The story of Baby Doe Tabor has seduced America for more than a century. Long before her body was found frozen in a Leadville shack near the Matchless Mine, Elizabeth McCourt "Baby Doe" Tabor was the stuff of legend. The stunning divorcEe married Colorado's wealthiest mining magnate and became the "Silver Queen of the West." Blessed with two daughters, Horace and Baby Doe mesmerized the world with their wealth and extravagance.

But Baby Doe's life was also a morality play. Almost overnight, the Tabors' wealth disappeared when depression struck in 1893. Horace died six years later. According...