The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-07-16

=
the hazy knowledge she may have
picked up while having some tender
foot for her partner in one OF the
many tersichorean advertisements
in which she has been one of the
chief actors and which invariably
wound up with the call Of "all prom
enade to the bar"
The true stories that could be
written of "Calamity" would probably
be no less interesting and amusing
thar the fictitious ones that have
given her fame and renown,' but the
chances are that they would not be
accorded space in publications hav-
ing a circulation in the home and
among the people of refined natures.
1t is true that she often accompanied
expeditions of the kind which during
the days of Indian warfare were sent
out from frontier posts, but it is also
true that she did not accompany them
in the capacity Of scout and dispatch
bearer. Calamity" had a fondness
for the military and seemed
so happy as when in a large camp OF
troops, but it is still we'll remember
ed by those who lived in the territory
presence there and the advent OF
payday for the soldiers were usually
synchronous and that with the disap-
Dearance of the soldiers money her
departure generally dated. 1t was
1 but natural that like all camp follow
ers she should occasionally get mix
ed up in some scrimmage, but the
picture of Calamity" clad in buck
skin refining a wild charger and wav-
ling a mans hat as she led a band OF
dashing troopers into battle, as drawn
by the novelist, and the same "Calam-
ity" clad in a corporal's uniform,
worn for convenience's sake and in
the absence Of an opportunity to OBJ
tain clothing more appropriate to one
OF her sex, as she has often been seen
at Fort Laramie and some of the
!. other military posts of the northwest,
J are entirely different objects. The one
, drawn by the may be more
inspiring and more attractive, but II
does not represent the Calamity" OF
a quarter of a century ago and al
), the very time when she is supposed
: to have been a scout for Genera.
! Crook and some of the other noted
Indian fighters whose names are in
dissolubly linked with the last rem
nants of a western frontier. Her cap
ture of Jack Mccall, the slayer O.
.Wild Bill is another little feat TO,
II which calamity" is debtor to tn
(; romancer. Mccall was captured a
y Cheyenne, but by regular officers 0
the law, and subsequently tried an
! executed at Yankton, the capital o
- Dakota territory, il which the mul
der was committed. VIA IT. la
ing been killed at DeadNacl.
= But it is not the Writer'S desire
detract from poor, old "Calamity's
reputation or fame. Leaving out a
the fiction and romance attached t
he name, her life in the west yet po
lessed all the elementsl of frontier e.
~istence and though she was anyth1n
but a saint or even possessed OF tn
attributes that would have won be
first place in a Sunday school clas
| yet by her deeds of unselfish CHART
and benevolence, prompted by a hea.
| that was generosity itself and execu
ed by a hand that was ever open
those in want and distress, she 9
toned for many of her shortcomin'
and for every bad or sinful act +
corded against her in black in tt
large book above stands n write
in white and when the time com
that she must answer for her dee
on earth the good recorded to n
credit will be found to balance Il
bad. If she can only overcome n
weakness, a weakness cultivated by 6
siduously applying heself to the lau
able task of accommodating all the b
checks possible for ultimate REDEEM
ton as compensation for her cont
VI button to the pleasures of Swearir
III en's-Deadwood dance house a
"Uncle Bilr McDaniels cheyen
hurdy house, she may be content
live with Mrs. Brake at her palat
home in New York, provided tn
III have a large back yard into which
iii can retire occasionally to give vent
her pent up emotions when the Q
dens and restraints of civilizat
bear down a little too hard on b
for like Bret Harte's hero at tin
she is given to language that ts "p'