Born Nov. 18, 1868, Alice Smith was one of nine children in the family of William and Mary Smith who lived in the small community of Kaysville, Utah. At age 16, Alice married the first of what may have been a total of six husbands. Divorced a few years later, she married an Army officer in 1889 but was divorced again by 1898.
She left Utah around 1900, settling in Bisbee, Arizona territory, with husband number three, miner John Sullivan. By 1902, Sullivan was gone and Alice was reportedly married to Frank Paul, a steel worker who lived in Douglas. Neither of these marriages can be verified.
On July 31, 1903, Alice wed her fifth husband, Charles Gatliff, who owned property in Agua Prieta, Mexico, across the border from Douglas. She took charge of Charles’ businesses and soon opened a curio shop on the property. After Charles died in 1907, Alice continued to run her shop, probably one of the first souvenir stores in Agua Prieta, selling Mexican arts and crafts to American tourists. Eventually she added a restaurant and called her business the Curio Café.
The Mexican Revolution put Alice’s store right in the middle of action in April 1911 as bullets flew through the little town of Agua Prieta. Alice held her ground and hoisted the American flag above her shop.
During the height of battle, she telephoned a friend in Douglas to relate details of the fighting and stubbornly declared “Here I stay,” even though she suffered a slight bullet wound and cut from broken glass. After the battle, she found more than 100 bullet holes in her building.
Alice became a friend to all who frequented her shop, whether they be revolutionary or refugee. She did what she could to relieve the hunger and misery of those caught up in the insurrection.
She also knew how to cash in on the chaos of battle and had no trouble walking into military camps to snap photographs that she then sold in her shop.
Once the clashes moderated, the Curio Café flourished as tourists flocked across the border to purchase hand-woven serapes, baskets and intricate jewelry. Alice found love one more time with Bisbee miner John O’Laughlin and the couple wed in June 1914. She divorced him in 1917 for cruelty.
The O’Laughlin battles were not the only ones raging during this time. The Mexican Civil War of 1914-1915 spilled across the country and included the border town of Agua Prieta. Pancho Villa was particularly vengeful on Alice’s shop, since she was known to have befriended rival factions such as Generals Álvaro Obregón Salido and Plutarco Elías Calles, both future Mexican presidents. Throughout the clashes she witnessed, Alice never took sides. Her sole purpose was to feed and sometimes house a weary officer and not ask too many questions.
In 1916, Alice expanded her business enterprises by opening a shop in Douglas offering the same souvenirs as she did in Agua Prieta. Unfortunately, she found herself facing smuggling charges when she was discovered with undeclared merchandise.
She pled guilty and paid a fine.
The public did not seem offended that the trinkets they purchased were illegal and continued to frequent her shop so much that she eventually opened an even larger store in Douglas.
Another of her establishments was the Gatliff Flower Garden store in Douglas, which she opened in 1920. But Alice’s main interest continued to be the little Curio Café in Agua Prieta. In fact, that April, Calles and Obregon sat down at a table in the café to sign the document, El Plan de Agua Prieta, that described their insurgency against politician José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza. The two men had often visited Alice at her shop knowing she would not disclose whatever occurred there.
Alice’s friendship with Calles, however, did cause her harm in 1929 during the Escobar Rebellion when she was accused of consorting with the enemy and banished from Mexico for a short time.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that Alice’s store “has been the scene of more important political conferences than any other in the state of Sonora. It was in her café that on at least two occasions in the last 15 months, Gov. Fausto Topete of Sonora and former Governor G.W.P. Hunt of Arizona have dined and talked over matters of mutual importance for the two states.”
With no children of her own, Alice was an advocate for the youngsters of Agua Prieta.
In December 1913, along with contributing to the purchase of a Christmas tree for all to enjoy, she presented each child with gifts consisting of a whistle, candies and fruit.
In addition, Alice took in any stray or injured animal and cared for them in the back yard of her shop. Fox, javelina, racoons, bear cubs, moneys and birds of every variety found their way to Alice’s to be cared for as long as necessary.
In 1932, the Mexican Army honored Alice with a plaque above the Curio Café’s door acknowledging the importance she and her store had played during many perilous battles.
Alice was delighted. “The site is one of the most important events in the nation’s history,” she said, “and it is fitting and proper that it be marked as it now is. Everyone familiar with facts knows that this was General Calles’ headquarters during some of the most exciting action about town. They know too that it was here numerous other generals had their headquarters at different times.”
On April 8, 1936, Alice’s day began as usual.
As she picked up a can of kerosene to light her stove, the fuel exploded, burning Alice over most of her body. She was rushed to the Calumet Hospital in Douglas but died the following day.
At her funeral, Alice received praise for her consideration of others, her kindness and the respect she had earned from those in power through the years.
She is buried in the Douglas Calvary Cemetery.
