Sherry Chandler » Jane and Annie
Jane and Annie
Calamity Jane, photo from Wikimedia Commons.
James Lee Burke writes mysteries about a Cajun named Robicheaux whose life is beset by calamity. Mary Jane Cannary-Burke is better known as Calamity Jane (1852-1903). Barack Obama may have been better served by comparing Hillary Clinton to Jane than to Annie Oakley (1860-1926). Jane, though involved in exploits enough for a woman of her time, was not averse to exaggeration. Annie not only made good on her brags but also became a considerable philanthropist for women’s issues. She offered to raise a company of “lady sharpshooters” to serve in the Spanish American War but William McKinley did not accept.
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4 Comments
1. Terry replies at 15th April 2008, 2:57 pm :
My references book on Deadwood, SD says the she was called Calamity Jane because she had syphilis and passed it on. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but it’s in a couple of different sources.
2. MSW replies at 16th April 2008, 11:41 am :
I don’t know, it sounds like a pretty decent comparison to me. At least, I’d trust her to make good on what she says more than I trust him. And I fail to see why comparing her to either of them would be a bad thing. Both of them broke out of the conventional constraints of their day, and they both made enough of a splash that people still know who they are today. Whatever anyone might think of Hillary, there’s still enough of a stigma on women in power that she has probably had to fight harder, in some ways at least, to get where she is, than Obama has.
3. sherry replies at 16th April 2008, 3:20 pm :
MSW — Jane was, indeed, quite a gal. And after all, it takes some exaggerated press to make a legend: just ask Daniel Boone. They say the reason everybody’s heard of D. Boone and nobody’s heard of Simon Kenton is mostly that Boone had a good publicisit.
4. sherry replies at 16th April 2008, 3:21 pm :
Hey Terry, the thing in Jane’s Wikipedia bio that broke my heart was the little statement about her mother dying of “washtub pneumonia.” I assume this came of doing the washing in cold weather.
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