Horace Austin Warner "Haw" Tabor (November 26, 1830 – April 10, 1899), also known as The Bonanza King of Leadville and The Silver King, was an American prospector, businessman, and Republican politician. His success in Leadville, Colorado's silver mines made him one of the wealthiest men in Colorado. He purchased more mining enterprises throughout Colorado and the Southwestern United States, and he was a philanthropist. After the collapse in the silver market during the Panic of 1893, Tabor was financially devastated. He lost most of his holdings, and he labored in the mines. In his last year, he was the postmaster of Denver. While married to Augusta Tabor, he had an affair with Elizabeth McCourt Tabor. He divorced Augusta and married Elizabeth, who became known as "Baby Doe". Their relationship was a scandal. When Tabor died, though, there were a reported ten thousand people who attended his funeral. His life is the subject of Douglas Moore's opera The Ballad of Baby Doe and the 1932 Hollywood biographical movie Silver Dollar. Also, Graham Masterton's 1987 novel Silver has a protagonist named Henry T. Roberts, whose life includes incidents from Tabor's. Early life Horace Austin Warner Tabor was born on November 26, 1830 to Cornelius Dunham and Sarah Ferrin Tabor in Holland, in northern Vermont near the Canadian border. His father was a farmer, who grew a number of grains, vegetables and fruits. In the winter months, Cornelius ran the district school, and Tabor attended the school over those couple of months each year. Tabor worked in the fields with his father and his brothers John and Lyman. They also raised cows, sheep, chickens and hogs. He had two sisters, Sarah and Emily. The family lived in a drafty house without conveniences, such as water, electricity or a proper stove. In the fields, they used primitive tools that required labor by man or oxen. His mother died in 1846 at the age of 49, having succumbed to the hard work on the farm and childbearing. Cornelius soon remarried. By 1850, Betsy Tabor was his wife and five children with the Welch surname, from 11 to 19 years of age, lived with the Tabors in Holland, Vermont. At the age of 17, Tabor worked for two years as an apprentice in Quincy or Boston, Massachusetts with his brother John, where they worked as granite cutters. Then he began to work as a journeyman