The Murder of Jennie Bauters

The life and tragic death of Belgian Jennie, Arizona’s wealthiest madam.

Madam Jennie Bauter’s place, Jennie is top and center. Public Domain Photograph

Jennie Bauter's early life is a mystery. Before she became the richest woman in Arizona, she gave birth to a son in Brussels. Jennie and her fourteen-year-old boy, John Phillippe, immigrated to America in July of 1896. She put her son in a Chicago boarding school and ventured out west to the boom-town of Jerome, Arizona.