returned to the glitz and glamour of her social circles, and in September 1890 she wore a French gown to a luncheon whose guest lists boasted of the rich and famous from Chicago and New York. On November 15, 1890, the Denver Times reported that Molly attired herself "in a chic little Prince Albert coat, hand-painted in delicate pink rosebuds and foliage. Around the edges, fringe-line silk threads gave a touch that was decidedly Parisian. The skirt was flounced with accordion-plaited chiffon, with draperies of Brussels lace on it. Around her firm, white throat several strands of pearls were clasped."

When Molly attended the opera, a sketch accompanied the December 6, 1890 Denver Times article, with Molly and her frock described as "One of the most brilliantly attractive and richly gowned women was Mrs. J.J. Brown. Her hair was dressed in quaintly artistic fashion, built high and finished with gilt snake coiled about an aigrette in which glittered two large solitaires and a cluster of opals and diamonds. Two long curls, of the sort that do not repose on the toilet table at night, fell over her beautiful bare shoulders. Her gown was imported from Venice and the artistic touches of the clever modiste were apparent in every detail. The material was ivory white satin brocaded in large chrysanthemums. The front of the skirt was embroidered in gold thistles and flounces of accordion pleaded chiffon edged the skirt. The bodice was severely plain in cut, the beauty of it consisting in the richness of the material. A fichu-like drapery of gold embroidered lace finished the bodice at the top, and a chou of narrow velvet ribbons gave a touch of black which is so distinctly Parisian. The girdle was of chiffon, and was tied at the left side and the pleated ends reached the hem of the skirt."

In the seventeenth year of the Brown’s marriage, it was apparent that the Brown money would not buy everlasting happiness. Molly attended social functions alone, and on January 24, 1909, the Denver Times put the Browns marital woes on the front page, stating, "It has been an open secret for a year or more that there was anything but harmony reigning in the handsome house on Pennsylvania Street. . .The prime cause of the trouble, it has always been understood, was the diametrically opposed viewpoint of Mr. and Mrs. Brown as to the most congenial manner of life."

Molly recanted to the press, making the following statement to the Denver Post in November 1909, "What I want to do most of all is get away from Denver for awhile and all its painful associations. There has been no pleasure in being obliged to listen to all these reports and to have to answer questions about conditions of which I myself am only too sensitively conscious. And I do not care to talk about Mr. Brown and his condition, because it would be evidence of poor taste on my part. I will only say this: that his peculiarities have made it necessary for me to reach an adjustment of finances so that we may live apart."

On August 10, 1909, Molly signed a separation agreement. Living a lavish lifestyle, but unable to bear a broken heart, Molly accepted an invitation extended by John Jacob Astor to travel through Northern Africa and Egypt. Daughter Helen left her studies at the Sorbonne in Paris to join Molly and the Astors. Son Lawrence had presented Molly with her first grandson, Lawrence Jr., and while hobnobbing with the rich and famous in Cairo, Egypt, Molly received a telegram that her grandson was ill. She decided her place was with her son and grandson, so she booked passage to New York on the first luxury liner available: the Titanic. She boarded in Cherbourg, France, and the fated ship would multiply Molly’s fame through catastrophic disaster.

Helen decided to stay behind in London, and due to Molly’s hasty decision, few people knew that was had boarded the Titanic. At eleven-forty P.M, on Sunday, April 14, 1912 able seaman Frederick Fleet rang a bell three times from the crow’s nest of the ship, and uttered the predestined, three word sentence, "Iceberg right ahead." Thirty-seven seconds later, Titanic hit the unpardonable permafrost. On Deck B, snug in her bed, absorbed in a book, Margaret Tobin Brown was thrust to the floor, and startled by a pounding noise. She heard people screaming, and voices commanding that life jackets must be secured.

Adorned in her nightgown, Molly donned a black velvet two-piece suit with black and white silk labels, pulled on seven pairs of woolen stockings, put on a sable stole J.J. had given her during the good times and wrapped her head with silk capote. She grabbed $500 in cash, strapped on a life jacket and grabbed a blanket from the bed. Molly thought to take her treasured three-inch turquoise-colored Egyptian statues purchased in Cairo and placed it in her pocket for luck.

At twelve forty-five A.M. distress rockets fired from the starboard side of the bridge, and Molly had made her way atop deck, only to see water gushing from on opening on the ship’s side. Lifeboat Six was equipped to hold sixty-five passengers, and in the haste and chaos, twenty-four people had scrambled into the rubbery raft as it hastened to the dark and frigid waters littered with bodies, deck chairs, grand pianos, chandeliers, steamer trunks and personal items. Molly Brown was thrust into the raft, arguing all the while against the adage of women and children going first. Yards from the cursed ship, in the blackness of the frigid waters that became a watery grave for 1,764 people, Molly witnessed a ship noted for it’s strength, might and luxury break in two.

Rowing for two hours in the darkened waters, Molly handed pairs of stockings to other women, wrapped her stole around a freezing raft-mate and shared her blanket. She kept her pioneer spirit blazed on a positive conquest from a deathly entrapment. . .knowing there was a fighting chance because the sea was calm. She kept those able to row doing so, knowing they’d freeze to death without moving. Those unable to row, she kept in song or conversation.

Prayers were heard and a miracle was found in a ship called Carpathia, a mighty vessel that saved over seven hundred people from thirteen lifeboats. As chaos found order, and passengers were able to make plans to board other vessels, Molly remained on the Carpathia, helping the downtrodden find financial assistance or provide interpretation with her ability speak five languages to help foreign passengers continue their pilgrimage toward safety.

Margaret Tobin Brown returned to Denver a heroine. The "Sacred Thirty-six" received her with open arms, and she finally received the social status in all circles of society. J.J., however, had no desire to continue his social stand with society’s prestigious and elite, or by the side of his now worldly famous wife. He found solace where the love affair started, when life was simple and love was enough. J.J. returned to Leadville, Colorado.

All photos of Molly and JJ Brown on this page copyright Colorado Historical Society, used with permission. Additional photos and graphics, copyright Molly Brown Summer House