the Powell Street Primary School on Powell St. between Clay and Washington in San Francisco. One block away on the 1000 block of Clay Street in a neighborhood known for prostitution was a brothel, owned by Hattie Wells. In 1879, five prostitutes lived there. Josephine had to walk past the brothel every day on her way to school. To her the women appeared not as "soiled doves" but nicely dressed women living a life of leisure. Wells also owned a brothel in Prescott, Arizona. In I Married Wyatt Earp, Josephine wrote that one day, "I left my home one morning, carrying my books just as though I was going to school as usual." She said that at the age of 18, she ran away with two friends, Dora Hirsch, daughter of her music teacher, and a girl named Agnes, who had a role in Pauline Markham troupe's production of H.M.S. Pinafore in San Francisco. Author Sherry Monahan questions why an 18-year-old woman would be carrying books to school and find it necessary to "run away." First arrival in Arizona In the Cason manuscript, which was in part the basis for the book I Married Wyatt Earp, Josephine says she and her friend Dora joined the Pauline Markham Theater Company in 1879, when it visited San Francisco on its Western tour. Markham already had a national reputation as a burlesque dancer and songstress. She often appeared on stage and in publicity photos wearing a corset and pink tights: shocking attire for the 1870s. Josephine wrote that Dora was hired as a singer, and she was hired as a dancer. Josie said the two of them sailed with the other six members of the Pauline Markham troupe from San Francisco to Santa Barbara, where they stayed for a few days, performing in San Bernardino before leaving for Prescott, Arizona Territory, by stagecoach. Josephine said the girls arrived with the troupe in Tombstone on December 1, 1879 for a one-week engagement. This was the same date that Wyatt Earp and his brothers arrived. After a week in Tombstone, the Markham troupe finished their engagement and headed north to Prescott. They performed H.M.S. Pinafore more than a dozen times from December 24, 1879 through February 20, 1880. Josephine said she left the acting troupe in February 1880, just after the Markham troupe ended its initial run of performances in Prescott. Author Roger Ray thoroughly