Calamity Jane -- 21 juli 1893

• Van Calamity Jane (Martha Jane Canary, 1852-1903) zijn enige brieven en dagboekfragmenten bewaard gebleven (waarvan de echtheid niet vaststaat). Het dagboek was gericht aan haar dochter Janey (Jean Irene O'Neil), die ze na haar geboorte afstond voor adoptie, en die ze nooit heeft teruggezien.

July 1893
I experienced the worst hailstorm today that I ever saw in this country and never expect to see another one like it if I live to be a hundred. I was driving the stage. Hailstones as large as a coffee cup struck the top of the coach and split it like a knife I was near an abandoned shack with an old shed nearby so I hurried the horses into the shed it helped a little but the rear end of the coach had to stand in the storm. I wasn't soon enough getting in to the shed for when it was over I noticed one of the horses had been struck hard enough with a hail stone to put out one of his eyes. The Indians as well as the whites suffered losses. I saw hundreds of cattle and horses floating down the river. l had a letter today from Bill Cody asking me to go with his Wild West Show. The next time I write in this I will be a long ways from here.