The Bozeman courier., 1926-10-08


November storm.
While they were admiring this en-
chanting scene, these troopers heard
a cry, long and pitiful, as though a
lost child was near. Up from the
timbered low lands it came, first
loud and then fainter, gradually dy-
ing away, but repeated at intervals.
Could it be possible that child had
been lost in this desolate region?
Or, was it the wierd call of the cou-
gar, summOning his mate to the kill?
No, the plaintiff wall Of that wild
denizen of the hills is one that can
never be mistaken by the westerner
who once has heard it. This was un-
mistakably human voice.
The Mother and Child
Down the bank the soldiers rode,
listening closely for a repetition of
the cry, following alert toward its
source. Louder and nearer it grew,
until presently, the soft earth of the
forest disclosed fresh tracks-the
footprints of a woman Not far from
here and down close to the rivers
bank, lay a woman, exhausted, fam
ished, wounded; and, at her side was
a small girl.
"A
the mother, in her few short NOM
ents of consciousness unfolded
most narrowing story. She was the
wife of a former soldier at Fort Lara
mie. After her husbands discharge
from the service, they had gone into
the wilderness, and on a stream
called La Bontie, settled on a hay
ranch.
A Sioux Massacre
During the year, Indians had be-
come quite troublesome, and final
" these Sioux had raided the en-
tire country, killing every white set
tier and traveller who happened in
their path. The savages had reached
La BOntie creek, and in the skirmish
that followed, the husband had been
killed and the mother shot in the eye
with an arrow. With her own hand,
she had extracted the missile. Bandag-
ing the wound as best she could, and
placing the child on her back, she
managed to escape to the timber. She
had travelled by nights and rested by
day. Subsisting on roots, herbs and
barks, and following the creek and
river valleys, in eights days, she had
covered the 120 miles to Fort Lara
mie. Her clothing torn and her body
emaciated from hunger and exposure
she was far beyond all human aid
and shortly after her arrival at the
military post, she died.
Calamity jane
The child, little the worse for hel
terrible experiences, was adopted b!
one of the married officers and be-
y, III,
her home for a number of years. o
her experiences during these earl!
years of her career, little is known
other than that this orphaned gir
in later years, became famous in th'
role of a character never before no
since duplicated. She became the no
toriOus Calamity jane.
A half a century ago, in the from
tier days of Indian warfare, whel
Buffalo Bill" was in his prime as
plainsman and scout, and when tn
famous "Wild Bill':' Hickok was tn
fastest man on the trigger along tn
route of the Overland Stage line
there was no more noted or more un
iQue character on the plains tha
Calamity Jane.
There is a difference of opinion a
10 JHS real udAu6 VI CAlS WOmebu. on
left very little of record as to. he
early life; but, the more general
accepted version is that her rea
name was Martha Canary, and tha
she was born at Princeton, Mo-, Ma
1, 1852. She is quoted by one wri
er as having stated that her parent
were natives of Ohio and that she wa
the eldest of a family of three.
Thrown, as she was, an orphan
the heart of the widest country thu