The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-04-22

the country. If the writers Of such stuff
are held accountable for the lives they
ruin by it, the pathway to hades must be
! overcrowded. r.. =-.z. .r.s.. s
women have been CLOSED over with
glamour Of romance, whose lives, in real
ity, were wretched and dissolute and in
| consequence many a young girl who has
started out in the world full of lofty ideals
and high aims. fired by the illusion that
| has been placed before her in the papers
! and books, ends, like the subject Of the
story herself (if the truth were told), in
shame and sorrow.
-..-.. She Was Not a Scout.
'"The writer was one Of the earliest
J pioneers of the Black Hills, and as as.
! sistant marshal of Custer City in 1876 was
under the painful necessity Of arresting
} Calamity Jane for intoxication and disor-
derly conduct, yet this is the woman who
i figures as a feroione in a dozen dime
novels and yellow newspapers.
II "She was never employed as scout by
General Crook, who gave her no recogni-
ton whatever, except to order her out Of
! camp when he discovered she was camp
} follower. - ~ ~ @
} ut is doubtful If General Miles ever saw
Jane, despite tho claim that he, too, had
employed her as a scout. ;a @it Z
!, 1.-THE writer was chief Of the Black
Hills scouts in 1876, and later in the same
year was appointed chief Of scouts by
General Wesley Merit in the campaign
, against Sitting Bull, and was well ac-
quainted with every scout employed by
the government. Calamity Jane was not
with the command at any time, but was
in and around the new mining camp at
| Deadwood; she was never employed as
a mail carrier, stage driver or express
messenger. To real frontiersman such
statements written about any woman are
Z absurd and would be funny were it not
| 9nr hn l,ory hot fhor md
other dime novel monstrosities.
while Calamity Jane lived no one
{ cared to contradict the statements made
) about her, which were printed in book
J from which she derived a royalty, but
I now that She is gone and the truth de-
{ prives her of nothing but her artificial
} glory, it had best be told.
1.-The story of Calamity Jane causing
( the lynching of Wild Bills murderer or of
: having him arrested, is another bit of f1c-
} ton. Jack Mccall, the murderer of Wild
Z Bill, was tried by jury of tin horn gam
{ blers, like himself, and acquitted. He
was later arrested on one Of four tele-
grams (sent by me to different places) at
Laramie City, by the United States mar
8 shall, sent to Yankton, Oak, tried by a
2 decent jury, sentenced and hung-legally
Story of Her Life.
Calamity Jane was good hearted
woman and under different environments
u would have made a good wife and mother
but she was born in the wilds of min
81 ing camp with not hand raised to pro-
q tect her, until too late. Her father was a
8 dissipated soldier and her mother care
n less allowing Martha to grow up in q
q wild, unnatural manner, which we won
der did not quench out every spark OF
womanhood In her, and it is to her credit
q that she did retain kind and generous
h heart even while following in the foot
3 steps Of her dissolute father and careless
a mother.
Another certainty is that she neye,
a saw the original Buffalo Bill, nor would
q she have known him if she had met him
q and thereby hangs another tale, which
y when told will seem more strange thar
q that of Calamity Jane.
& Among some Of the yarns I wish tc
y correct are the following from a New
a York paper:
Made Out Of Whole Cloth.
a At Goose Camp, S. D., a small detachment,
a band of redskins. They had the soldiers a
their mercy, with the relieving troops too far II
the rear
q Martha Canary rode like the spirit of dealt
5 into the group Of Indians who were about tt
8 kill the wounded captain. Before the Indian.
4 could realize what had happened she had swun,
= the captain to her saddle and dashed away
j amid the patter of bullets to place Of safety
"Now was with Captain Egan ant
q his White Horse troop and helped patro
q the roads between Fort Laramie and Rec
Canon, and no such fight ever took place
I nor was Captain Egan wounded. Agar
a this New York paper says:
She Was Not a Lyncher.
She crossed wild country in frightfull.
"a cold winter to take important messages to Gen
q eral Custer. The sickness that followed til
trying experience was all that saved her from
q being killed with Custers army, for she ha
~ planned to campaign with him.
II When Indian fighting was not to be had Ca
NJ lamfty Jane found employment in carrying gov
81 eminent mail and driving stage coaches. Sh
q was of the first of the 5000 arrivals tina
81 caused Deadwood to spring into life in a night
81 She never failed to attend lynching bee if sh
g could be present, and she didn't take hold at tn
n far end of the rope either.
q "This seems incredible, and yet my
= self believed such stuff and worshiped tn