<p><strong>Texas madam gets place among city leaders</strong></p>
<p>FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — The unmarked grave of a woman who was a well-known madam now memorializes her profession, more than a century after she made a name for herself.</p>
<p>A group of Fort Worth historians placed a granite stone with the inscription “Call Me Madam” on Friday at the resting place of Mary Porter, who operated a brothel — or what was then euphemized as a “female boardinghouse.”</p>
<p>Donna Donnell, a member of the North Fort Worth Historical Society, began digging into records two years ago in search of information about Porter, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Saturday.</p>
<p>“Mary was a fascinating person,” said author Richard Selcer, whose new book, “Fort Worth Characters,” is to be published this fall. “Even if her lifestyle wasn’t admirable, everyone deserves to be remembered.”</p>
<p>Donnell discovered a newspaper obituary that said Porter died in 1905 at the age of 75. Her funeral was held at a Catholic church and a death certificate indicated she was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.</p>
<p>A cemetery official confirmed that Porter was interred in a plot deeded to another local madam. Porter was the fourth and last person placed in the 10-by-25-foot plot.</p>
<p>In his book “Hell’s Half Acre,” Selcer wrote that Porter probably knew most of Fort Worth’s prominent businessmen on a first-name basis.</p>
<p>In 1893-97, she had 130 offenses on record with the Tarrant County court but never spent one night in jail.</p>
<p>“Back then madams weren’t rounded up, except maybe at election time,” Selcer said. “They were back in business before the day was done.”</p>
<p>Porter reportedly paid proportionately larger fines, which reflected her status in the city’s vice operations.</p>
<p>Selcer and Donnell were among those who contributed to engrave the headstone, which was donated by a Fort Worth police sergeant.</p>
<p>“Having her grave marked among all of the city’s founding fathers and mothers and Confederate veterans appealed to my twisted sense of humor,” Selcer said.</p>
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