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"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. |
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Portrait
of Belle Starr
Photo courtesy Wikipedia |
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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. |
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Jim
Reed
Photo courtesy Legends of America and Kathy Weiser |
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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. |
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Cole
Younger 1883 Mugshot
Photo courtesy Wikipedia |
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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. |
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Belle
Starr and Blue Duck
Photo courtesy Legends of America and Kathy Weiser |
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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. |
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Judge
Isaac Parker
Photo courtesy Legends of America and Kathy Weiser |
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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. |
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Pearl
Starr (Right)
Photo courtesy Wikipedia |
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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
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