Here Comes Calamity!

Jane built a wild reputation in the West.

Martha Jane Canary’s story has come down to us in a somewhat romantic Hollywood version. She was no Doris Day. Bawd, scout, Indian fighter, and barroom brawler. One contemporary described her as resembling in form, “a busted bale of hay.” By the time she was 24, Jane was an alcoholic and could out-cuss, out-shoot, and out-drink most men. At the age of 20, she made a cowboy named Darling Bob Mackay dance like a tenderfoot, firing bullets at his feet in a Dodge City Saloon after he had the temerity to say something indelicate about her underwear.