The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1901-1901, 1901-07-15
PASSING OF "cALAMITY"
From Hurdy to Mansion a Trail But
Few May Travel.

|
Few May Travel.
| Shrouded in a glory of romance
and crowned with halo of fiction.
due to the persistent efforts of space
writer's and contributors to the lurid
literature which of recent years has
been written as truthful sketches of
the history of the west. Calamity
Jane has risen from the welcome
obscurity of hundreds of women OF
her class who have drifted wrecks on
what was once the frontier, bit which
passed with the passing of the buffalo
and the stage coach, and her name is
known to almost every man, woman
and child in the United States. Col
umns of the most absurd stories have
been written about her, yet with the
solemn assurance that they represent
ed only an infinitisimal portion of her
startling experiences and thrilling
adventures. To those who have
known poor, old calamity" during
the years she has spent in the vari-
GUS mining camps and small towns
dotting the line marking the eastern
advance of civilization and develop
ment these stories are amusing and
serve only as another example of the
wonderful powers of imagination
when fancy is permitted to run wild
and no restraint is placed upon the
scope of it's wanderings. Where she
has been made the subject of the ro-
mancer's fancy, others of her kind
have come and gone, filled unmarked
graves or live forgotten and unknown
in the towns and settlements into
which they finally drifted when per
sonal attractiveness and the power to
entertain and amuse the rough men
with whom they formely associated
had left them. Those who are dead
are at peace with this world, and it
is to be hoped restful and happy in
the other. those who are still among
the living are content to exc out their
miserable existence while waiting to
respond to the summons that comes
to ALL Some have changed their
names and ask only to be left alone
They do not care to have the past
revived and do not seek for the no.
toriety on which old Calamity" has
thriven since the years when the
dance house and the saloon ceased to
be the leading social resorts of the
western towns and the ability to out
do all others in vice and wickedness
was the guage of ones prominence in
a community.
In her time Calamity has bump
ed up against some pretty hard propo-
sitions, but it is doubtful if she ever
undertook harder task than the last
one essayed her-to be decent" and
lead life of responsibility among
people as foreign to her nature as it
is possible for antithises to be. Should
luxuriant ease and hitherto unknown
comfort be her share during the re:
naming portion of her life, "Calami.
ty" will owe debt Of gratitude to the
romancer and the writer of yellow
BACKS" for it is to them that she will
be indebted for the within of senti-
mental woman who came all the way
from New York to reclaim her md
transplant her to new scenes and
place her among environment Of the
existence of which she probably
knows no more than is contained in
the hazy knowledge she may have
picked up while having some tender.
foot for her partner in one of the
many terpsichorean advertisements in
which she has been one of the chief
actors and which invariably wound
up with the call of "all promenade tc
the bar"
The true stories that could be writ
ten of Calamity" would probably be
no less interesting and amusing than
the fictitious ones that have given
her fame and renOwn, but the chances
are that they would not be accorded
space in publications having circu
lation in the home and among the
people of refined natures. It is true
that she often accompanied eXpedi
tions of the kind which during thu
days of Indian warfare were sent on
from frontier posts, but it is also tru,
that she did not accompany them il
, the capacity of scout and dispatcl
bearer. Calamity" had a fondnes
for the military and never seemed S,
. happy as when in large camp o
$ troops, but it is still we'll remember
ed by those who lived in the terri
tory embraced in her wanderings tina
Q her presence there and the advent o
& payday for the soldiers were usuall
synchronous and that with the dis
appearance of the soldiers money h
departure generally dated. 1t wa
but natural that like all camp follow