| |
BELLE
STARR
The Bandit Queen by
Maggie Van Ostrand |
|
"I
regard myself as a woman who has seen much of life," said Belle Star to The Fort
Smith Elevator in 1888, a year before she died.
If facts are to be believed,
the myth of Belle Starr was a figment of her own imagination. If she lived today,
she'd probably be creating auto commercials for television in a Madison Avenue
ad agency, or president of a large public relations firm, or hosting a remake
of the 70s game show, Liar's Club, since much of her legend was self-created.
It's not even certain that Belle Starr actually stayed awhile in Mesquite
Texas, though legend puts her there. Like today's politicians, she was good
at manufacturing "truth."
According
to Kathy Weiser's article in Legends of America (August 2006), Myra Belle Shirley
was born in a Missouri log cabin to "Judge" John Shirley, the black sheep of a
wealthy Virginia family who later moved to Indiana, and his third wife, Eliza.
Eliza Shirley's maiden name was Hatfield, of the famously feuding Hatfield and
McCoy families.
The Shirley family raised wheat, corn, hogs, horses,
and four sons, in addition to Myra Belle. They prospered for ten years, then sold
their land and moved to Carthage Missouri where they built an inn, a tavern, livery
stable and blacksmith shop, all of which took up almost an entire city block.
John Shirley had become a respected member of the burgeoning county seat, and
could easily afford to spoil his only daughter by sending her to the Carthage
Female Academy where she was taught music and classical languages. She was smart,
courteous, and a talented pianist. She "liked to flaunt her staus as a rich girl
and liked having an audience," according to Legends of America.
Myra
Belle also loved the outdoors and roaming the countryside with Bud, one of her
brothers, who taught her how to ride a horse and become a crack shot. But then
came the Kansas-Missouri Border War. |
| | Portrait
of Belle Starr
Photo courtesy Wikipedia | |
|
Life
wasn't the same for Myra Belle, as bands of "Jayhawkers" and "Red Legs" continually
passed through Jasper County forcing residents to take sides and laying waste
to Missouri towns in support of the Union. Brother Bud joined Quantrill's Raiders
and was promoted to captain after serving as a scout. Other members of Quantill's
Raiders were the Younger brothers, the James Boys, and Jim Reed. In June 1864,
Bud was killed in Sarcoxie, Missouri, and "Judge" Shirley took it very hard. He
sold his Missouri property and moved his family to a farm near Scyene, Texas,
a small settlement southeast of Dallas.
In 1866, Legends of America tells
us, the James-Younger Gang robbed their first bank in Liberty, Missouri, and fled
with $6,000 in cash and bonds. Jesse and Frank James, along with Bob, Jim, and
Cole Younger, fled to Texas where they "met up with Myra Shirley." Myra Belle
was quickly smitten by Cole and became a member of the gang. Or so legend says.
History gets a little confusing at this point because another gang of outlaws
stayed at the Shirley house one night and Myra Belle later stated she fell in
love with gang member Jim Reed, whom she had known back in Missouri. Their romance
blossomed in Texas and they married on November 1, 1866. |
| | Jim
Reed
Photo courtesy Legends of America and Kathy Weiser |
| |
That
makes for an awfully busy love life for Belle.
Since Jim Reed was not
yet a wanted man, the Shirleys did not object to their marriage, and Jim moved
into the Shirley house in Scyene and shared the farm chores. He later became a
salesman for a Dallas saddle and bridle maker. By late 1867, he and Belle were
living in Missouri where Belle gave birth to Rosie Lee, dubbed "Pearl," in 1868.
They had moved back to Missouri because Reed had become a wanted man for murdering
a man named Shannon. Some historians say they then fled to California with Pearl
and subsequently had another child, Edward.
It
appears to be one of Belle's later fictions that Cole Younger seduced her in Texas
at the Shirley home, and that she bore his illegitimate daughter. Younger said
he did visit the Shirleys in Texas, but in 1864, not 1866. He said that the next
time he saw Belle was at the Reed home in Missouri in 1868 where she was six months
pregnant with Pearl. Richard Reed, brother of Belle's husband Jim, supports Younger's
story. |
| | Cole
Younger 1883 Mugshot
Photo courtesy Wikipedia |
| |
In
1869, Belle, Jim Reed, and two other outlaws rode to the North Canadian river
country where they allegedly tortured an old Creek Indian until he revealed his
hiding place for $30,000 in gold. With their share, Jim and Belle returned to
Texas and Belle, still lusting for attention, revelled in her new-found repuation
as "Bandit Queen."
It might have been around this time that Bell famously
uttered the words, "I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw." That is, if
she actually uttered them at all.
In 1874, Jim Reed was killed in Paris,
Texas, by a member of his own gang in a bloody gunfight. Having left her children
with mama Shirley, Belle rode alone on the Outlaw Trail.
In
Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), Belle became "involved" with a flat-faced Indian
outlaw called Blue Duck, though there are conflicting stories about the extent
of this involvement. Some historians claim they were lovers, others claim they
were just friends. In any event, Blue Duck didn't last long and was soon replaced
by Sam Starr. |
| | Belle
Starr and Blue Duck
Photo courtesy Legends of America and Kathy Weiser |
| |
Sam
Starr was a lanky Cherokee who made an honest woman of Belle by marrying her forthwith
and settling down on his 62 acres on the north side of the Canadian River, near
Briartown. Fickle Belle named their spread "Younger's Bend," after her first love,
if you don't count her other first love, Jim Reed.
Sam and Belle formed
a new outlaw gang, rustling horses and bootlegging whiskey to Indians. The mastermind
of this gang was now the infamous Belle Starr.
Legends of America says
that Belle herself told a story of how a slim man with blinking eyes once visited
her and Sam at Younger's Bend. Starr was suspicious of the cold and silent man,
but Belle told him he was an "old friend from Missouri." Sam Starr never knew
the blinking blue-eyed man was Jesse James.
Sam and Belle found the bandit
life very lucrative. Belle learned to use both her newfound money and her feminine
wiles to free captured gang members from the clutches of lawmen, who found both
her cash and sex appeal most tempting. From 1875 to 1880, Belle was the undisputed
leader of this band of cattle and horse thieves who made their headquarters in
the Oklahoma Territory.
The nearest settlement to the Starr gang's operation
was Fort Smith, Arkansas. The local Magistrate was the famed Judge Isaac Parker
- the "Hanging Judge." Parker became determined to put Belle Starr behind bars.
Several times his deputies had brought Belle in to face rustling or bootlegging
charges. Yet each time she was set free due to lack of evidence. In the fall of
1882, however, Parker got lucky when Belle was caught red handed as she attempted
to steal a neighbor's horse. He sentenced Belle to two consecutive six month prison
terms at the Detroit House of Corrections and Sam to one year in the Federal Prison
in Detroit. After serving their time, history gives us two choices: either Belle
and Sam returned to Younger's Bend, or Belle worked briefly in a Wild West show
playing the part of an outlaw bandit holding up a stagecoach. |
| | Judge
Isaac Parker
Photo courtesy Legends of America and Kathy Weiser |
| |
Whichever
version is true, if either, Sam and Belle were not rehabilitated by prison, and
returned to a life of crime. In 1886, they were arrested by U. S. marshals, who
brought them to Fort Smith on charges of robbery and horse stealing. However,
Judge Parker was forced to dismiss the charges for lack of evidence.
In December 17, 1886 at a friend's Christmas party, Sam got into a drunken brawl
and gunfight with his nemesis, Officer Frank West. Both men hit their marks and
died of their wounds. Again, there's a conflict as some historians of the Old
West say that only Starr was killed.
Belle
did not remain alone for long. In 1889, she married a much younger bandit by the
name of Jim July, a member of Sam Starr's extended family. This stormy marriage,
however, would be the death of her. Literally, After one fierce quarrel, July
was reported to have offered an accomplice $200 to kill his wife. When the offer
was rejected, July screamed, "Hell - I'll kill the old hag myself and spend the
money for whiskey!" A few days later On February 3, 1889, Belle Starr was shot
to death from an ambush on a lonely country road. She was 41 years old. Her death
is still officially unsolved.
An investigation was made into her death
and several suspects were questioned including a neighbor she had quarreled with
named Watson, her husband July, her son Ed, and even her daughter, Pearl. |
| | Pearl
Starr (Right)
Photo courtesy Wikipedia | |
|
It seems Belle had caught July fooling around with a young Cherokee girl, which
had led to much discord in the marriage. Belle was estranged from her son Ed and
rumors speculated she may have had an unnatural relationship with him and that
she routinely beat him with a bullwhip. Ed was later convicted of horse theft
and receiving stolen property and Judge Parker sent him to prison in Columbus,
Ohio. Daughter Pearl went into prostiution to raise funds for Ed's release, resulting
in a presidential pardon in 1893. Ed eventually became a police officer and was
killed in the line of duty in 1896. Pearl made a good living as a prostitute and
eventually operated a chain of bordellos in Van Buren and Forth Smith, Arkansas,
from the 1890s until World War I. It was speculated that she also might have killed
her mother because Belle had interfered with Pearl's marriage to the father of
her child. Talk about a dysfunctional family.
A few weeks after Belle's
death, a deputy who was on July's trail mortally wounded him.
Belle
was buried in the front yard of the cabin at Younger's Bend. Months later Pearl
hired a stonecutter to mount a monument over her mother's grave. On top of the
stone was carved and image of her favorite mare, "Venus." On the stone was this
inscription:
Shed not for her the bitter tear
Nor give the heart
to vain regret,
'Tis but the casket that lies here,
The gem that fills
it sparkles yet.
Like Marilyn Monroe, Belle Starr's legend began soon
after she died. She became more famous for the fantastic legend than for anything
she could have ever genuinely done. Depending on which parts of the legend one
reads and/or believes, she married no fewer than three of the Younger brothers,
she had control over every cutthroat brigand, horse thief and bank robber in Missouri,
Kansas, Indian Territory, Arkansas and Texas. Every person she had any dealings
with was on the wrong side of the law, including her father. She ran criminal
gangs like a 19th century Ma Barker and even began her exploits during the Civil
War where she was anything from a spy to a courier to female Confederate General,
even though she was as young as 13 years old at the time. In truth, there exists
no evidence to support any of this.
It would doubtless have pleased her
to know that the luminous movie star, Gene Tierney, portrayed her in 1941's film,
"Belle Starr," and in 1980, she was portrayed by Elizabeth Montgomery in a television
movie, "Belle Starr."
Her life may be more fiction than fact, and her
death may still be unsolved, but the legend of Belle Starr and her exploits is
destined to live forever. |
Copyright
Maggie Van Ostrand
"A Balloon
In Cactus" >
February
1 , 2007 column
Email: maggie@maggievanostrand.com
SOURCES:
Shirley, Glenn: Belle Starr and Her Times: The Literature, the Facts and the Legends,
University of Oklahoma Press, 1982
Legends of America, August 2006
More People
| Column |
See Texas
| Texas Escapes
Online Magazine | | |
|
|
