Joseph Alfred "Jack" Slade ran a number of stage stations in the Wyoming area for the Overland Stage Company starting about 1857, including the Horseshoe Station near Glendo, and Virginia Dale in what is now Colorado. While he was success and well-known for his work, he became violent and increasingly uncontrolled when drunk. Following his firing by the stage company, Slade moved to the gold fields of Montana. Virginia City is said to be named for his beautiful wife, Virginia Marie. Despite his inital involvement with the Vigilanties, he was soon a target of their actions. On March 10, 1864, he was hanged by them. His body was preserved in a tin lined box filled with alcohol. The following summer, he was moved 400 miles away to Salt Lake City and interred in the city cemetery, to be sent to Illinois in the fall. This was never carried out an he remains interred in Utah.

Virginia Marie (alternatively known as Maria Virginia) was well known in the region for her beauty and Southern charm, but little is known difinitively about her outside of her marriage to Slade. She married James Kiskadden in Salt Lake City in 1865. Six months later, she left him, moved to St. Louis, and never returned. Both Virginia Dale, Colorado, and Virginia City, Montana, are said to be named for her.

Kiskadden was granted a divorce from Virginia in 1868 and in 1869 married the significantly younger Asnath (Annie) Adams, a rising actress. The couple had one daughter, Maude. Maude appeared on stage as an infant and acted on the stage from childhood until her retirement. She was best known for playing Peter Pan on Broadway. Her costume gave rise to the fashion of the Peter Pan collar and she held the patent for three stage lights.