5 Gunslinging Women Of The Wild West Across America

Women have been shooting and toting guns for centuries. Historical is a wonderful creature, especially when it deals with the west and some of the women who roamed it.  Here is a look at 5 notorious women who caused some havoc across the great frontier. Some you may have known about and I'm sure there's probably a few you didn't.

1. Calamity Jane - Born to a prostitute and a gambling shark, Martha Jane Cannary lived a life of drama and shooting. In 1868, after the death of her father, the family moved to Wyoming. She also served as a scout, at Ft. Russel in Cheyenne, back in 1874.
2. Pearl Hart - Known, wrongfully, as the only female stagecoach robber. She did rob stagecoaches, however there were others as well. In 1899, she escaped from prison and after being found guilty, she was the only woman to stay at the Yuma Territorial Prison in Arizona.
3. Kitty Leroy - The woman known to have had 5 husbands and 7 revolvers, a dozen Brownie knives and always went about fully armed. She was very trick with a shotgun, with her first husband allowing her to shoot apples from atop of his head.
4. Sally "Skull" Scull - The woman who murdered two of her five husbands. Her family was one of 300 families to settle in the Austin area which had a bunch of Native Americans in the area. One account said that she cut off the toes of a Comanche Indian in defense of herself.
5. Belle Starr - She into the guys from the Jesse James Gang and had an illegitimate child by one of them, Cole Younger. After leaving him she married Jim Reed, who was a horse thief. She dressed up like a man and tortured a man with then husband Daniel Evans, to find out where he hid 30,000 dollars. She masterminded and ran another gang of criminals. When not dressing like a man, she spent her time hanging out in saloons, gambling, drinking and shooting her gun on horseback down main street.