Dakota Diary 5 - More from the Wild West Show

 Cora Sue gave me a rundown of how her evening had gone. She said that as soon as she had sat down, Buffalo Bill had ordered his favorite drink which he said was called “a stone fence” and asked if she would like one too. Here is her story.

“What’s in it?” I asked.

“A shot of vodka, a twist of lemon and a glass of cider,” was the answer.

“I’d like to try one,” I said and boy, did it have a bite.

I asked him what the song was that the band kept playing over and over?

“It was 'Tenting Tonight on the Old Campground,' he said, “And it is my favorite. Do you know the words?”

When I shook my head, he said he would give me a copy of it.

“What’s the name of your horse?” I asked him.

“I have several - but Brigham, Powder Face, Buckskin Joe and Fall Bull are my favorites that I take
with me when I am doing demonstration riding like today.”

“Did you fight in the War?”

“Yes, Ma’am, I did. And I got the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1872 for bravery during my
service as a scout during the Indian Wars.”

“Why isn’t Sitting Bull with you in this show? Mr. Barnum said he thought that you had hired him.”

“Well, if you girls had come to see us in Omaha, you might have seen him. He came for one show and then he didn’t like it so he went back to Ft. Yates again. I offered to pay him $50 a week plus a £125 traveling bonus, and maybe when he thinks it over he will come back to me again. That’s a lot
of money for an Indian. And I also said he could sell his photograph with his signature on it for a buck fifty each. And I said nobody but him could sell them.”

“I sure wish we could have met him. I read an interview he did, and I thought he sounded like a very
wise man,” I said.

“Well, you could always go and visit him at the Fort. I think he’s got Calamity Jane there with
him at the moment. I think she will try to convince him to come back to the show, and I have asked her to come into it too. And Annie Oakley (pictured above). Jane has spent time in Dakota Territory you know, although she owns a ranch in Montana at the moment. Do you know about her?”

“I never heard of either one of them,” I said, “But it is nice to know you are going to use
some women in your show if you can.”

“Well, let me tell you a bit about both of those really special ladies. Annie is only about the
same age as you girls - 23 or so - and she comes from Ohio. Sitting Bull calls her Little Miss Sure Shot. Annie made money for her family by bagging game and selling it to the local general store. When Jack Frost, a Cincinnati hotel keeper who bought some of Annie's game discovered she was visiting with her sister in town, he decided to match the youthful huntress with a professional sharpshooter. That was my friend and partner, Frank Butler, and we were at a local theater at the time. So they decided to set it up for Thanksgiving. Butler agreed to the contest but was dumbfounded when he found out his opponent was a diminutive country girl of 15. That was in 1875.

“Kentucky Frank who ran the shooting gallery witnessed the match. They were tied most of the time but then the last bird was a hard one and Butler missed, but Annie killed her 25th one and won the match. She had never shot trap birds before.”

“So did that start her career?” I asked.

“Not quite yet. So what did Frank do but decide to court the girl. He was divorced and in debt –
hardly likely to be Annie's mother's first choice for her daughter. But she liked Frank, a sentimental Irishman who emigrated to the States when he was just a boy, so she gave her approval and they were married in 1876. They went into the Sells Brothers Circus then, doing shooting tricks. You should see her in a show. She is a consumate actress. She never walks. She trips in, bowing, waving and wafting kisses. When the shooting starts, there are usually some women who
scream in the audience, but she puts them at ease and before long, there is a continual crack of firearms, and the audience gives round after round of applause.”

“And you mentioned a lady called Jane too?”

“Calamity Jane we call her but her real name is Martha Cannary. She was the oldest of six children.
She liked being out of doors and began to ride at an early age and continued to do so until she became an expert rider being able to ride the most vicious and stubborn of horses.

“In 1865 they emigrated from Missouri to Montana. While on the way the greater portion of her time
was spent in hunting along with the men of the party, in fact, she was at all times with the men when there was excitement and adventures to be had. By the time they reached Virginia City she was
considered a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider. She often swam her pony across the stream several times merely to amuse herself and has had many narrow escapes from nearly being washed away.”

“Gosh.”

“Her mother died at Black Foot, Montana, 1866 and she left Montana for Utah, arriving at Salt
Lake City and remaining there until her father died. She joined General Custer as a scout at Fort Russell, Wyoming, in 1870, and started for Arizona for the Indian Campaign. Up to this time she had
always worn a dress but when she joined Custer she donned the uniform of a soldier.”

“I wonder if she knew our Pa.”

“Probably not. He came in at the end. She was in Arizona up to the winter of 1871 and during that
time had a great many adventures with the Indians and by this time she was considered the most reckless and daring rider and one of the best shots in the western country.

“After that campaign she returned to Fort Sanders, Wyoming, remained there until the spring of
1872, when they were ordered out to the Nursey Pursey Indian outbreak. It was during this campaign that she was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming, where the town of Sheridan is now located. Captain Egan was in command of the Post. They were ordered out to quell an uprising of the Indians, and were out for several days, had numerous skirmishes during which six of the soldiers were killed and several severely wounded. On returning to the Post they were ambushed about a mile and a half from their destination and Captain Egan was shot. She was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in her saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. She turned her horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. She lifted him onto her horse in front of her and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Captain Egan on recovering, laughingly said: 'I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.' So she has borne that name up to the present time.”

“I sure hope we can meet her. She sounds like such fun,”I said.

“They were ordered to the Black Hills in 75, to protect miners, as that country was controlled by the Sioux Indians and the government had to send the soldiers to protect the lives of the miners and settlers in that section.

“In 1876, they were ordered north with General Crook to join Generals Miles, Terry and Custer at
Big Horn River. During this march she had a ninety mile ride to make to deliver a dispatch, and being wet and cold, she contracted a severe illness and was sent back in General Crook's ambulance to Fort Fetterman where she laid in the hospital for fourteen days. When able to ride she started for Fort Laramie where she met William Hickok, better known as Wild Bill, and they started for Deadwood, where they arrived about June.”

“I've heard about him, but don't know much, really,” I put in.

“During the month of June she acted as a pony express rider carrying the US mail between Deadwood and Custer, a distance of fifty miles, over one of the roughest trails in the Black Hills country but as her reputation as a rider and quick shot was well known, she was molested very little, for eveyone  looked on her as being a good fellow, and they knew that she never missed her mark.

“Her friend, Wild Bill, remained in Deadwood during the summer with the exception of
occasional visits to the camps. On the 2nd of August, while sitting at a gambling table in the Bell Union saloon, in Deadwood, he was shot in the back of the head by the notorious Jack McCall, a
desperado. She was in Deadwood at the time and on hearing of the killing made her way at once to the scene of the shooting. She immediately started to look for the assassin and found him at
Shurdy's butcher shop and grabbed a meat cleaver and made him throw up his hands; because with the excitement of hearing of Bill's death, she left her weapons on the post of her bed. He was then taken to a log cabin and locked up, well secured as every one thought, but he got away and was afterwards caught at Fagan's ranch on Horse Creek, on the old Cheyenne road and was then taken to Yankton, Dakota, where he was tried, sentenced and hung.

“She remained around Deadwood locating claims, going from camp to camp until the spring of 1877,
where one morning, she saddled a horse and rode towards Crook City. She had gone about twelve miles from Deadwood, at the mouth of Whitewood Creek, when she met the overland mail running from Cheyenne to Deadwood. The horses on a run, about two hundred yards from the station; upon looking closely she saw they were pursued by Indians. The horses ran to the barn as was their custom. As the horses stopped she rode along side of the coach and found the driver John Slaughter, lying face downwards in the boot of the stage, he having been shot by the Indians. When the stage got to the station the Indians hid in the bushes. She immediately removed all baggage from the coach except the mail. She then took the driver's seat and with all haste drove to
Deadwood, carrying the six passengers and the dead driver.”

“Now that stage coach bit in your production makes more sense to me,” I put in.

“She left Deadwood in the fall of 1877, and went to Bear Butte Creek with the 7th Cavalry, but the next year she started prospecting.

“In 1882 she went to Miles City and took up a ranch on the Yellow Stone, raising stock and
cattle, also keeps a way side inn, where the weary traveler can be accommodated with food, drink, or trouble if he looks for it. She
plans to leave the ranch and go to California this year. I tried to get her to join my show, and she said she would think about it, and get back to me in a year or so.”

I asked him which other places they would be putting on this show, as I knew if we were going to be
making a newspaper article out of it, that would be important for people to know.

He said, “From here to Kentucky, Indiana and then New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts.”

“When will you be in New York?”

“'We are going to the Prospect Fairground in Brooklyn in July. When we get to Brighton Beach Race
Tract at Coney Island in August, we will erect bleachers for the audience and perform for five weeks. Then we'll be back in Omaha in October.'”

Buffalo Bill asked me if we had considered going up the Missouri on a riverboat to get to Bismarck,
but when he told me that it would take a long time, as they can only make 10 miles an hour up stream, and they don’t travel at night, I said we probably wouldn't.

I told Buffalo Bill that there is an exhibition that we wanted to see in Chicago this weekend - all
about a special train that runs by electricity rather than steam.

“He said, 'Well it is up to you girls, but if it was me, I know which direction I would go.'”

“So you had a good night?” I asked.

“It was absolutely wonderful, and I know I can write up a lot about Bill and Jane and the others. I
could fill five articles.”

“Well, let's just concentrate on getting the two done tomorrow,” and we said good night and tried
to sleep, but it was hard work.