In the 1860s, three children were out panhandling in the streets of Virginia City, Montana. The oldest was about twelve and the head of the family since her parents had died. They had come from Missouri. The death of the parents left the children to their own inclinations. The inclinations of Martha Jane, the oldest, became part of the legends of the American West. For it was Martha Jane Canary of Princeton, Missouri, who became “Calamity Jane.”

AOWM – May 1