Old West
1889
Belle Starr murdered in Oklahoma
The
outlaw Belle Starr is killed when an unknown assailant fatally wounds the
famous “Bandit Queen” with two shotgun blasts from behind.
As
with the lives of other famous outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James,
fanciful accounts printed in newspapers and dime novels made Belle Starr’s
harsh and violent life appear far more romantic than it actually was. Born Myra
Belle Shirley on a small farm near Carthage, Missouri, in 1848, she received an
education in the classics and became a competent pianist. Seemingly headed for
an unexciting but respectable middle-class life, her fate was changed by the
outbreak of the Civil War, which ruined her father’s business as a Carthage
innkeeper and claimed the life of her brother Edwin. Devastated, the Shirley
family abandoned Missouri to try to make a fresh start in Texas.
In
Texas, Belle began her life-long pattern of associating with men of
questionable character. In 1866, she met Cole Younger, a member of the
James-Younger gang that was gaining notoriety for a series of daring bank and
train robberies. Rumor had it that Younger fathered Belle’s first child, Pearl,
though the father might have actually been another outlaw, Jim Reed.
Regardless, Belle’s relationship with Younger was short-lived, and in 1866 she
became Reed’s wife. Belle was apparently untroubled by her new husband’s
reputation and she had become his partner in crime by 1869. She joined him in
stealing cattle, horses, and money in the Dallas area. Riding her mare, Venus,
and sporting velvet skirts and plumed hats, Belle played the role of a “bandit
queen” for several years.
In
1874, a member of his own gang killed Reed, and Belle was suddenly on her own.
Pursued by the law, she drifted into Oklahoma Indian Territory, where she led a
band of cattle and horse thieves. There she met a handsome young Cherokee named
Sam Starr, who eventually became her common-law husband and new criminal
partner. The Starrs managed to elude capture for nearly a decade, but in 1883
they were arrested for horse theft and both served five months in the Detroit
federal prison.
Freed
from prison, the couple immediately resumed their criminal careers. In 1886,
Belle again lost a husband to violent death when Sam Starr was killed in a
gunfight with an old enemy. Belle wasted no time in finding a third companion,
a Creek Indian named Jim July, an outlaw who was 15 years her junior. In 1889,
July was arrested for robbery and summoned to Fort Smith, Arkansas, to face
charges. Belle accompanied her young lover for part of the journey but turned
back before reaching Fort Smith. On her way home, someone ambushed and fatally
wounded her with two shotgun blasts to her back. Jim July believed the murderer
was a neighbor with whom the couple had been feuding, but no one was ever
convicted of the crime.
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