They were known as Cattle Annie and Little Britches. Annie McDougal was 17 and Jennie Stevens was 16. Both were short and attractive, but skilled and deadly.
The girls attended a dance one night when someone introduced them to Bill Doolan. Doolan needed no introduction, as he and his gang of outlaws already had a name. The girls donned hired men's pants and pistols, and left that night with them to become famous outlaws.
They helped with the exploits until the gang broke up, and the pair teamed up with a small-time thief named "Wilson," but their names had already reached the federal level since they played a part in the wanted gang's exploits.
Marshals Bill Tilghman and Burke were assigned to bring them in. They tracked them to a farmhouse near Pawnee. The girls were alone inside. Now, how hard could it be for two U.S. Marshals to arrest two small girls?
Well, as they rode past the front gate, they witnessed Little Britches fly out of a back window and onto a nearby horse (in great Hollywood tradition) and gallop away in a cloud of dust. Tilghman followed. Burke crouched around the house, looking for Cattle Annie inside.
The chase through the desert was harrowing. Little Britches had her Winchester rifle, and turned on Tilghman, firing close to him. He later recalled that they were amazingly (if uncomfortably) close, being shot from a moving horse and at a moving target. He chased her for a while until he shot her horse, downing her.
As he approached, he saw that her boot was caught in the stirrup under the horse and she was pinned. She was struggling to reach her pistol, but he got there first and grabbed it. She threw dust in his eyes. He pulled her free, and she clawed, scratched, and tore at him. She drew long streaks of blood down his face. Finally, he got her turned over, and smacked her bottom hard several times. This seemed to settle her a bit for him to capture her and take her back to the house.
Meanwhile, Burke was walking around the house, and spotted Cattle Annie sticking a rifle out a window. Burke was able to leap up and grab her, and pull her out. She pounced on him right away, kicking, punching, and biting. She took clumps of his hair out.
When Tilghman arrived, he saw Burke holding Annie in a bear hug, and he was hatless, partly bald, and bloody.
The girls became celebrities, but went to prison for two years, and were later released back into society where they led more quiet lives. You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or
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