| In July 1866 Cole, Jim, Bob, John Younger and Jesse James, used the Shirley home as a hideout. Belle Shirley's relationship with Cole Younger is the subject of many stories, some of which claim that her daughter Rosie Lee, often called Pearl Younger, was his child. He denied it, the likely father was a desperado named Jim Reed, whom Shirley had known in Missouri. She and Reed married on November 1, 1866. Their daughter Rosie Lee "Pearl" was born in 1868 and their son James Edwin "Ed" was born in 1871. While Jim initially tried his hand at farming, he would grow restless and fell in with bad company in that of the Starr clan, a Cherokee Indian family notorious for whiskey, cattle, and horse thievery in the Indian Territory as well as his wife's old friends the James and Younger gangs. Then in 1869, Jim shot in cold blood the man who supposedly accidentally shot his brother in a quarrel. Wanted by the law, he fled to California with Belle and Pearl in tow. Here two years later Jim again ran afoul of the law for passing counterfeit money and with Belle, Pearl, and newborn son Ed fled to Texas where they lived in the Indian Territory at the home of outlaw Tom Starr, a Cherokee. In November 1873, Jim Reed with two other men robbed Watt Grayson, a wealthy Creek Indian farmer in the Indian Territory, of $30,000 in gold coins. Belle was named as an accomplice. Both went into hiding from the law in Texas, Belle went to Dallas, where its said, she lived off the gold from the Grayson robbery. Jim went to Paris where he stayed with friends. Reports in Dallas were, she wore buckskins and moccasins or tight black jackets, black velvet skirts, high-topped boots, a man's Stetson hat with an ostrich plume, and twin holstered pistols. She spent much her time in saloons, drinking and gambling at dice, cards, and roulette. At times she would ride her horse through the streets shooting off her pistols. This wild behavior was among what gave rise to her rather exaggerated image as a pistol-wielding outlaw. In April 1874 Reed who now had a bounty on his head robbed the Austin-San Antonio stage and though there is no evidence that Belle participated, she was named as an accessory in the indictment. Jim Reed was killed by a deputy sheriff at Paris, Texas while trying to escape on August 6, 1874. The story has been told wheather true or not that Belle refused to identify his body in order to prevent the sheriff from claiming the reward. Belle left Texas, put her children in the care of relatives, and took up with the Starr clan in the Indian Territory west of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here Belle immersed herself in outlawry: organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law. Belle's illegal enterprises proved lucrative enough for her to employ bribery to free her cohorts from the law whenever they were caught. When she was unable to buy off the lawmen, she was known to seduce them into looking the other way. During this period she married Samuel Starr, a member of the infamous Starr clan. In 1882, charges of horse theft were brought against Belle and Sam by one of their neighbors in the Indian Territory. A Fort Smith jury returned a guilty verdict for each and in March 1883, Judge Isaac Parker sentenced Belle and Sam to a year in prison, to be served in Detroit, Michigan. They were both released after nine months and returned to the Indian Territory, where Belle and Sam immediately returned to their old ways. Over the next several years Belle Starr would continue to find herself arrested for charges of robbery many times, however, she was always released due to lack of evidence. A particular arrest was in 1886, when Belle was charged with robbing a post office while dressed as a man. That same year Sam Starr was killed by an Indian policeman as they shot each other to death. Belle Starr over the years had several lovers, including Jim July (or Jim Starr), Blueford Duck,( Ever hear of BlueDuck in Lomsome Dove) Jack Spaniard, Jim French and just maybe Cole Younger. The life of Belle Starr came to a violent end on Febuary 3, 1889, two days short of her forty-first birthday. While riding from the store to her home near Eufaula, Oklahoma, Belle was killed by a gun shot to the back. Suspects included Edgar Watson, with whom Belle had been feuding over the land he was renting from her, a Cherokee man named Jim July an ex lover with whom she had recently had a quarrel, and her son Ed, with whom she had had a strained relationship. However no one was ever convicted for her death. Belle Starr was buried at Younger's Bend, a remote place on the Canadian River where she often lived. Her daughter later erected a headstone engraved with a bell, a star, and a horse, purchased with earnings she made in a brothel. |
| Myra Maybelle Shirley (Belle) Starr |
| Born: Febuary 5, 1848 Died: Febuary 3, 1889 |
| Belle Starr, also known as the "Bandit Queen" and the subject of much speculation in innumerable stories and popular publications, was born Myra Maybelle Shirley on February 5, 1848, on a farm near Carthage, Missouri, one of six children and the only daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hatfield) Shirley. Within a few years, the Shirleys moved into Carthage, where they were living when the Civil War started. Young May, as the family called her, attended Carthage Female Academy in Carthage. Her father was a prosperous Innkeeper and a southern sympathizer. Belle moved with her family to Sycene, Texas shortly before Carthage was burned to the ground by Confederate guerillas during the Civil War in 1864. That same year her older brother John "Bud" Shirley, who fought for the Confederacy with William C. Quantrill's guerillas, was killed by Union troops in Sarcoxie, Mo. Whether his death in this activity influenced Belle Shirley's direction in life, as some have speculated, is not certain. As a teenager during the Civil War, Belle Shirley reported the positions of Union troops to Confederacy. One of her childhood friends in Missouri was Cole Younger, who served in Quantrill's guerillas with Jesse and Frank James. After the war these men turned to outlawry, primarily that of robbery of banks, trains, stagecoaches, and people. |
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| THE BANDIT QUEEN |
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| Her tombstone reads "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." |
| A Few Facts |
| Her mother Elizabeth "Eliza" Hatfield Shirley was a descendent of the Hatfield's of the famous Hatfield and McCoy family feud in the West Virginia,Kentucky region. |
| GAINESVILLE, Tex., Feb. 5.--Capt. Bodine, from Eufaula, today, gives the following particulars of the killing of Belle Starr: On Monday, she had been in town during the day and had started to her home, about six miles distant. When about half that distance had been traveled on horseback, she was shot by some person unknown, the ball entering her heart and presumably killing her instantly. The riderless horse went home and Belle's daughter mounted him and rode back in search of her mother, whom she found lying dead in the middle of the road. A large number of persons visited the premises to view the remains of the dead woman. Belle Star, the desperado woman, was well known to every old citizen and officer in Dallas county. They recall her as a handsome woman, a graceful equestrian, and a crack marksman with a faultless nerve. She possessed commendable courage and would face any danger without flinching. Mira Reed, and was in the city about eight weeks ago on a visit. While here, she sent for several of the old time officers to call on her. Her daring and recklessness found origin, perhaps, in the Indian blood which coursed her veins. February 7, 1889, Dallas Daily Times Herald, |
| "I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw." Belle Starr |
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