TWENTY YEARS IN THE ROCKIES. 33 



commander of the U. S. army post at Goose Creek, whose 

 life she saved. The captain was shot in an Indian fight 

 and was in danger of death, when the brave female scout 

 appeared on her horse, shot the Indian nearest the captain, 

 and, picking up the wounded and unconscious officer, she 

 placed him in front of her on the horse and carried him to 

 the fort, uninjured by the shots of the other hostiles. When 

 Captain Egan learned of his rescue, he said to his preser- 

 ver : ''You are a good person to have around in time of ca- 

 lamity, and I now christen you Calamity Jane, the heroine 

 of the plains." 



Col. W. I. Cody (Buffalo Bill) tells this story, which I 

 give to illustrate the character of this brave woman, who 

 did so much for the safety of the whites in pioneer days. 

 She was only fitted for a wild and adventurous life and 

 closed her eyes in death in the summer of 1903. 



"In 1876 this daring woman by a most courageous 

 action saved the lives of six passengers on a stagecoach 

 traveling from Deadwood, S. D., to Wild Birch, in the Black 

 Hills country. The stage was surrounded by Indians,, and 

 the driver, Jack McCaul, was wounded by an arrow. Al- 

 though the other six passengers were men, not one of 

 them had nerve enough to take the ribbons. Seeing the sit- 

 uation, Jane mounted the driver's seat without a moment's 

 hesitation, and brought the stage safely and in good time 

 to Wild Birch. Jack McCaul afterward recovered, and 

 some time later, while in Deadwood, he assassinated Wild 

 Bill, one of Calamity Jane's best friends. The murder was 

 a cold-blooded one, and it was the general opinion that 

 lynching was only too mild for him. Calamity Jane was in 

 the lead of the lynching party, and it was she who captured 

 the desperado. She had left her rifle at home, but with a 

 butcher's cleaver she held him up, and a very few minutes 



