"Stagecoach" Mary Fields S&W .38 "Lemon Squeezer"

Origin
Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary, was the first African-American woman employed as a mail carrier in the United States, and just the second American woman to work for the United States Postal Service.

Fields stood 6 feet (182 cm) tall and weighed 200 lbs (90kg), liked to smoke cigars, and was once said to be as "black as a burnt-over prairie." She usually had a pistol strapped under her apron and a jug of whiskey by her side.

Biography
Born a slave circa 1832 in Hickman County, Tennessee, Fields was freed when American slavery was outlawed in 1865.

She then worked in the home of Judge Edmund Dunne. When Dunne's wife died, Fields took the family's five children to their aunt, Mother Mary Amadeus, a nun at an Ursuline convent in Toledo. Mother Amadeus was sent to Montana Territory to establish St. Peter's Mission, a school for Native American girls. Word came back that Amadeus was ill, and Fields hurried to Montana to nurse her. After Amadeus recovered, Fields stayed at St. Peter's hauling freight, doing laundry, growing vegetables, tending chickens, repairing buildings, and eventually becoming the forewoman.

The Native Americans called Fields "White Crow" because "she acts like a white woman but has black skin." Local whites didn't know what to make of her. One schoolgirl wrote an essay saying "she drinks whiskey, and she swears, and she is a republican, which makes her a low, foul creature." In 1894, after several complaints, the bishop ordered her to leave the convent.

Mother Amadeus helped her open a restaurant in nearby Cascade. Fields would serve food to anyone, whether they could pay or not, and the restaurant went broke in about ten months.

In 1895, although approximately 60 years old, Fields was hired as a mail carrier because she was the fastest applicant to hitch a team of six horses. She drove the route with horses and a mule named Moses. She never missed a day, and her reliability earned her the nickname "Stagecoach." If the snow was too deep for her horses, Fields delivered the mail on snowshoes, carrying the sacks on her shoulders.

Fields was a respected public figure in Cascade, and on her birthday each year the town closed its schools to celebrate. When Montana passed a law forbidding women to enter saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted her an exception.

Death and legacy
Mary Fields died of liver failure in 1914. In 1959, actor and Montana native Gary Cooper wrote an article for Ebony in which he said, "Born a slave somewhere in Tennessee, Mary lived to become one of the freest souls ever to draw a breath, or a .38."

Today
Artie came across a report of a more humble man suddenly getting violent at a bar, and was able to take on 3 men without much of a problem, getting away without any injuries. Thinking he was being manipulated, Artie head to the small town and carefully watched the person, seeing that they were working harder, walking with a "I won't take any shit" attitude, and was very confrontational when someone bothered them. Artie noticed that the individual was pressing his hand up against a gun in one semi-fight that they were in, and so after confronting the person and wrestling the gun away, noticed it belonged to Mary Fields, and bagged it. The man said he bought the weapon from a pawn shop after he was mugged, as he wanted to feel safe. Artie understood and took the gun away after telling the man he didn't need a weapon to feel safe, as he could have hurt somebody. At the Warehouse Artie believed that the gun was either lost or stolen for it to wind up in a pawn shop, but luckily they finally got their hands on it.

(If anyone wants a more hilarious report on Mary's history, go here)