Hell on Wheels is a
fascinating TV show and I often wonder what characters are real and where does
fiction begin in the show. Of all the characters I thought were fiction that
character is the wild black female stage driver, Mary Fields. She’s as real as
real can get—amazingly. So I thought this month on The Sweethearts of the West
blog I would like to tell you about this wild western woman.
Once free from slavery,
Mary Fields traveled west with the Ursuline nuns. The nuns hired Mary to do the
heavy work and to haul freight and supplies to keep the nuns’ operation both
functional and well fed. Among her duties she chopped wood, did stone work and
carpentry, dug necessary holes, and when needed, made her supply runs to the
train stop, sometimes as far as Great Falls or the city of Helena.
Once Mary's wagon was attacked by wolves, or so the story
goes. The frightened horses and overturned the wagon, dumping Mary and all her
supplies onto the prairie. Now some who told the story said Mary kept the
wolves at bay the whole night with her revolvers and rifle regardless of how
the pitch dark might keep her from seeing those wolves. But she did survive and
managed to deliver the freight which delighted the nuns who had spent more than
$30 on those goods which was their major concern. They docked Mary’s pay for
the molasses that leaked from a keg that had cracked on a rock when the wagon
overturned. Who could blame her for leaving the convent while in her teens?
Besides, Mary’s temperament was not exactly suitable for a convent.
Mary was prepared for such inconveniences as wolves and
drunken cowboys, being heavily armed at all times, and ready for a fist-fight
at the drop of a hat. Since she did not pay particular attention to her fashion
statement, and failed to look or act the
part of a typical woman in the Victorian age (except on the frontier), occasionally
she would run into men who attempted to trample on her rights and hard won
privileges. They should have known better than to mess with Mary. She broke
more noses than any other person in central Montana; so claims the Great Falls
Examiner, the only newspaper available in Cascade at the time.
Once a 'hired hand' at the mission confronted her with
the complaint that she was earning $2 a month more than he was ($9 vs. $7), and
questioned why she thought she was worth so much money since she was nothing
more than an uppity colored woman? (His name, phonetically, was Yu Lum Duck.)
To make matters worse, he made this same complaint and general description in
public at one of the local saloons where Mary happened to be a regular customer.
He followed up with a more polite version of is complaint directly to Bishop
Filbus N.E. Berwanger to no avail.
Needless to say, Mary had had just about enough of this
man’s whinning and complaining. So, at the very next opportunity the two of
them were engaged in a shoot-out behind the nunnery, next to the sheep shed. Mary
actually intended to simply shoot the man as he cleaned out the latrine --
figuring to dump his body in there -- she missed. He shot back and a shoot-out
ensued.
Bullets flew in every direction until the six-guns were
empty, and blood was spilt. Neither actually hit the other by direct fire, but
one bullet shot by Mary bounced off the stone wall of the nunnery and hit the unfortunate
man in the left buttock, completely ruining his new $1.85 trousers. Not only
that, but other bullets Mary fired passed through the laundry of the bishop,
which was hanging on the line, generously ventilating his drawers and the two
white shirts he had had shipped from Boston only the week before. (What his
laundry was doing at the nunnery is not clear.) In the end, the bishop fired
Mary and gave the complaining man a raise. Figures.
Out of work, Mary decided to work at the restaurant
business in Cascade. Unfortunately Mary's cooking was only basic, in other words,
nobody would eat it and so ended the restaurant business. Mary went back to the
kind of work she knew best—driving. This time she landed a job carrying the
United States Mail.
She quickly gained the reputation for delivering letters
and parcels no matter what the weather, nor how rugged the terrain. She and her
mule, Moses, managed to get through anything and everything, from raw blizzards
to sweltering heat, to reach remote miner's cabins and outposts with important
mail which helped to accommodate the land claim process, as well as other
matters needing expeditious communication. These efforts on her part helped
greatly to advance the development of a considerable portion of central
Montana, a contribution for which she is given little credit.
Known by then as Stagecoach Mary (for her ability to
deliver on a regular schedule), she continued driving until she reached well
into her sixties, but it took a toll on her. She retired from the mail delivery
business, although she still needed a source of income.
So, at the age of seventy, she opened a laundry service,
also in Cascade.
Mary figured she deserved to relax a little and didn't work
so much at the laundry. Instead, she spent a great deal of time in the local
saloon, drinking whiskey and smoking her foul cigars right along with an assortment
of sweating and dusty men who frequented the saloon. Thought she claimed to be
a crack shot toward the cuspidor, her aim was a bit more in the general locale
of that cuspidor to the chagrin of any nearby fellow patrons. But Mary paid no
never mind since she did laundry ya know.
One reprobate failed to pay his bill to Mary after he ordered
extra starch in the cuffs and collar of his shirt. Noticing him out in the
street, she left the saloon and knocked him flat with one blow—this at the age
of 72. She told her inebriated companions that the satisfaction she got from
that punch was worth more than the bill he owed, so the score was settled. Turned
out, the tooth she knocked out was giving him trouble anyway, so there was no
reprisal. Actually, he was grateful.
In 1914 she died of liver failure. Neighbors buried her
in the Hillside Cemetery in Cascade, marking the spot with a simple wooden
cross which may still exist today. In spite of her hard drinking, cigar
smoking, and occasional fisticuffs, the townsfolk found it hard to believe that
this “mellow” old woman of 80 was the
hard shooting and short-tempered female character of earlier years they had
heard so much about. Of course, we know the truth about Stagecoach Mary and the
fact it was all true.
Sarah
J. McNeal is a multi-published author of several
genres including time travel, paranormal, western and historical fiction. She
is a retired ER and Critical Care nurse who lives in North Carolina with her
four-legged children, Lily, the Golden Retriever and Liberty, the cat. Besides
her devotion to writing, she also has a great love of music and plays several
instruments including violin, bagpipes, guitar and harmonica. Her books and
short stories may be found at Prairie Rose Publications and its imprints Painted
Pony Books, and Fire Star Press. Some of her fantasy and paranormal books may
also be found at Publishing by Rebecca Vickery and Victory Tales
Press. She welcomes you to her website and social media:
