In March 1935, Sue Bonnie pushed through three feet of snow to her friend's cabin on Fryer Hill outside Leadville, Colorado. She and Tom French broke a window and found 80-year-old Baby Doe Tabor dead on the cabin floor, partially clothed, arms flung out, her body frozen stiff into a cross.

Fifty years earlier, Baby Doe had been one of the richest women in America. Her husband, Horace Tabor, the silver mining king, burned through $10,000 a day for his entire 30-day Senate term in 1883. Her wedding gown cost $7,000. Her diamond necklace cost $75,000, sold to her as authentic stones from Queen Isabella's hoard — the ones she'd supposedly pawned for Columbus.

The 1893 silver panic wiped them out. Tabor died in 1899 as Denver's postmaster, telling his wife, "Hang on to the Matchless [mine]. It will make millions again." She did — for 36 years.…