[COLORADO, WOMEN] Jack, Ellen E.

The Fate of a Fairy [SIGNED]

Chicago: M.A. Donohue & Co.

Hardcover. Near fine. Undated early reprint, subtitled "Twenty-Seven Years in the Far West" on the cover. 213 pp, with ten plates from photographs. Signed by Jack and dated 1913, and with an original photograph of her (with two parrots) laid in. Publisher's red cloth decorated in green and gilt, with mounted portrait on front board. Spine lightly sunned. Near fine. British-born Ellen E. Jack, also known as "Captain Jack," was a pioneer prospector in Gunnison County, Colorado. She operated a series of boarding houses and was a partner in the successful Black Queen Mine (located between Crested Butte and Aspen). According to her own account--which may not be entirely trustworthy--she carried a sixgun and a pickax in her belt, could shoot a pistol in each hand while riding horseback, fought off the advances of all manner of men (including a Mormon who wanted her as his third wife), and bore a scar from a poisoned tomahawk. Later in life she settled in Colorado Springs, where she ran a curio shop and entertained tourists with tales of her many adventures.