Origin

Patricia Layne, the daughter of a wealthy rancher and the late Sheriff Michael Layne, discovers her father was murdered by his corrupt deputy, Jed Brady, and a banker named John Olsen for uncovering their plot to stagecoach robberies and commit insurance fraud.

To avenge her father and stop their scheme, Patricia becomes the masked vigilante Calamity Kate. With the help of her ranch foreman, Jim Mansing, she stages her own robberies to intercept the duo's illicit gains and sows distrust between them, making each man suspect the other is the vigilante's accomplice.

The conflict escalates when Olsen hires Wild Bill Pecos and Nuggets Nugent as guards, sabotaging them with blank ammunition. During a robbery, Bill notices Calamity Kate's distinctive topaz ring, which later helps him discover Patricia's identity after she saves him from thugs sent to frame him.

When Olsen and Brady set a deadly trap with dynamite, Wild Bill and Nuggets save Kate. She then reveals her true motives and her father's murder. The heroes then turn the tables on the villains by luring them to their hidden loot, where they are caught red-handed and arrested by a Federal Marshal.

In the end, Wild Bill convinces Patricia to continue her fight for justice as Calamity Kate, and she goes on to bring other outlaws to justice.

Creation

Calamity Kate was created by Bernie Kriegstein. She first appeared in The Westerner Comics #26 (April 1950), published by Orbit-Wanted. She debuted as a supporting character in a Wild Bill Pecos story but quickly began featuring in her own solo stories within the same comic.

Her real name was inconsistently recorded in early issues. She was introduced as Patricia Layne in issue 26, changed to Patricia Wentworth in issue 27, and then changed back to Layne in subsequent issues.

The character was most likely inspired by the real-life frontierswoman and folk hero Calamity Jane.