Abilene weekly reflector., 1904-06-23
CALAMITY JANr.
Famous Woman's Association With
Wild Hill.

=
history being written Of famous char
acters on the western border. Il,
notes particularly an article abou
Martha Canary, better known al
Calamity jane" who died recent,
In DAkota, This article described
Calamity as a scout regularly en-
ployed BY Gems. Crook and Miles. /,
bad her participating 10 many Indiar
fights, and made her the heroine o.
many adventures. She was described
as one who simply adored lynching
She was said to have been the Nemesis
who pursued Jack Mccall, the muir,
derer Of "Wild Bill" Hickok, until be
was hanged for the crime. And final.
ly her body was laid away, according
to the storyteller, In this romantic
fashion:
"rhe remains OF Calamity Jane
were placed in Mount Moriah ceme-
terry beside the bones OF Wild Bill
Hickok, her friend OF long ago.
Though she had had twelve husbands,
the last still living, 1t was one Of her
dying requests that she be allowed to
sleep by the side Of the man she first
loved.n
Capt. Crawford declares that all OF
this is pure invention He knew
Calamity Jane and all about her. He
arrested her for drunkenness and dis.
orderly conduct while serving as an
officer Of Custer City In 1875. She
was not scout for either Of the gen.
erals named. She never saw lynch
ing. She was in no Indian fights.
She was simply notorious character.
dissolute and devilish, but possessed
OF generous streak which made her
popular. The Hickok part Of the mar
rative has no ground to stand upon.
Hickok, the Kansas man, had never
seen Calamity up to within few
weeks of his death. Capt. Crawford
thinks that he never saw her, and be
knows, he says, that they we're
never lovers. He protests against
such reflection on the memory OF
Hickok, and concludes his article
with this tribute to the Kansas Dor.
derer:
"Wild Bill Hickok was the king OF
border men OF his day and saw more
actual service and danger and took
more desperate chances In the dis
charge Of his duties than any other
man who has lived in the last fifty
years Of who msy live to-day. He
was the soul Of nonor, and although
he killed many men while an officer,
all but one deserved their fate, and
that one was accidently killed. Hick-
Ok was good man ard . law-abiding
citizen. He hated hypocrisy and
fraud and that was why be said he
would rather 60 back to the west and
get killed than accept $500 per week |
and play lib dime novel melodrama
which was libel on the west and
destined only to ruin credulous boys.
He had q wife to whom he was de-
voted and she ldolized him. In one
OF his last letters TO her, written only
two days before his death, he said:
"Agnes, darling, II such should be
that we never meet again on earth,
while firing my last shot l will gent
y breathe the name Of my wiie-my
Agnes-snd with kind wishes, even
Tor my enemies, will take the
plunge and try to swim to the other
shore
"And yet there are people who
make this brave, kind-hearted 'Vir.
ginian' land be comes nearer Owen
hero than any have ever
metz. an outlaw and desPerado, that
they might shine after taking credit
Tor what they did. And now they
have even gone SO far as to link his
name with . woman he did not even
know, nor wish to know.
"They called him wild, yet little
child could bend bic iron will"
Ills that come from Summers Heat
A mother need not fear TO greet.
A d