Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum Here. Calamity Jane, with her reputation for being
Speaker 1: one of the most adventurous and foul mouthed women in
Speaker 1: the Old West, is the stuff of American legend. She
Speaker 1: was known to be a sharpshooter, a whiskey lover, and
Speaker 1: an adopter of men's fashion at a time when women
Speaker 1: were largely confined to strict codes of conduct. But, as
Speaker 1: with many figures from this era, teasing out real detail
Speaker 1: from mythologized self marketing and romanticized yellow journalism isn't easy. Today,
Speaker 1: let's look into the person behind the tall tale of
Speaker 1: Calamity Jane. Calamity Jane was born as Martha Jane Canary
Speaker 1: around Princeton, Missouri, in the eighteen fifties. The exact date
Speaker 1: is unknown, but some historians think it was in eighteen
Speaker 1: fifty six. The family didn't have much money, and around
Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five they sold their farm and followed the
Speaker 1: promise of the mining boom West with the wagon train
Speaker 1: of other settlers. By then, Canary was the oldest of
Speaker 1: three two six siblings. Accounts very she spent most of
Speaker 1: the five month migration hunting with the men in the caravan.
Speaker 1: By the time the group reached their destination, a Virginia City, Montana,
Speaker 1: Canary had earned a reputation for being, in her own words,
Speaker 1: a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider for a
Speaker 1: girl of my age. Sadly, they arrived without Canary's mother.
Speaker 1: She had died along the way. Her father passed two
Speaker 1: around eighteen sixty seven, leaving Canary to support herself. By
Speaker 1: about the age of twelve, her siblings seemed to have
Speaker 1: wound up in Utah. She moved on to Wyoming. While
Speaker 1: wandering there, she took on a variety of jobs, reportedly
Speaker 1: everything from dishwasher, waitress and cook to nurse to dancer.
Speaker 1: She may have been a scout for General Custer and
Speaker 1: a writer in the Pony Express, at least that's what
Speaker 1: she later said in her semi fictional autobiography Life and
Speaker 1: Adventures of Calamity. She wrote that by the eighteen seventies
Speaker 1: she was quote the most reckless and daring rider and
Speaker 1: one of the best shots in the West. It seems
Speaker 1: that she may really have been an army scout around
Speaker 1: this time, though not for Custer and the Pony Express
Speaker 1: stories are unconfirmed. Canary reportedly earned her nickname around eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy five during the Newton Jenny Expedition, a scientific party
Speaker 1: that set out to map the Black Hills and determine
Speaker 1: the quality and quantity of gold there. Apparently, she wandered
Speaker 1: off one day, and her fellow party members hoped no
Speaker 1: calamity had befallen her. It was with this nickname that
Speaker 1: she arrived in Deadwood, South Dakota, in eighteen seventy six,
Speaker 1: alongside another much pathologized frontier figure, wild Bill Hiccock. You
Speaker 1: may have come in on the same wagon train. They
Speaker 1: became friends, though probably not more than friends, as some
Speaker 1: stories claim. Their relationship was short lived. In August of
Speaker 1: that year, Hickock was shot in the back of the
Speaker 1: head by Jack McCall while sitting at a gambling table
Speaker 1: in a Deadwood saloon. Canary stayed in Deadwood, prospecting at
Speaker 1: mining camps and later nursing residents who fell ill during
Speaker 1: the smallpox outbreak. She finally left Deadwood the following year
Speaker 1: and traveled around South Dakota taking odd jobs. By this point,
Speaker 1: her reputation had made her somewhat of a celebrity, and
Speaker 1: magazine editors and dime novel authors were writing increasingly wild
Speaker 1: stories about her adventures. In eighteen eighty two, Canary bought
Speaker 1: a ranch on the Yellowstone River, but felt fancy within
Speaker 1: the year, leaving for California and then moving on to Texas.
Speaker 1: She met a man by the name of Clinton Burke
Speaker 1: in El Paso, and the two married around eighteen eighty five.
Speaker 1: They had a daughter, Jesse Elizabeth, and left Texas for Boulder, Colorado,
Speaker 1: when the girl was a toddler. For several years, the
Speaker 1: family ran a hotel and then spent time traveling yet
Speaker 1: again throughout the Northwest. By eighteen ninety five, Canary realized
Speaker 1: she could use her shooting skills to support her family
Speaker 1: and joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, performing sharp shooting
Speaker 1: tricks on tour around the Midwest, but her drinking habit
Speaker 1: cost her the job. She published her autobiography a year later,
Speaker 1: then in nineteen oh one, she was hired by the
Speaker 1: Pan American Exposition, but once again lost the job due
Speaker 1: to her alcohol misuse. Canary moved back to the Black
Speaker 1: Hills in nineteen oh three and worked as a cook
Speaker 1: and housekeeper in a brothel. She died a few years later,
Speaker 1: probably due to issues stemming from her drinking, and was
Speaker 1: buried next to Hiccock at Mount Mariah Cemetery. It's tough
Speaker 1: to know how many of the details surrounding Canary's life
Speaker 1: are true and how many were fabricated, either by the
Speaker 1: media or by Canary herself. Even pieces of her personal
Speaker 1: life are questionable because there's no existing marriage license confirming
Speaker 1: her union with Burke and no birth certificate for her daughter.
Speaker 1: In nineteen forty one, a woman claiming to be the
Speaker 1: child of Canary and Hiccock came into the public eye,
Speaker 1: but her claims were later proven to be false. Canary's
Speaker 1: tombstone itself displays what historians have found to be the
Speaker 1: incorrect name and birth date for her. Before the article
Speaker 1: this episode is based on how Stuff Works. Spoke with
Speaker 1: Carolyn Webber, executive director of Deadwood History Incorporated. She said,
Speaker 1: Martha Jane Canary or Calamity Jane, is so much more
Speaker 1: than her body reputation. She was an unaccompanied young child
Speaker 1: and woman in the frontier American West, doing the best
Speaker 1: she could with the situations she was handed. She supported
Speaker 1: herself at a time when there were limited opportunities for women.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is based on the article Calamity Jane Roadhard
Speaker 1: drank even harder and became a Wild West legend on
Speaker 1: how Stuffworks dot Com, written by Michelle Constantinofsky. Brain Stuff
Speaker 1: is production of iHeartRadio in partnership with how Stuffworks dot
Speaker 1: Com and is produced by Tyler Klang and Ramsey Young.
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