The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-10-24
THE LAST OF THE WOMEN SCOUTS
OF THE FRONTIER.
Kept Order in the Black Hills and
Wns n Leading Spirit in the
VigiInnt Committees.

hundred average men, IS now earning
living as book agent. This is Calamity
Jane. Bret Harte made her famous I'm
1.-The Luck of Roaring Camp" but che
woman pictured by the novelist and the
real Calamity Jane are quite different
personages.
Many people have supposed that Calam-
ity Jane never existed, except in the inn
agination of the writer. But she does eX-
ist and at his particular time she IS
tramping from house to house in Helena,
Mont, selling a book, a book she wrote
herself and about herself. As q literary
gem it will never create a Juror among
posterity, but this does not bother the
authoress; all she aspres to is n sale
sufficient to clothe and feed herself until
something better ,urns up. She freely
acknowledges that she deved into liter
AZURE only as final resource. She was
face to face with poverty. so she wrote
a book. Moreover she wants to educate
her daughter, and if the sales are num-
erous enough this will be done.
The real Calamity Jane is woman of
a years, Weighing less than 125 pounds,
and about 5 feet inches in height. She
has gray eyes brown hair. q weather
beaten face and an ordinary raw boned
figure. There is nothing remarkable about
her, as far as looks go, but as she saws
when it comes down to cold cases, l am
there This vague remark may mean a
great variety of things. but it's literal
meaning is that when danger comes her
way she won't funk
Mrs. Clinton Burke.
In private life she is MRS. Clinton
Burke, having married a gentleman OF
that name at lll Paso, Tex, some 10 years
ago. Her maiden name was Martha
Canary. She was born in Princeton, Mo.
in 1852, and while a baby her mother died
When 10 years of age her father took her
to Virginia City, New, where the Wild
est spirits OF the west, both red and
white, congregated From the first She
was thrown in contact with men of the
desperate type and shooting scraDe-
were ordinary events in her life. Naur-
ally, she learned to shoot and to look out
for her own welfare, for in that reckless
community it was quite necessary that a
woman should be able to care for herself
as well man.
In one Of the constant scrimmages with
the Indians her father was killed, and the
family was broken up. Martha had TO
shift for herself, and as ali she could do
was to ride and shoot She took a position
as scout under General Crook. This was
not a rare thing among frontier women
in those days. They knew the ways of
the Indians better than the trained sol
diers from the east, and as they expected
no tavors on account of their sex, yhcy
were efficient in the work as men.
Hnd Plenty of Nerve.
Martha Canary soon worked up to a
leadership among these women. She was
but 10 when she first became govern
ment scout, and had all the audacity OF
youth. Besides she was absolutely Fear
less and had nerves of rock Nothing
was too hazardous for her to undertake.
and in a few years she had a reputation
for reckless courage which made her con-
spicuous among people where that quality
was common.
To recount the number of ARRAYS in
which she figured would be a long task.
She earned her title of Calamity Jane by
a bit of gallantry deserving of handsomcr
recognition. 1t was during Clusters Nez
Perez campaign in 1S72-3 Wherever
Custer was there was always plenty of
fighting, and as fighting was her hobby,
Calamity Jane was there too.
One of the small scrimmages of this
campaign is called the battle of Goose
Creek Camp. A company of soldiers, COM
manded by young captain named Egln,
were surprised and surrounded by In
dams, and the soldiers We're getting the
worst of it, Calamity Jane was outside
the circle of Indians watching the fight,
and when her experienced eye told her
that it was only a question of minutes
when the soldiers would be wiped out. she
managed to work her way safely through
the Indians to her comrades. On reach
ing that point she discovered that the
captain was wounded and the soldiers
demoralized There was only one good
horse left, and getting the captain across
the saddle. she got up behind him and
then cut loose. She knew the country
better than the pursuing Indians, and
managed to reach a point of safety The
diversion she created by the escape gave
few of the soldiers chance to get
away, but the bulk of them We're mas
sacred. 1t was Captain Egan who gave
her the name of Calamity Jane, and later
her fame under that title spread from rhe
Dakotas to the western line of Non
tana.
No Choice I'm weapons.
In the Black Hills between Custer and
Deadwood. she was best known. and
when that region was in most lawless
stages she was a central figure. She was
a leading spirit i'm the vigilant commit
tees, and oflciated at scores of lynching
bees She always dressed in mems clothes
and never appeared without a revolver or
rifle. But she didn't hesitate to use other
weapons when her ire was aroused.
The tragedy which ended John Nc
CauIs life showed this. McCaul was q
stage coach driver at Dcadwood. and one
day he shot q man called VIII Bill I'm the
back. Bill died. He was one OF the
choice friends of Calamity Jane. When
she heard of the shooting she rushed out
of her shanty, with a butchers cleave-
in her hand. She gave whoop, which
brought all the stragglers in town in the
chase for McCauL He was found half
drunk, ana the cleaver in the hands OF
Calamity Jane almost scared him to
death. Some of the people proposed that
Jane should finish him with the cleaver,
but the milder spirits objected, so he was
lynched in the conventional way, at
tached to the limb of a tree, with Jane
standing guard with the cleaver.
The curious part of all this is that six !
months before Jane had saved McCaurs |
life. She and six others We're passengers |
on McCauls coach, running from Dead /
wood to Wild Birch. Half way between |
the two points the coach was surrounded |
by Indians, and McCaul was shot through /