Hannah Jane Conrad, age 14, of Galveston, Texas, for her question:

HOW DID CALAMITY JANE GET HER NAME?

Calamity Jane was an American frontierswoman who was born in Missouri and grew up in the mining towns of the West. She became well known as a sharpshooter and as a horsewoman. She claimed she was the equal of any man and dressed in male attire.

The origin of Jane's nickname is said to have been her threats that calamity would befall any man who offended her.

Born with the name of Martha Jane Canary in 1852, she soon acquired a reputation as being contemptuous of convention.

By her own account she served as a scout with the United States Cavalry and carried the mail between Custer, Mont., and Deadwood, N.D. Calamity Jane also performed in a company that toured the West. In 1891 she married a cab driver named Clinton Burke.