Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1896-01-09
R@!a1!l! q! Fs%assz FRskiaRs
ABSOLUTELY PURE
ABSOLUTELY PURE
beneath a handsome monument

beneath handsome monument.
Calamity James name was Mar
tha Canary.
In the summer of 1872 there was
military post ON Goose creek.
wyoming, near where the town of
Sheridan now stands. At Sheridan
Buffalo Bills only daughter now
conducts n hotel. In those days
and for years after this was in the
heart of the Indian country. One
day a small detachment of troops
from Goose creek camp was sur
rounded nearly by Indians. Six
soidies We're killed and Capt Egan
was wounded. He was realing i'm
his saddle and was about to fall
when Martha CANARY dashed up
beside him, grasped him about the
body and pulled him over upon her
horse in front of her. Thus the gal
liant woman saved the life of the
United States officer-as she saved
others-and Capt. Egan, while r.-
covering from his serious wounds,
one day iokingly called her Calamity
Jane" She has been known by that
title ever since
Its aptitude will be better under
stood when il is said that this re-
markable character was always to
be found at the front whenever there
was trouble, whether n fight with
Indians or a lynching bee. And yet
Calamity was never. a quarrelsome
person. She would not be called "a
good woman by the Pharisees, vet
her nature had nevertheless certain
stamp of nobility, Fearless and
masculine i'm nearly all her attri-
butes, including the costume she
usually chose to wear. there was yet
a feminine tenderness i'm her cnarae-
ter which always prompted her to
share her last dollar or her last
strip of bacon with a hungry miner,
and which is wonderfully manifest i'm
the metamorphosis of advancing
years. Her natural love for adven-
ture, excitement and the primitive
wildness OF the furthest frontier
drove her from Deadwood 1S,years
ago. Yet she reappears now, a
and concerned only for the welfare
of her two little daughters, whom
she wishes to have the advantages
of schooling. She married a ranch
man named NJ. Burke after she left
Deadwood, and has been living over
| n 1ra1 mil nr.fh .fh
Camp Crook. Montana.
Calamity, when young. had more
than her share of good looks. But
that never troubled her. Neither did
she allow the restless characters of
early days to trouble her about il
any more than she felt so inclined
Her prowess with the six-shooter
entitled her to as much respect as
was given to any man in the camp
she happened TO frequent. She
associated with desperadoes, fire.
auented dance halls, drank a little
but never much-joined i'm sports.
racing and hunting, az man would.
was to be found on the streets amid
groups of men. talking with them az
one of their kind, wore "A mans suit
OF hansomely 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 lynchilg.
Jane would always take the lead
and was easily the most conspicuous
character on those occasions.
1t was she who arranged the de-
tails of an execution, and after the
ceremony would superintend the
funeral. That the late lamented had
been a valued acquaintance at one
time never faxed Jane. II il was
for the good of the camp that he
expiate a few of his sins on IA con-
venient mountain pine. Jane was
there to see that everything was
/, carried out according to Hoyle.