Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-12
THE PASSING OF A
NOTED CHARACTER
For More Than Thirty Years
Kate Maher Masqueraded
as a Man.
A SUPERB HORSEWOMAN
Left an Orphan When but a Mere Child,
She Found the Struggle for Elk
istence Too Strenuous When
Hampered by Pettiooats.
rrom Tho washinrton Times.

With the recent death OF Kate Manner
there has disappeared from among men
one of the most curious and interesting
and picturesque characters ever seen
among the many interesting and pic
turesque characters of the west. After
having known for more than thirty
years the joys and privileges. he free
dom and adventure. attendant on sup
posed masculinity. her spirit quailed al
the prospect Of taking up again the
burdens of womanhood n narrowing
her life to the limits prescribed by pet
ticoats. Her secret discovered, she dis
appeared from among those who had
known her for the most part as Ed
ward Donovan, though n was known
also at various times as Jim Redheld,
as Len Stevens, and by half a dozen
other masculine aliases. They heard no
more of her until reports, apparently
authentic, reached them or her death.
Far away from the Black Hill country,
up in Montana, among strangers who
knew her only as Kate Maher, an un-
prepossessing, middle-aged woman,
worn by years OF toll. hardened appar-
emily by years OF dissipation, silent and
plucky TO the end, passed away.
Before she was out of her teens Kate
Maher found herself alone in the world
and a hard, rough world 1t was, that
world IF Colorado and Nebraska, Of Ne
vada and Arizona, and the adjoining
states. In the early '70s-a world of
registering, hard-drinking, hard-hitting,
rough-tongued men-a world that had
no time for women and made nc place
for them, that offered them no shelter
md grudged them apparently their
daily bread. Women had a mighty
hard time out west I'm those days, but
men seemed to enjoy life.
Kate Maher did not at all approve
Of the dis~pensation which had imposed
%petticoats upon her. Still she honest
life unto which it had pleased Provi-
dence to call her. For several years
she tried to earn her living as a woman
should. She took a turn at all the
recognized and approved feminine oc-
equations. She taught school, she
waited on table at hotels and gcstau-
rants, she took in sewing, she worked
out by the day. she even did dcmCGtic
service, and family waehirg. There
were no families to wash for, a.a the
men in the mining camps were not
particular about trihcs OF that SORT.
There was nozt to no sewing 70 tal.e
in: and when it came 20 school tc@cA-
lng-there was a pitiful lack CT pa
pills. 1t was not a country for C-y
III tlFSS biN =, 3 lie
people who wanted tnelr cid Il Ill
to school did not approve Of uiliag
camps as places to bring tn m up. So
that "woman's sphere out w-et Na@
q mighty small one.
But mans sphere was literally ''az
big as all outdoors and II looked to
Kate Maher as If there might be room
In 1t for her, If only she were Jack
or Joe" or BILLY" instead Of Kate.
II NM p,Nntaaly a tNNnffnt nc ahtr4rlfrNr
her hair and putting on q pair Of
trousers n a mans name. SO one
day Kate Maher disappeared. She was
alone In the world. There was no one
belonging to her 10 worry. Her dis
appearance excited no comment. 1t
was accepted as easily as the arrival
on h scene, not many miles from the
place whence Kate Maher had van
lshed, Of Edward Donovan, a young
man with q slender. well knit figure,
with closely cropped auburn hair, a
frank, freckled face, gray eyes full of
laugh, and q pleasant, easy n full
of the best of good fellowship.
For thirty years that one man In his
time played many parts-he was a
freighter, q cowboy, a miner, a scout.
q p~rospector, a stage driver-and
played them under n variety of names.
He drank and gambled with the best of
them; he was as quick with his gun,
as fearless, as ready In all things to
bear a mans part: he smoked as hard
as any. and could tell as risque Il sto.y.
He attended strictly to his own az
fairs, and attended to them thorough
ly, but he insisted on other people fol-
lowing his worthy example.
Kate Maher was not so much missed
as Edward would have been.
The boys found him mighty good COM
pany. So did the girls; n because
he absolutely would not fall I'm owe
with them, they fell in love with him,
petted him n coddled him and made
much of him-on at least n occasion
fought for him. and on more thar one
occasion quarreled over him He had
q keen sense of humor and probably
more than once chuckled at the irony
OF the situation. But he kept Kate
Makers secret and kept 1t well.
She did no reappear on the scene
until the passing OF years had trans
formed the pretty young girl into a
an. In a lonely little mining camp
one day last spring a miner whose
hands were soiled and callous. whose
face bore the marks OF dissipation and
hard living. fell Iii, and In the course
of that Illness the secret which Kate
Maher had kept locked I'm her heart
for so many years came out. The sick
miner was that same Kate Maher who
had been left an orphan on the western
border in the early days.
She regained her health. but she was
apparently overwhelmed with humilia-
ton at the sudden revelation of her
sex 10 the friends and associates among
whom she had lived and worked. eaten
and drunk, gambled and moked as q
man for thirty years. She was not
willing to take up again the burdens OF
~womanhood among them. She disap-
peared once more--and now she Is
dead.
When she first put on a mans
clothes and q mans and q
mans name. she turned naturally to
freighting. the work In which her IA
Their had lost his life. In those days
1t was the wild west in fact as well
as In fiction. 1t had its great unset
tied, unciyili2ed spaces between the
Missouri river and the Rocky noun
tains. It's Indians were still hostile
and it's animals still wild. She made
many wagon trips across, the plains
anil had not a few thrilling adventures
VITA Indians. She soon learned that
a gun was a mighty handy thing tc
have within reach; and there were few
on the border who could handle one
better.
She found freighting rather tame
Tho spirit OF adventure was upon her
AMI under It's guidance she found life
v y" much better worth living thar
IN hal imagined II could be. She
,sar ~ frpighting. ans for q few year.
H. n. crowded with incident and