Madam. Born Mary Belle Cox in Lexington Kentucky, she was the illegitimate daughter of Sarah Ann Cox. A year after her birth, her mother married saloon owner George Brezing whose name she adopted. By the time she was 13, she was seduced into an affair with a man almost three times her age which lasted two years. In 1875 she married James Kenney, little more than a week later, another paramour shot himself outside her gate. Kenney left Belle shortly thereafter, there is no record that they ever lived together again nor that they divorced. In 1879, she began working for a madam who ran a brothel out of the old Mary Todd House; she remained there for two years. She then left to open her own establishment. She was indicted on the charge of "keeping a bawdy house" about that time, but the Kentucky governor saw to it that the indictment was dismissed. She opened her second brothel in 1883, which became famous as "the hill." She ran an elegant establishment that was as much gentleman's club as brothel, "the most orderly of disorderly houses.” Her reputation became national during the Spanish-American War in 1898, when soldiers billeted in Lexington spread the word of her house. Many believe that she was the inspiration for the fictional Belle Watling, who ran a similar establishment in “Gone With the Wind,” although author Margaret Mitchell would always deny it. An ordinance was passed in 1915 ordering Lexington’s brothels closed, she ignored the new law. Two years later, however, when the US entered World War I and soldiers were again stationed near Lexington, the army ordered the city to enforce the law, and the house closed for the last time. She retired on the income from her investments, and lived in semi-seclusion until she succumbed to uterine cancer at the age of 80. Her obituary appeared in “Time” magazine, and the “Lexington Herald” ran a front page eulogy. After her death, a three day public auction was held to sell the contents of her house. After the house was badly damaged by fire in 1973, it was demolished and the bricks sold as souvenirs. Her name has also been spelled Breezing and Breazing. Both the spelling of her name and her birth date are incorrect on her grave stone.