Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-14
ABOUT CALAMITY JANE"
A Once Noted Woman Revisits the
Scenes of Her Exploits.

Oncc NOteO woman Hev1Stta the
Scenes of Her Exploits.
From the Chicago Daily Tribune.
When Hank" Jewett drove to the Elk
horn depot in Deadwood. s. D.. one after
noon recently. he got two passengers. One
was stout, heavy-set dark woman. a
trifle the other side OF forty, clad in plain
black, and the other little girl, apparent
ly her daughter. somewhere near nine years
old. When Hank drove back from the
depot and directed his team toward
Wrights boarding house. ON Upper Sher-
man street, there was almost as much ex-
element In town as when the first rail-
road entered Deadwood.
Calamity James in town. shouted an
old-time miner, who caught glimpse Of
Hanks load leaving the depot.
Not man. woman or child in Dead
wood but had known Calamity Jane be-
fore she left here eighteen years ago, or
heard story aftarIstory of her wonderful
career. The advent of President Of the
United States into the Black Hills would
hardly have created greater interest. Ca
lamty Jane was one of the three most
noted characters OF the western frontier of
post-bellum days. The others are her two
former associates as scouts in the gov
Cody and wild Rin' Willam Hickocl).
The latter died with hts boots on, and
sleeps In the cemetery on the mountain
side east Of Deadwood, beneath a hand
some monument.
Calamity James name was Martha Can
nary.
In the summer Of 1872 there was a mill
tary post on Goose creek Wyoming. near
where the town OF Sheridan now stands
At Sheridan Buffalo Bills only daughter
now conducts a hotel In those days and
for years after this was in the heart of
the Indian country. One day a small de-
camp was surrounded nearly by Indians
Six soldiers were killed and Capt Egan
was wounded. He was Keeling in his sad
die and about to fall when Martha Can
nary dashed up beside him, grasped him
| about the body, and pulled him over upon
her horse in front of her. Thus the gallant
woman scout saved the life Of the United
States army officer-as she saved others
serious wounds. one day jokingly called
her Calamity Jane" She has been known
by that title ever since.
Its aptitude Will be better understood
when 1t Is said that this remarkable char
acter was always to be found at the front
wherever there was trouble, whether a
fight with Indians or a lynching bee And
yet Calamity was never a quarrelsome
person. She would not be called good
woman by the Pharisees, yet her nature
had, nevertheless, certain stamp of no.
bility. Fearless and masculine in nearly
all her attributes, including the costume
She usually chose to wear, there was vet
| feminine tenderness in her character
which always prompted her to share her
last dollar or her last strip of bacon with
hungry miner. and which Is wonderfully
manifest In the metamorphosis of advanc-
Ing years. Her natural love for adventure,
excitement and the primitive wildness of
the furthest frontier drove her from Dead
wood eighteen years ago. Yet she reap
pears now. a kindly matron in the prime
| of life. and concerned only for the welfare
Of her two little daughters. whom she
wishes to have the advantages Of school
ing. She married a ranchman named M.
| Burke after she left Deadwood, and has
been living over hundred miles north of
here. beyond Camp Crook. in Montana
Calamity, when young, had more than
| troubled her. Neither did she allow the
restless characters of early days to trou-
| BILE her about 1t any more than she felt SO
| inclined. Fer prowess with the six-shooter
| entitled her to as much respect as was
| given to any man in the camp she hap
| desperadoes. frequented dance halls drank
| a Ettle-but never much-joined in sports
| racing and hunting, as a man would, was
| to be found on the streets amid groups of
men. talking with them as one of their
| kind, wore a mans suit of Handsomely
made tight-fitting buckskins, and a broad
| brimmed hat, and always rode one of the
| best horses on the plains.
At an Indian scare or a lynchng Jane
| would always take the lead, and was easily
the most conspicuous character on those
| occasions.
| 1t was she who would arrange the details
| of an execution, and after the ceremony
would superintend the funeral. That the
| late lamented had been a valued acquaint-
| ance at one time never feazed Jane. If II
was for the good Of the camp that he ex.
plate a few Of his sins on a convenient
mountain pine Jane was there to see that
| everything was carried out according to
| Hoyle.