"Mary Fields" AKA Stagecoach Mary.(1832-1914)

She was six feet tall;heavy;tough;short-tempered;two fisted;packed a

pair of six-shooters and an eight or ten gauge shotgun.She was born a slave in Tennessee.Well after the Civil War loosened things,up as a free in 1884,having made her way to to Cascade County (west central Montana) in search of improved sustenance and adventure,she took a job with the Ursuline nuns at their mission in the city of Cascade--Called St.Peter Mission,the nuns' simple frontier facility was relatively well funded,if remote,and the nuns did a thriving business converting heathen savages,and other disgusting customers,to the true path of salvation -- although not salvation from the white men.Mary was hired to do 'heavy work' and to haul freight and supplies to keep the nuns' operation functional and well fed.She chopped wood,did stone work and rough carpentry,dug certain necessary holes,and when reserves were low she did one of her customary supply runs to the train stop,or even to Great Falls,or the city of Helena when special needs arose.On such a night run Mary's wagon was attacked by wolves.The terrified horses bolted controllable and overturned the wagon,thereby unceremoniously dumping Mary and and all of her supplies onto the dark prairie.When dawn broke,got the freight delivered,to the great relief of the nuns who had spent more than $30 dollars on the goods in question.At the same time,they had no hesitation to dock Mary's pay for the molasses that leaked from a keg was cracked on a rock in the overturn.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 with the complaint that she was earning $2.00 a month more than he was ( $9 vs $ 7),and did she that she was worth so much money anyway,being only an uppity colored woman?To make matters worse,he made this same complaint and general description in public at one of of the local saloons (where Mary was a regular customer),and followed that up with a (more polite) version version directly to Bishop Filbbus N.E..This more than enough to boil her blood,and at the very next opportunity the two of them were engaged in a shoot-out behind the nunnery,next to the sheep shed.Bullets flew in every direction until the six-guns were empty,and blood was spill.Neither actually hit the other by direct fire,one bullet shot by Mary bounced off the stone wall of the nunnery and hit the forlorn man in the butt cheek,which completely ruined  his new $1.85 trousers.Not only that,other bullets Mary fired passed through the laundry of the Bishop,which was hanging on the line,generously ventilating his underwear and the two white shirts he had had shipped from Boston only the week before.That was enough for the bishop;he fired Mary;and gave the injured man a raise.Out of work and needing some money,she tried the restaurant business in Cascade.Unfortunately Mary's cooking means that nobody would eat it,and the restaurant closed in short order.In 1895,she landed a job carrying the U.S. mail.Since she had always been so independent and determined,this work was perfect for her,and she quickly developed a reputation for delivering letters and parcels no watter what the weather,nor how rugged the terrain was.Mary and her mule Moses,plunged through anything,from bitterly raw buzzard's to wilting heat,reaching remote miner's cabins and other 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,contribution which she is given little credit.Known by then as Stagecoach Mary (for ability to delivery on a regular schedule),she continued in this capacity until she reached well into her sixties,it wore her down.Mary retired from the mail delivery business,she still needed an income.At the age of seventy,she opened a laundry service,also in Cascade.Figuring by now she deserved to relax just a bit,Mary didn't do a lot of laundry,but rather spent a considerable portion of her time in the local saloon,drinking whiskey and smoking her foul cigars with the sundry assortment of sweating and dusty men who were attracted to the place.While Mary claimed to be a crack shot,actually her aim toward the cuspidor was rather general.One lout failed to pay his bill to her(he had ordered extra starch in the cuffs and collar).Hearing him out in the street,she left the saloon and knocked him flat with one blow-at the age of 72.She told her wobbly,drinking companions that the satisfaction she got from that was worth more than the bill owned.As luck would have it,a tooth of his that she knocked out was giving him trouble,he was grateful.Mary 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.