Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-05-17
Madame Boisverde, Kootenai Squaw
Was "Calamity Jane" of Indian Tribes
By WALTER E. TAYLOR


than did the Indian woman,
Madame Boisverde, who Is known
to history by her Indian name,
Ko-come-ne Pe-ca- She might
honestly be called the northwests
first suffragette, and about her
Mcpherson.
Ko-come-ne Pe-ca, too, had an eye
for business and she capitalized on a
homemade religion. Her weird rites
and prophecies made her one of the
richest Indians of her time, the owner
OF many horses and other property
"enfant terrible" of the Kootenai tribe,
she. refused to be a sit-by-th e-fire.
preferring to spend her time fighting
in the frequent wars between the
kootenai and Blackfeet peoples. Her
lapses from the moral code Of the In
Kootenai tribe, and her merry high
jinks in the camp of David Thompson
caused that righteous Scotch Presby-
terrain to request her French husband
to take here away Madame Boisverde
probably thumbed her nose. or made
some similar gesture Of defiance, in
but she was destined to eat crow years
later when she was forced to seek the
Scotchman;s protection.
Upon leaving David Thompson's
camp, ko-come-ne Pe-ca also left her
husband behind, dressed herself as a
Kootenais on their way to do battle
with their ancient enemies, the Black
feet. In battle the Indian woman re-
vealed notable qualities of generalship
and soon had wide reputation as
war leader. She was courageous and
crafty and even induced number Of
young men to place themselves in her
command. The Kootenais did not care
70 have Ko-come-ne Pe-ca around
their camps, but were always willing
to have her and her fighting cavalry
along when there was trouble at hand.
For information regarding Ko-come-
ne Pe-ca we must depend on David
Thompson and others who wrote Jour-
After leaving her birthplace in the re-
gion that Is now northwestern Mon
tana, the remarkable Madame Bois-
verde next turns up at Spokane House
In what Is now the state of Washing
ton. This was in the year 1911. It was
at Spokane House that Ko-come-ne
that was to make her famous among
indian nations from Montana to the
shores of the Pacific ocean and win
for her the nickname. 1.-The letter car
rier"
Finan Mcdonald was in charge of
Spokane House and had an important
letter which he wanted delivered to
John Stuart, another Hudson's Bay
trader stationed at Fort Frazer in
British Columbia. hundreds of miles to
the north. Those were days when
travelling among the hostile tribes of
the great wilderness was dangerous
and nobody. Indian or white, wanted
to undertake the job of delivering the
letter. At this point Ko-come-ne Pe-ca
z NJ
would carry the letter She didn't know
where Fort Frazer was. except that it
! was in a general northerly direction
and was located on the Frazer river.
On this journey. as usual. Ko-come-
ne Pe-ca dressed as a man and, to
further deceive the Indians along the
way she TOOK along a young Indian
AS she passed from tribe to tribe on
ner trip ko-come-ne Pe-ca began to
tell the Indians of her supernatural
powers and of the magic she could per-
form. She told how she had changed
her own sex and also told of a race
munication. These giants, according to
ko,come-ne Pe-ca's prophecies, would
arrive in the not too distant future
to deal misery to the Indians The
superstitious Indians were impressed
with ko-come-ne Pe-ca's powers and
predictions, and news of her coming
Travelled ahead to every Indian camp.
Upon arriving at the Columbia river,
ko-come-ne Pe-ca and her companion
made the mistake Of following that
stream. This error took them 1900 miles
out OF their way, and brought them
eventually to Astoria instead of Fort
Frazer. Both Alexander Ross and
Franchere have described Ko-come-ne
Pe.cas arrival at Astoria. Franchere
notes that she could not speak the
dialect OF the coast tribes, and that
She wore a costume common to In
dlans east of the Rockies. She showed
Franchere the letter she was to deliver
to John Stuart at Fort Frazer.
Alexander Ross says: Among the
many many visitors who every now and then
P Fng;ans themselves were two strange
Pe-ca, was very shrewd and intelli-
gent Indian and gave us much infor-
nation about the interior of our coun-
try" Ross did not realize that Ko-
come-ne Pe-ca was a woman masuuer-
adng IN mems clothing. He did note
Lnat her long costume was foreign to
Indians In the vicinity of Astoria.
Most anyone else who had gone 500
miles out of his way would have given
up the effort to deliver the letter. but
not the adventurous Ko-come-ne Pc
ca. She was enjoying herself immense
~. Inc Indians were In awe of her,
and white men came to ask her advice
about traver In the interior. She was
considered such an authority on the
latter subject that when she resumed
her journey toward Fort Frazer a party
OF white traders accompanied her.
BY this time Ko-come-ne Pe-ca had
carried her tales Of giants and other
supernatural beings so far that many
OF the Indians were afraid Of her. and
one group planned to kill her. II was
az this tuncture that she appealed to
David Thompson for protection, He
was camped somewhere along her route
and describes her arrival at his camp.
my surprise, very early, apparently a
young man and his wife, q young