The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-21
CALAMITY JAMES, LIFE.
Last of Her Many Husbands Tells of
Her Strenuous Career.

Jane" reputed to have had forty hus-
bands, the heroine of innumerable
duels and who had been known on the
frontier since 1870, died at Deadwood
on Aug. 2. she left only one husband.
Jane was the frontiers most striking
figure. Her real name was never
known.
Calamity James" fame was world
wide. She was exploited by Bret
Harte and other writers and during her
illness last winter a fund was raised
oy Eastern people for her aid.
Squint Squiers, the last of "Calam-
ity James husbands, whose, arm was
shot off by her in a duel, lives here.
He Is not surprised at her request to
be buried beside her fourth husband.
wild Bill Hicok, who was murdered
in 1876.
Squiers can neither read nor write,
| and the reporter read the account of
the last illness of the frontier woman
TO the eX-husband. He was evidently
greatly affected by it. In truth, al
though one of the most hardened men
in the world, it brought tears to his
eyes.
Life with Her Was Strenuous.
What, crying, Mr.. Squiers?'' said the
reporter.
"Eh? No." said he, 81 amt crying;
the sun in my eyes kinder makes my
eyes water" He continued: That
must be the old girl. all right, because
she always said Wild Bill was the
best man she ever seed, and lowed
she would like to be buried beside
him. Them were her very words"
How was your life with Calamity
Jane, strenuous?" was the next ques-
ton put.
Strenuous! Well 1 should say so!
| You know what she was-strenuous,
that's the way they put it now, but
we used to call it game, and that's the
reason the left sleeve of my coat is
half empty
you lost that when you fought the
duel with herr" was the question pro-
| pounded
Yes, that was it,"
Tell me about that duel"
mot to-day; my tongue is sorter
thick and my voice is kinder weak.
You know your reading about that.
Well, the old woman's death kinder
| jars me. That squib says her husband
was younger than she was. Why, she
never lived with man more'n half
| as old as she was. That was one of
her ways or ideas, that it made her
young"
Gun Quicker Than Divorces.
"Well, you want me to tell you about
| that duel, ehc Well, this was how the
| thing came about Well, you know the
old woman and me had been scrapping
for some time. mostly about which OF
| as was the best shot. We had prac-
| ticed together with six-shooters and
all kinds of rifles. and then we got
chewing the rag over the milk ranch.
| She claimed that she had made all the
/ nd oh n
| let me alone 1 would have spent 1t
all for whisky; said 1 would have
ruined the business, anyway, by ster-
ilizing the milk. That's what you call
it. amt it?''
You mean watering it?" suggest
ed the reporter.
"WeI1, we'll let 1t go at that. Any
way, there was no better water in Lake
| countq, Colorado, than was in that
creek We finally got scrapping over
the divorce law, and she claimed it was
better to shoot a body at once than to
drag 'em through the Divorce Courts,
and all the newspapers. Anyway,
| things got from bad to worse and
saw what it was coming to, so took
! the cartridges out of her gun and put
| shells in it, 1t just come round as
| looked for it, and one morning she gets
up and says: 'Squint, we will just
shoot it out before breakfast. and see
who gets the ranch We went out the
door and she walked twenty PAGES.
Then she caught onto the fact that the
shells were empty and said: 'Squint.
| l never thought you was a coward
| before You meant to kill me and get
| the ranch
"I kicked like bay steer and said
I didn't intend to shoot her and didn't
intend for her to shoot me, only !
thought I'd shoot the lobe-is that what
you call it?-of her ear off.
Fired Back to Back.
| IF that's So she says, I am from
| Missouri, and you'll have to prove it.
| Now, you know, that's the first time
l ever heard that expression. Any
| how, Jane says, while she was load
| ing her gun, If you meant to kill me
your hand will tremble, and you'll
miss me sure, and if your meant to
shoot the end of my ear off you'll do
that, and I'll just wing you to show
you who's the best shot. Now, back
| to back, and when 1 count three wheel
around and fire.
| when l wheeled around and heard
| the music, zip, Zip felt my left arm
| burn, and 1 knew what had come. Ca
lamity says, 'Nuff?' and 1 said Yes,
and she come to me with her ear
| DIeeQlnB. L u just DuEHSu the lat cHu
| of it, which was what 1 had lowed to
| do.
well, had my arm amputated and
Kate nursed me through it. But the
| life was too strenuous-is that it?-
and 1 left for new fields and pastures
green.
How "squint, Met Kate.
How did 1 come across Kate? Well.
| I had seen her with Wild Bill before
when they were hunting buffalo to sup
| ply the Union Pacific graders with
meat. 1 don't know the year. but it
must have been around the time of the
| great Chicago fire. Leastwise, l low
| ed it was. But 1 never had nothing
| to say to her then. About, 1 should
! say. four years after that l met her
| in Deadwood during the excitement.
Then 1 never saw her for a year or so
| till she Jumped me in Cheyenne. She
| had a rig and wanted me to go to the
big gold excitement in Colorado with
her and l tried to talk her out of 1t,
! cos she wore dresses and shoes and a
cowboys hat those days and looked
| like an ordinary woman. She used to
wear snaps and boots and a man 8
suit. l told her there was no women
there, and she says she'd bet me there
was. We got scrapping over it, and
1 bet her $500 against her outfit, and
then we had to go to Leadville to see.
1--WE drove there in four days, and
whe nwe was coming into the camp
there was a long line of men trying TO
get to a hole they was looking through
in a new cabin. That's the postoffice.
saws l. Post, nothing says Jane;
and she. stopped the wagon and went
| - 600 what IL was When she got to