The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1886-01-20
CALAMITY JANE.
sl.sch of the Reckless Life of q Motor
Female Bandit.

If any of the Eastern youth who hVe
an eagerly poured over the exploit o.
Calamity Jane, as set forth in the bic Iod.
red columns of Beadle and Munroe, car
snare the time to visit Lander they lean
see their fascinating heroine in the flesh.
for Calamity Jane herself has settled in
Lander. Many people think Calamity
Jane a heated myth of the disorddred
brain of some penny-a-liner, but she is q
reality, and the pen of a half-crazy i'm
apination is not needed to enhance lhc1
actual deeds. Some of Calamity's earliest
wears were spent in this section, and she
has been long talked of by the )old-
timers. Calamity came to Miners De-
light in 1868 at the age of II years, an
inmate of the family of Major Gallagher,
an officer who has done loyal service in
the civil war as a member of California
regiment. Mrs. Gallagher had picked
up the girl as the family passed through
Fort Bridger. She never knew who
her parents were and had been a stray
from her earliest infancy. She was
pretty and vivacious, and Mrs. Gala
CHER, moved by her forlorn state, thought
to give a home. But the spirit of prig-
inal sin itself possessed the girltand
before they had been in theirnew home
six months the whole camp rang with
the depraved escapades O Jane, the only
name she had e known. Young as
she was she took to depravity naturally.
At last an outrageous ottense moved the
good old Mrs. Gallagher to inaict a
howl of brutal treatment, and a miners
committee investigated and came to the
conclusion that if the girl was thrashed
every dav it would improve matters.
Mrs. Gallagher now refused to have any
thing more to do with her, and the
miners raised money to send her TO the
railroad. This was done, and Jennie
O O made a name for herself along the
line of the Union Pacific, After wallow-
ing in the railroad slums for several
years she went to the Black Hills, and
enjoys the distinction Of being the first
woman who ever penetrated that reck-
less region. where gold and crime held
such high carnival. In the meantime
she had earned and won the well-known
name of Calamity Jane. Singular as it
may appear, she possessed a delicate,
giriish grittiness. With it sheowned
the heart of a tigress. Reckless in dis
position, pretty in looks and full of ami
NAL spirits, she had lovers by the crowd.
These were only valuable to her as a
source of revenue. Heart and affection
were to her unknown terms, and when
the revenue failed so did the lover. Not
content with d%iscarding her lovers,
she generally managed to de-
stroy them. This was done by
playing them one against another. 1t is
even said that in or two cases., when
other means failed, she made away with
them with her own hand. When she
reached the Black Hills, Gen. Crook was
about beginning his campaign against
the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arrapahoes.
Calamity promptly put on the cavalry
uniform and served with great %gallantry.
To a reckless courage she united a
deadly GOODNESS and a quick and ready
hand. Suddenly her trooper life failed
to interest her, and deserving, she
joined of the most desperate gangs
of road agents in the hills. Here she
was in her element. Retaining the manly
costume, she rode with the band on raids,
and soon welded no small authority.
In the summer of 1877 she laid the plan
and personally superintendent the exc
cution of a most daring stage robbery.
The booty secured was large, and the
gang was sharply hunted. They scat
tered for safety, and Calamity, accom-
panied by her then lover, Bill Blivens,
and a man known as "Red," made for
Miners Delight. Here they tarried a
considerable time, and could have been
safe had not Calamity, in a drunken fit,
told the miners who she was and what
she had been doing since she had left
the scenes of her earliest exploits. The
robbers had to fly once more, and when
they started they took with them some
fine horses that belonged around the
mines. The plundered miners at nee
followed, and the robbers were yer
taken on Willow Creek, a stream not
many miles from Lander. Calamity and
her "pals" showed fight, and after a
stubborn encounter the miners were
beaten off, and the robbers made good
their escape with the stolen horses.
That night there was a split in the rob-
Der camp. Calamity had long been
growing tired of Blivens, and she now
told him that if he did not leave her and
"Red" she would kill him. Blivens left
and rode to Lander, while Calamity and
her new lover started for the railroad.
AS a lover of Calamity, Blivens was
doomed. Before he had been a day in
Lander he was arrested as an escaped
convict from the Territorial Peniten-
tiary, with a reward upon his head. He
was returned to that institution, and
shortly after died there. Calamity and
Red gained the railroad. "Red' was
here driven off by the dangerous beauty
and returned to his old home in Ohio,
where he was captured and is now serv-
ing a heavy sentence.
Calamity has since then led her usual
lily. The familiar of the frontier brothel,
the inmate of the robbers roost. AS
age and exposure have ravished her
beauty and tanned her spirit, her career
has become less notorious, but not less
vile. and she will 60 to her grave the
hideous ruin in appearance she always