- Give me all your biscuits!
Stick 'em up, pup.
Give me all your bones!
I'm not messing around.
(industrial music)
Imagine a life of shooting guns,
robbing stagecoaches, and getting drunk in public.
No, I'm not talking about spring break,
I'm talking about the Wild, Wild West in the 1800s.
Woah there, puppy.
And particularly, some mighty bad (horse lips fluttering)
women of the Wild West
because despite the sexism of the era,
and even though there are some varying accounts
of what exactly happened back then,
there were some women sharpshooters, outlaws,
and all-around ladies that (toy gun fires)
you don't wanna mess with.
(slow Old West music)
Pearl Hart was born around 1870 and by her early-20s,
she had developed a morphine addiction.
When her husband left to fight in the Spanish-American War,
she took up with a German drifter named Joe Boot
and the two started robbing stagecoaches together.
According to one story,
she stole $421 from three passengers,
but she left each of them with a dollar
so they could afford something to eat.
Now, when she was later arrested, she famously said,
"I shall not consent to be tried
"under any law in which my sex
"did not have any part in the making."
But nonetheless, she was still tossed away
in prison for 18 months,
and when she became pregnant behind bars,
the governor of Arizona didn't wish to explain
how something like that could've happened,
so they released her.
In 1856, a woman named Martha Jane Cannary
was born in Missouri.
Now, you probably know Martha Jane Cannary
better as Calamity Jane.
Historians think that she simply got her name
from the fact that calamity followed her wherever she went
'cause she was a pretty tough sharpshooting,
alcohol-guzzling kind of gal.
But she did have a soft spot.
In 1878, she cared for victims of the smallpox epidemic
in Deadwood, California, to the risk of her own health.
As her notoriety spread around the United States,
she cashed on her infamy, writing an autobiography
and also performing her tales in dime museums,
and appearing in 1901
at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
But soon after in 1903, she died
from what was then called inflammation of the bowels,
which we would call today alcoholism.
She was buried next to Buffalo Bill.
(gun firing)
Belle Starr certainly earned her outlaw nickname
as the "Petticoated Terror of the Plains."
She quickly developed a reputation
for hiding out outlaws on her farm
to protect them from law enforcement.
And then, she herself got involved in lovely pastimes
like horse thievery and armed robbery.
Described as a hatchet-faced (laughs) woman,
Belle Starr eventually met her maker
when she was shot in the back
and the face while on horseback.
The identity of her murderer was never discovered
because some think that it was for revenge,
which wouldn't be surprising 'cause she kinda did
a lot of stuff to attract that kind of negative attention.
But in addition to her criminality,
she also had a way with words,
leaving behind a number of choice quotes, including,
"Next to a fine horse, I admire a fine pistol,"
and a fine black Labrador Retriever.
No, that's just my quote.
In 1860, Phoebe Ann Oakley Moses,
AKA Annie Oakley, was born in Ohio.
Now, little Annie didn't ever go to school
because she made a killing just shooting animals around,
selling 'em to the grocer,
and ended up paying off the mortgage on her parents' house.
The five-foot-nothing, 110-pound Annie
quickly discovered that, "Hey, you know what?
"School's for fools!
"My gun's where my future lies."
And so, she was able to make her fortunes
doing all sorts of crazy sharpshooting tricks,
including shooting cigarettes out of her husband's mouth
and, at one point, Buddy,
she shot a potato off her dog's head.
I would never do that to you,
partially because, well, I'm scared of guns.
As a professional competitive shooter on the side,
she also racked up more than $100,000 in prizes,
which in modern day dollars
is a whole lot of dollars. (cash register rings)
She traveled to London at one point as well
to teach other women to shoot
because she highly advocated
for ladies being good with guns,
both because it's a pretty cool skill to have
and also for self-defense.
And after being immortalized on Broadway
in the play "Annie Get Your Gun,"
she retired in 1902, when her hair turned white.
So who are your favorite legendary women of the Wild West?
Let us know in the comments below
and be sure to like and subscribe to What the Stuff.
And if you wanna learn about
more amazing ladies of the West,
head on over to howstuffworks.com and read the article
"12 Renowned Women of the Wild West."
How many more times can I say west?
Kanye West.
North by Northwest.
West Egg.
It's a restaurant, puppy.
Westward ho!
Again, (laughs) I think you just farted.
(laughs)
All right.
In 1860, Phoebe Ann Oakley Moses,
AKA Annie Oakley, was born in Ohio.
And instead of going to school,
she decided to shoot some animals.
She sold their bodies to the grocer.
People ate them.
(laughs) Okay.
(toy gun fires)
Then she died.
As did they all, and as will you. (laughs)