PROLOGUE Emiggrant Song Win our yas peso onthe er of Meso athe Pci ont, the exelent in their af dhe coin, se ea powel at wari ‘sss wom ison, whe hie 0 conto with dt ofthe epithe Ui Seay he fetta were orga cept fe ie ome ofthe he Caines, apt opt tosmeriny. [N60 7. LoseIt0, “The ene Western “Te AP Hi f he ad Se: Fr Sted Fares Inthe cory 1850, Olive Ontman wat a pil poco gi heading -wescon a wagon tein Fill of Mormons it search of gold and Gos By the end af the decade she was a wht Inca with chi tt00, tom benwen two exes, Ophanc at fue after he fay ‘wa massacred by Yavapai Indias cher Mexico (80 outhen Arig), Outman spent a ys salve tir atackrs bei he wat cal the Mobaves, who tattooed her atl ied heater ‘own, Foor years ater, under thea of wa dhe Mohave elie ‘backto the whites in exhange for, bankers, and Bea “Thi much sue. Bur eh fine points of Osta transforma sion rm fore nines white saa have bse ply in cnnless books and atickes—moder and Victorian tha ed lke Rasho sof eisionis isory ad owas entre Tne dey, Oat man wasiekshencagh neve specultion an gud enongh‘to ensure that the spcuion never ee Haase he sty wk sated with velenc, miliary insiga, nd seal inmend, t qulybeeme legen. She was thems essing bi graphy pulsed in, lle Amo sos, by Meth ‘alt reverend named Royal Satan who sipped ber Moco ism trom hee naragve and parsed the cating Mohave nde who aie her eg bios” ‘Seaton ao lunch Osa esl deca dong pboaple ing caer. Her espevcne inspiral pays, aos, a nthe bs, ‘thef, when the fest too ci aces we esa ep he ‘own Wild West lations about being taken apive and to by “vedkns”"Tcy inthe Arianna cown hat eas her name, hee heres, tooed ie adoes she Ove Osan Retr, cost the set fom dhe Outman Hore we ints ber days, hark (Gable and Carole Lombard spe thee honeymoon, In a945 the Gan Daily Naw dine vata group of Scat est srs had ved the Osan gs Ames “voit I cn sory” ofthe West. Ie ial tod constantly arcu camps, Incollege tres, ven on rin programs? the paper ase, per Inpsa bietoo promotional becuse this wa the son for eling, inagain—incorety Becrse the Mohaves Inve no wt guage, their mpresions ‘of Ontman's aptivity were no ecorde ring her Hise. But in the mid-rcenieth censury,anropeogie A. T, Kroeber pb- lished an interviow he ad condi in 903 vith Move who Ind know her that coaadicted whae Satta wren abot he alee shabby een by the ibe, aid Kocher pul ction of Ourman’s fist postasom iatview, wits the military ‘commande, Marin Back, who retrieved fie. What Oat eld Burke (aswel sche fst jouralss co nevi her afer her ran so) dered markedly rom the Seaton aesount and mise gs ‘ions about wheter she evr waned to eave de Mohaves i the fr place. Toy, any Mave who knows her story wil sy the tbe 2 Plyne ved fe. “They ek sory ore i ewe Berackman, A abl elder and spokeperion who dnd 2006, "We havea Fee Ing for eople™| ‘Whar merely historical ootot forthe Mhaves as become lovingly bumished, ever-evolving myth for white Areca, A cs an ty jen er Onan ret wits amateur snd profesional rious and schol —cotinve to rework, near ly eflestng her wn cell fina a nly s¢ Osta’ pa. ‘ear experienc Ie asthe bjs of 1964 episode of Dex Vay ag (wing Rona Reagan), an Elmore Lean story, wo now lh and force’ books, nln a Chesil with 2 calesbie Oatmanfgutine (worth S¢95)—ficilraro0 ada. Sine the 99, eminiscolas ave revisited Onan, expling eran white capeive aa er imporance ase autor of one of heh api tls in teary gent a lathe colon. ‘erly 2006, on the sagen of Outs rescue, more than a nue people mee at Yuma, Arnon, ad drove eighty mies nto the deset othe site of the Oatman maser, whee the Fy x baie, hear Ove’ oe epitesd once aga, hist By one ‘fer Mormon descendant oral is eyeing, the only constant about the atman storys thar no two thoes agree on wbst happened, Isa if he minate shestepet back into the white wold ad nse te mesquite dye from he ig theta wae wsthed sway ae tion would foreter inst her biography: When her family was cack, er example, ‘Osman’ mother wos in oro she wae crying ewhoo baby ‘who wan skewered by the Yavapai, Before her usm, Oana was Fal abrobed ino the Mohave fil she hd come to lve, pas ly with has an chien or he wat desperate totus to et ‘own people. The ayo her livery frm the Mohave, she tito boty hein the sand onthe bank ofthe Colorado River beste she dca want co go home or base she was embarassed 0 ap ear tples before her white liderstors She wa enatie tee her Prague 9‘countrymen again or se ced hopes wo days. She maid 2 wealthy banker ad Eve happily evel or shed, physiliy ‘wrecked and mently numbed in a insane asytan.* ‘Some Oatnan ethan Holy oe: hese ito he i In ron ,adeade afer her dath an eigryfve year ol bait Omaha ‘bone na halpage profi in the Sanday Word Hea that he singlehandedly saved er fom the Mohave by caying he out ‘of epee snl delerng he to Fo Whipp ental Arizona Apparent, no one eal hi Bae the Motives doe we tepers, ‘or thar Fort Whipp ua been built athe ime of her ransom. Five yar nen the Oaind Trine California anne made the same dai, burs ale ran away wih him, Flea he had been ‘sco with Ki Catton ae Blo il, bated Stig Bull, 90 ‘Caste tachi ast rath and ike Ost, hd ben taken captive 54 chil by Indians who toed hitch, convenieney hide by fil beard at pres ie, He daimed aot ony to have reac the sone bo alto to ave canoe three hi miles through the ‘pide of the Gran Canyon —"ssoute ha 0 white ma ever ta ‘ese before™—to ge er to bck to cation” ‘Why has Oaman commanded so uch attention? Uae more prominent women of des and os, such as Susan B Antony, ‘Sojoumer Truth, and Harriet Beecher Stowe dhe wast soci ‘ivi though ber pull peakng care pushed de iit eine ‘comention. She wa no Feminist —at est aie he nso, She ‘had ive witha ibe in which women enjoyed 2 geater degre of ‘ysl, eal and domestic endo an white women in Ame fet at wel higher oil ttn opr co men, even by Nase American sears, bt ia her cues, se encouraged women 2 ‘enjoy ther homes and be glad they din ve arabe had She wa 4 defector ike some famous capes who chose to say with *heirtrbe, ch a Mary esa, takes by Shawnee Indians ce ‘year and trae othe Sones a about the sae age a8 Ost san, or Cyn An The, who lve with the Comanche from 4 Plone the age of nine unl he ws freiby—and tragically returned a ag hy Fur in 850, ‘Oaxnans mysterious pesos acount fo asl pice of he a power She ha! a gothic besa the dozen or 0 sanivng howe ‘other betray a brooding incu hat readsas a elton of eer ‘ner lonely til oe her eaved sl In al the docomettion of her Iie—arttesirvews semis by endl, an even be i ‘wpb —she ugh jt ons, nan interview contd he day ‘of her epiaton and even then, the source of he avert ‘nelea The Moves were etic mimics who loved a go tease and a bawdy jokes sinost ery description of them ble dice reseration days mentions their lughtes, and they were considered “notoiously outspoken and ninibted™ The unanswerable qs ‘ion of whether Oana eve reat int thei ately Mormon social sie any comport he my: ‘Te grep of er fsinaton, however, es in er uested ua No Amen immigneo¢pives have wee th yb dents so abl Like de nation’s mt fmous tol tied woman, Hester Prynne (wo ako seized the pubic imagination the 109}, Oaznan wore pemanent symbol fusing ts reson, She wasn the parlance of he ay, "edema a a. tive, burt lie edempein ner sory, She was abi woman who neither filly renounced the Mohaves nor sed back comfortably ino whie eae, which may explain why se con ‘race esl: her afccson fx her Mohave Family or ep, Deeds though the pages af he biography (which ince long stretches first peson natatve) even as she pages hem fo lowing Seaton virally ai agen, ‘Te ue Tito ser oot sito he se othe Oat man story but aso 0 ofeahikoril understanding oft parc lay ceneeaing the Mohave, once charisma se icy tebe —thelrgescin Califia —now vay dished and al bat purge fom sation menry Inthe miners cent they, Pale 5