|
Belle Starr, the flamboyant Bandit Queen, was born Myra Belle Shirley in Missouri in February 8, 1848. While a child, her family moved to Texas. Myra was barely in her teens when she began associating with the seedier elements in her neighbourhood. She had soon made acquaintances with a couple of hoods by the name of Frank and Jesse James.
Over the next few years she entered into a relationship with a member of their gang, Cole Younger and had a child with him. She was now an established member of the outlaw community. Moving on from Younger she married a horse thief by the name of Jim Reed and had had a son with him. It wasn’t long before the outlaw life caught up with Reed and he was killed in a gunfight. Belle now moved to the Indian Territory where she entered into her second marriage, this time with a Cherokee Indian rogue by the name of Sam Starr. The Bandit couple formed a gang around themselves and, from their hide-away on the Canadian River, entered upon a life of rustling, horse stealing and bootlegging whiskey to Indians. The brains behind these operations, carefully planning each move, was the woman who was now known as Belle Starr.
Sam and Belle found the bandit life very lucrative. She would use her money liberally to bribe the freedom of any gang members who were captured. Failing this, she would tempt the lawmen with her womanly charms, almost always achieving her ends – the release of compatriots.
The nearest settlement to the Starr gang’s operation was Fort Smith. 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 various charges like rustling or bootlegging. 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 neighbour’s horse. He finally had something that would stick. After a trial, he sentenced Belle to two six month prison terms. After nine months she was let off for good behaviour.
Belle’s time behind bars, however, did nothing to change her in her chosen life course. Upon release she went straight back to her life of rustling and bootlegging. In 1886 she again became a widow when Sam was fatally shot at a party. Not one to waste time mourning, Belle soon got into a relationship with a younger desperado who went under the unlikely alias of Blue Duck. Blue Duck got himself into deep water when he murdered a local farmer. The evidence was overwhelming and he was soon standing in the dock before the hanging judge. Parker sentenced him to hang. Belle however wasn’t prepared to see her lover hang. She hired the very best lawyers in the District. They ended up appealing the case all the way to the White House. President Grover Cleveland commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.
Two years later Belle was again challenged by Judge Parker. Her son by her first husband, Jim Reed was caught horse stealing and sentenced by Parker to seven years jail. Belle again paid the best lawyers in the land to appeal to the President in Washington. This time Cleveland gave a full pardon.
In 1889 Belle entered into her third marriage, this time with a much younger bandit by the name of Jim July. This marriage, however, would be the death of her. The relationship was particularly stormy. 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 Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen, was shot to death from an ambush on a lonely country road. She was 41 years of age.
|
| |
