The Taxpayer Bill of Rights was introduced in Colorado nearly 20 years ago. Aside from being a catchy acronym, TABOR conjured up images of Horace Tabor, a wealthy silver magnate who lent his name to buildings in Denver and Leadville, the small mining community that brought him riches.
Mr. Tabor was a native of Vermont who came to Maine to work in the state’s stone quarries. After a time in Kansas, he returned to Maine in 1857 and married the daughter of a quarry owner. Augusta Pierce was named after her hometown.
The couple soon headed west again, this time in search of gold. After years of a hardscrabble life in Kansas and Colorado, Mr. Tabor became rich when mines he owned in the Colorado mountains produced tons of silver.
Although the Taxpayer Bill of Rights conjures up images of fiscal responsibility, Horace Tabor spent his fortune quite quickly. His lesser known wife Augusta, on the other hand, was known for her frugality. Augusta was the first woman in many of the mining camps where the couple cooked, cleaned clothes and sold food and goods to miners. Although she came from a well-off Maine family, she adjusted to the difficulties of life in the rough and tumble camps. When it came to money, however, she believed in savings and thrift.
Mr. Tabor’s easy-spending ways began to drive a wedge between him and Augusta, who continued to spend frugally and dress plainly despite the couple’s growing wealth. Frustrated that his wife wouldn’t live it up like he did, Mr. Tabor took up with a younger woman who was dubbed “Baby Doe.” Their marriage was long considered scandalous.
Although he was elected Colorado’s lieutenant governor and served for 30 days in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Tabor was a poor business manager and when silver prices plummeted in the 1890s, he was barely able to make ends meet. He died with his fortune but a memory.
Augusta Tabor devoted the last years of her life to charity work and died a wealthy woman. Baby Doe Tabor froze to death in a mountain cabin.