Deadwood Dick and Calamity Jane

Deadwood Dick appeared in 34 dime novels written by Edward L. Wheeler and published by Beadle & Adams between 1877 and 1885. He was, arguably, the most popular character in American fiction at the time. This popularity inspired a nationwide backlash against dime novels led by Anthony Comstock, whose Traps for the Young (1883) argues that stories about outlaws glorified violent criminals and led kids into a life of delinquency. Comstock succeeded in persuading religious leaders, parents, and politicians to support him in his campaign to burn tons of books and even imprison publishers and distributors. The uproar eventually died down and the series experienced a resurgence of interest at the end of the century, with all of the Deadwood Dick stories being reprinted multiple times. The character is featured in a 1940 serial from Columbia Pictures, with Dick played by Don Gray and Marin Sais in the role of Calamity Jane, and he makes a final appearance in a 1966 episode of Death Valley Days before disappearing completely from American culture and consciousness for the next 60 years.

Deadwood Dick is the alias of Ned Harris, an orphan and adopted son of New England farmers, who fled West to the Black Hills to avoid persecution. He becomes captain of a band of road-agents in order to seek justice and revenge. Dick’s ongoing efforts to reform and turn his back on the outlaw life always end in failure, as do most of his attempts to build a home and family. Dick proposes to several women throughout the series, who either reject his offer or accept only to betray him and die violently in the next story.

Calamity Jane is the alias adopted by Jennie Forrest, who is forced to leave her family in Nevada and disguise her identity after some mysterious event that resulted in her disgrace. She appears in 20 of the Deadwood Dick novels. From story to story, Dick and Jane alternate between being lovers and enemies. At the end of their first story, Dick proposes and is rebuffed, and he goes on to propose a few more times before Jane finally accepts. In “Deadwood Dick’s Big Deal; or, The Gold Brick of Oregon” (1883), they marry and have a child, Deadwood Dick, Jr., who then features in 97 of his own dime novels. The couple split up and Dick has many more adventures without Jane, but they are reunited again for the final Deadwood Dick novel, where they die together and are buried side-by-side (“Deadwood Dick’s Dust; or, The Changed Hand: A Strange Story of the Mines, Being the 35th and Ending Number of the Great ‘Deadwood Dick’ Series).

This 2023 commission by Jonathan Case features Calamity Jane proposing to Deadwood Dick. This is not, in fact, what happens in the novels, but it makes for a better story.