"I figure, if a girl wants to be a legend, she should just go ahead and be one."
Calamity Jane, the self-styled heroine and cowgirl of the Wild West, said that in her sensational 1890 autobiography, "Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane, By Herself." It was a pamphlet-size story she dictated to a printer, but eager fans paid several pennies to re-live her tales of the West.
She was born Martha Jane Canary, the oldest of six children. Her father was an inveterate gambler, and her mother was a part-time prostitute. By the time she was 12, both her parents were dead, and she had to support her siblings.
She grew up fast. She earned money as a cook, dishwasher, dance-hall girl, and even a prostitute. Along the way, she took on a male persona. She chewed and spat tobacco, guzzled booze, cussed and bragged about her exploits with equal audacity. She was a crack shot and a fearless rider, shooting from the saddle like a cowboy.
Part of many Indian and Calvary conflicts, she claimed her heroics earned her the nickname Calamity.
She met Wild Bill Hickok on a wagon-train from Wyoming to Deadwood, S. Dakota. Some say they were romantically involved. When Hickok was murdered August 2, 1876,, while playing poker, Calamity was devastated.
For the next 25 years, she traveled from state to state. Still a sharp-shooter, she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Her insatiable thirst for whiskey got her fired.
She returned to the Black Hills but soon discovered the Old West had moved on.
Calamity Jane died in a motel room not far from Deadwood on August 1, 1903. Her dying request was to make her death date August 2 and to bury her next to Wild Bill Hickok.
