Minnesota Ole West Living History

Calamity Jane

Martha Jane Canary or Cannary (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman and professional scout known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok and fighting Indians. She is said to have also exhibited kindness and compassion, especially to the sick and needy. This contrast helped make her a frontier figure
It was during this campaign [in 1872–1873] that I was christened Calamity Jane. It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming  where the town of Sheridan is now located. Capt. Egan was in command of the Post. We 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. When on returning to the Post we were ambushed about a mile and a half from our destination. When fired upon Capt. Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt. Egan on recovering, laughingly said: 'I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.' I have borne that name up to the present time.

Doc Holliday

John Henry "Doc" Holliday was born August 14, 1851. A dentist by trade, Holliday became an icon of the American West and was close friends with fellow gunslinger Wyatt Earp. They were the two most famous faces in what is regarded as the most legendary battle of the West: the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which cemented Holliday's status as a legend.  He lived with most of his  life &  died due to "Consumption"   Tuberculosis.
Throughout his lifetime, Doc was known by many of his peers as a tempered, calm, Southern gentleman. In an 1896 article, Wyatt Earp said, "Doc was a dentist, not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean, ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew."[61]:207
In a newspaper interview, Holliday was once asked if his conscience ever troubled him. He is reported to have said, "I coughed that up with my lungs, years ago.”  (Known to cough up blood in a kerchief often)