Nellie Cashman
Encyclopedia
Ellen Cashman better known as Nellie Cashman, was a native of County Cork
, Ireland
, who became famous across the American
and Canadian west as a nurse and gold
prospector.
era came, and Nellie, willing to become an adventurous woman, left her family home in 1874, heading to the Cassiar Mountains
, in British Columbia
, Canada
. A lifelong Catholic
woman, she set up a boarding house for miners, asking them for donations to be made for the Sisters of St. Anne in return for receiving the services available at her boarding house.
Cashman travelled to Victoria, to deliver 500 dollars received in donations, to the nuns of the Sisters of St. Anne, when she heard that a snowstorm had attacked the Cassiar mountains area, stranding and injuring 26 miners, who were also suffering from scurvy
. She immediately organized an expedition with six men
and collected food
and medicine
s, planning to find the men and rescue them.
Conditions at the Cassiar Mountains were so dangerous during the time, that not even the Canadian Army
considered it a worthy task to try to rescue the twenty six stranded men. When they heard of Cashman's expedition, a commander sent his troops to find her and bring her and her group of men back safely.
An Army trooper found her standing over the ice of Stikine River
, cooking her meal for the evening. She offered the trooper and a few other men from his group some tea
, and convinced them that it was her will to continue and she would not head back without rescuing the men.
After 77 days of unfriendly weather, she found the sick men, which, as it turned out, were more than twenty six; some estimates put the number of lives that Cashman and her crew saved as many as seventy five men. She used a Vitamin C
diet to re-establish the group's health. Thereafter, she was fondly known in the region as the "Angel of the Cassiar".
, where she kept working for her Catholic faith. She raised money to build the Sacred Heart Catholic Church there, and she worked with the Sisters of St. Joseph's. She also kept her work as a caretaker, getting a job as a nurse in a local Cochise
hospital
.
After her brother-in-law's death
in 1881, Nellie invited her sister, Fanny, to move to Nellie's home in Tombstone along with her five children. However, Fanny died two years later, leaving Nellie as the only caretaker of the five children, whom she came to love as if they were her own children.
Nellie still hoped to find gold someday, and she travelled to Baja California
, Mexico
, soon after her sister's death, after hearing rumors that gold and silver
could also be found there. With 100 miles to reach their destination, Nellie decided that six men would lead the group that she was travelling with, which consisted of Nellie and twenty-one men. After sixteen hours, however, most of the men in the group had suffered dehydration
from the Arizona heat
. As a consequence, the group's water
supply was almost gone. Many historians propose that Nellie and the twenty one men were rescued by Mexicans.
In December of that year, a group of bandits tried to commit a robbery in Bisbee
. The robbery went wrong, and many innocents were killed. Five men were captured and taken to trial. They were sentenced to capital punishment
; the date of March 28 of 1884 was set for their hanging
.
Citizens in Tombstone were very angry at the men that were found guilty, and most of them overjoyed that they would be hanged. Soon after the sentence was announced, sheriff J.L. Ward ran out of courtesy tickets to the event, so a local carpenter built a grandstand next to the courthouse, planning to charge for tickets.
Cashman was indignant at the behavior of the citizens of Tombstone, feeling that no death should be celebrated. She befriended the five convicts, visiting them constantly to provide them with spirit
ual guidance. She spoke to the sheriff about the upcoming event, pleading with him to put a curfew in place during the day of the hangings so that no crowds would stand by the street to watch. The sheriff conceded, and a curfew was set.
Next, she and some friends went at night to the site of the execution, destroying the grandstand with hammer
s and axe
s. While the hangings proceeded as scheduled, the public was unable to watch, and Nellie achieved what she wanted: the five men died feeling that a small portion of dignity
had been restored to them.
Later on, she found out that a medical school planned to dig up the bodies of the five convicts, to be used as study corpses. She had two prospectors stay ten nights at the Boot Hill
Cemetery, to ensure that the bodies stayed in the graves.
Nellie co-owned and ran a restaurant
and hotel in Tombstone called Russ House (now known as Nellie Cashman's). Her partner in this enterprise was Joseph Pascholy. [Citation: advertisement in the 1881 Tombstone Epitaph.] According to a popular legend, once, a client complained about Nellie's cooking, and Doc Holliday
drew his side arm, asking the customer to repeat what he had said. Embarrassed, the client replied, "Best I ever ate."
In 1886, she left Tombstone to travel all across Arizona, setting restaurants and boarding houses in Nogales
, Jerome
, Prescott
, Yuma
and Harquahala, near Phoenix
.
, staying there until 1905. This move was once again motivated by her dream of finding gold during the Klondike Gold Rush
. She owned a store in Dawson City
. She searched for gold in the Klondike
, Fairbanks
and Nolan Creek.
In 1921, she visited California
, where she declared that she'd like to be appointed U.S. deputy Marshal for the area of Koyukuk
. In 1922, the Associated Press
documented her trip from Nolan Creek to Anchorage
.
In 1925, Cashman began suffering from pneumonia
and rheumatism
. Her friends took her to the same hospital she had helped built 51 years before, the Sisters of St. Anne. Ironically, she died soon afterwards in that institution. She was interred at Ross Bay Cemetery
in Victoria, British Columbia
.
On March 15, 2006, Nellie Cashman was inducted into the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.
The role of Nellie Cashman, revised as a saloonkeeper in Tombstone, was played by actress Randy Stuart
in the 1959 to 1960 season of the ABC
television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
, with Hugh O'Brian
as Wyatt Earp
.
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, who became famous across the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canadian west as a nurse and gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
prospector.
Early years
Cashman came to the United States around 1850 with her mother and her sister. she was very poor and she was a woman explorer who liked to exploreBritish Columbia
A few years later, the Gold rushGold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
era came, and Nellie, willing to become an adventurous woman, left her family home in 1874, heading to the Cassiar Mountains
Cassiar Mountains
The Cassiar Mountains are the most northerly group of the Northern Interior Mountains in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. They lie north and west of the Omineca Mountains, west of the northernmost Rockies and the Rocky Mountain Trench, north of the Hazelton...
, in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. A lifelong Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
woman, she set up a boarding house for miners, asking them for donations to be made for the Sisters of St. Anne in return for receiving the services available at her boarding house.
Cashman travelled to Victoria, to deliver 500 dollars received in donations, to the nuns of the Sisters of St. Anne, when she heard that a snowstorm had attacked the Cassiar mountains area, stranding and injuring 26 miners, who were also suffering from scurvy
Scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a deficiency of vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of collagen in humans. The chemical name for vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus, which also provides the adjective scorbutic...
. She immediately organized an expedition with six men
Man
The term man is used for an adult human male . However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
and collected food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
and medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
s, planning to find the men and rescue them.
Conditions at the Cassiar Mountains were so dangerous during the time, that not even the Canadian Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
considered it a worthy task to try to rescue the twenty six stranded men. When they heard of Cashman's expedition, a commander sent his troops to find her and bring her and her group of men back safely.
An Army trooper found her standing over the ice of Stikine River
Stikine River
The Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 610 km long, in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States...
, cooking her meal for the evening. She offered the trooper and a few other men from his group some tea
Tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
, and convinced them that it was her will to continue and she would not head back without rescuing the men.
After 77 days of unfriendly weather, she found the sick men, which, as it turned out, were more than twenty six; some estimates put the number of lives that Cashman and her crew saved as many as seventy five men. She used a Vitamin C
Vitamin C
Vitamin C or L-ascorbic acid or L-ascorbate is an essential nutrient for humans and certain other animal species. In living organisms ascorbate acts as an antioxidant by protecting the body against oxidative stress...
diet to re-establish the group's health. Thereafter, she was fondly known in the region as the "Angel of the Cassiar".
Arizona
Later on in life, she moved to Tombstone, ArizonaTombstone, Arizona
Tombstone is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, founded in 1879 by Ed Schieffelin in what was then Pima County, Arizona Territory. It was one of the last wide-open frontier boomtowns in the American Old West. From about 1877 to 1890, the town's mines produced USD $40 to $85 million...
, where she kept working for her Catholic faith. She raised money to build the Sacred Heart Catholic Church there, and she worked with the Sisters of St. Joseph's. She also kept her work as a caretaker, getting a job as a nurse in a local Cochise
Cochise
Cochise was a chief of the Chokonen band of the Chiricahua Apache and the leader of an uprising that began in 1861. Cochise County, Arizona is named after him.-Biography:...
hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
.
After her brother-in-law's death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
in 1881, Nellie invited her sister, Fanny, to move to Nellie's home in Tombstone along with her five children. However, Fanny died two years later, leaving Nellie as the only caretaker of the five children, whom she came to love as if they were her own children.
Nellie still hoped to find gold someday, and she travelled to Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, soon after her sister's death, after hearing rumors that gold and silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
could also be found there. With 100 miles to reach their destination, Nellie decided that six men would lead the group that she was travelling with, which consisted of Nellie and twenty-one men. After sixteen hours, however, most of the men in the group had suffered dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
from the Arizona heat
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
. As a consequence, the group's water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
supply was almost gone. Many historians propose that Nellie and the twenty one men were rescued by Mexicans.
In December of that year, a group of bandits tried to commit a robbery in Bisbee
Bisbee, Arizona
Bisbee is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, 82 miles southeast of Tucson. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 6,177...
. The robbery went wrong, and many innocents were killed. Five men were captured and taken to trial. They were sentenced to capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
; the date of March 28 of 1884 was set for their hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
.
Citizens in Tombstone were very angry at the men that were found guilty, and most of them overjoyed that they would be hanged. Soon after the sentence was announced, sheriff J.L. Ward ran out of courtesy tickets to the event, so a local carpenter built a grandstand next to the courthouse, planning to charge for tickets.
Cashman was indignant at the behavior of the citizens of Tombstone, feeling that no death should be celebrated. She befriended the five convicts, visiting them constantly to provide them with spirit
Spirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
ual guidance. She spoke to the sheriff about the upcoming event, pleading with him to put a curfew in place during the day of the hangings so that no crowds would stand by the street to watch. The sheriff conceded, and a curfew was set.
Next, she and some friends went at night to the site of the execution, destroying the grandstand with hammer
Hammer
A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
s and axe
Axe
The axe, or ax, is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood; to harvest timber; as a weapon; and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol...
s. While the hangings proceeded as scheduled, the public was unable to watch, and Nellie achieved what she wanted: the five men died feeling that a small portion of dignity
Dignity
Dignity is a term used in moral, ethical, and political discussions to signify that a being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. It is an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable rights...
had been restored to them.
Later on, she found out that a medical school planned to dig up the bodies of the five convicts, to be used as study corpses. She had two prospectors stay ten nights at the Boot Hill
Boot Hill
Boot Hill is the name for any number of cemeteries, chiefly in the American West. During the 19th century it was a common name for the burial grounds of gunfighters, or those who "died with their boots on" ....
Cemetery, to ensure that the bodies stayed in the graves.
Nellie co-owned and ran a restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
and hotel in Tombstone called Russ House (now known as Nellie Cashman's). Her partner in this enterprise was Joseph Pascholy. [Citation: advertisement in the 1881 Tombstone Epitaph.] According to a popular legend, once, a client complained about Nellie's cooking, and Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
drew his side arm, asking the customer to repeat what he had said. Embarrassed, the client replied, "Best I ever ate."
In 1886, she left Tombstone to travel all across Arizona, setting restaurants and boarding houses in Nogales
Nogales, Arizona
Nogales is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 21,017 at the 2010 census. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,833. The city is the county seat of Santa Cruz County....
, Jerome
Jerome, Arizona
Jerome is a town in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town is 353.-History:...
, Prescott
Prescott, Arizona
Prescott is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, USA. It was designated "Arizona's Christmas City" by Arizona Governor Rose Mofford in the late 1980s....
, Yuma
Yuma, Arizona
Yuma is a city in and the county seat of Yuma County, Arizona, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of the state, and the population of the city was 77,515 at the 2000 census, with a 2008 Census Bureau estimated population of 90,041....
and Harquahala, near Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
.
Yukon and Alaska
In 1898, she left Arizona for the YukonYukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
, staying there until 1905. This move was once again motivated by her dream of finding gold during the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
. She owned a store in Dawson City
Dawson City, Yukon
The Town of the City of Dawson or Dawson City is a town in the Yukon, Canada.The population was 1,327 at the 2006 census. The area draws some 60,000 visitors each year...
. She searched for gold in the Klondike
Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....
, Fairbanks
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
and Nolan Creek.
In 1921, she visited California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, where she declared that she'd like to be appointed U.S. deputy Marshal for the area of Koyukuk
Koyukuk, Alaska
Koyukuk is a city in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States At the 2000 census the population was 101., Koyukuk is one of a number of Alaskan communities threated by erosion.-History:...
. In 1922, the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
documented her trip from Nolan Creek to Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Anchorage is a unified home rule municipality in the southcentral part of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the northernmost major city in the United States...
.
In 1925, Cashman began suffering from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and rheumatism
Rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the joints and connective tissue. The study of, and therapeutic interventions in, such disorders is called rheumatology.-Terminology:...
. Her friends took her to the same hospital she had helped built 51 years before, the Sisters of St. Anne. Ironically, she died soon afterwards in that institution. She was interred at Ross Bay Cemetery
Ross Bay Cemetery
Ross Bay Cemetery is located at 1516 Fairfield Road in Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island, Canada.-History:The cemetery was opened in 1873. The 27.5 acre cemetery is part of a public park and its south side faces Ross Bay on the Pacific Ocean...
in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
.
On March 15, 2006, Nellie Cashman was inducted into the Alaska Mining Hall of Fame.
The role of Nellie Cashman, revised as a saloonkeeper in Tombstone, was played by actress Randy Stuart
Randy Stuart
Randy Stuart, born as Elizabeth Shaubell , was an American actress whose longest running role was as Louise Baker, the wife of the Cold War spy in the 26-episode adventure television series, Biff Baker, U.S.A., which aired on CBS, with Alan Hale, Jr., as the title character...
in the 1959 to 1960 season of the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is a Western television series loosely based on the adventures of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour black and white series ran on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1961 and featured Hugh O'Brian as Earp. An off-camera barbershop quartet sang the theme song and hummed...
, with Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian
Hugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...
as Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Earp
Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...
.