Songs of the Cowboys (1921)/Women Outlaws

by N. Howard Thorp

WOMEN OUTLAWS

By N. Howard Thorp

There's a touch of human pathos,
A glamour of the West,
Round the names of women outlaws
Who have now gone to their rest —

Bronco Sue, Belle Star, and Shudders,
Pike Kate, and Altar Doane,
Calamity Jane, Sister Cummings,
And the Rose of Cimmaron.

You've all oft heard the saying,
"I'd go to Hell for you!"
About these women outlaws
That saying was too true.

Each left her home and dear one
For the man she loved the best,
Close by his side on many a wild ride
Through the mountains of the West.

They've played their parts in Western Drama,
On the great unscreened Western stage,
Where the mountains were their platform,
Their stage-setting rocks and sage.

Hunted by many a posse,
Always on the run,
Every man's hand against them,
They fought, and often won.

With a price upon each head,
They'd have to fight and stand,
And die as game as any man
With a gun in either hand.

My hat off to you, women outlaws,
For you did what you thought best,
And the same wild blood that coursed your veins
Has settled up the West.

Whether right or wrong, your spirit
Knew not the word of fear —
And 't is the dauntless courage of your kind
That bred the pioneer!