LEON THE MYSTERIOUS LADY
Her story wound around western Kansas in 1879, crisscrossing through Anthony on four separate occasions. She went by various names: Dr. M.L. Stanley, Leon Belmont, Leon G.B. Stanley, “Belmont the Mysterious.” Newspapers speculated, cowboys gossiped, families were humiliated and even Kansas Governor John P. St. John penned a page or two about her.
It is not clear where she came from before creating the big uproar of 1879. It is known the weather was frigid that January, and drifters like Leon found it particularly hard going. On January 16 she rode into Russell City and introduced herself as Dr. M.L. Stanley. She’d come for supplies and warmer clothes. Henry Gregory, who sold leather goods, provided Leon with two pairs
