Belle Starr has come down through time as one of the great anti-heroines of the Old
West.
She is the Bandit Queen, the female Robin Hood, who was quick with her fists and even
quicker with her Colt 45.
The reality was quite different.
The Belle of history was a battler who made some bad choices in men, ended up twice widowed
with two children and made the most of the cards she was dealt – only to meet the most
violent of ends.
In today’s Biographics, we go beyond the legend to reveal the real Belle Starr.
Formative Years Myra Maybelle Shirley, the future Belle Starr,
was born on February 5th, 1848 in Jasper County, Southwest Missouri.
With that fact established, drilling down on the rest of her life becomes far less certain.
Much of what is accepted is the stuff of dime novel fiction.
Sorting out the fact from fiction is a major challenge.
We do know that her father, John Shirley was onto his third wife when Myra came along.
That third wife was named Eliza Pennington Hatfield, a member of the Hatfield family
who famously feuded with the McCoy’s.
The couple had three other children, all boys, with Myra being the second oldest.
John Shirley was a wheat, corn and hog farmer.
When Myra was six years of age, he sold the farm for a tidy profit and relocated the family
to Carthage, Missouri.
He invested in real estate, managing to take possession of an entire city block that housed
a livery stable, blacksmith shop, tavern and hotel.
John Shirley was a slave owner who was ardently pro-slavery.
In the explosive years before the Civil War, tensions were high between pro and anti-slavery
forces in Missouri.
When his oldest son, Bud, joined an infamous gang of Confederate sympathizers known as
Quantrill’s Raiders, John was extremely proud.
Meanwhile, Myra, who insisted that she be called Belle, was growing into a fine young
lady.
Her parents were among the most prominent in Carthage and she was able to enjoy a life
of semi-privilege.
She attended the Carthage Female Academy, doing well in her studies, where she studied
languages, mathematics and grammar.
She was also a talented piano player who would entertain guests in the lobby of the family
owned hotel.
When he was home from his raiding expeditions, Belle’s older brother Bud taught her to
shoot.
She became an excellent shot, developing a reputation as a markswoman that would later
fuel her reputation as the bandit queen.
Belle was 13 when the Civil War erupted.
Carthage found itself as a central point of hostilities, with no fewer than 13 battles
being waged in the surrounding area during the four years of the conflict.
With the war right on their doorstep, every person in Carthage was forced to choose sides.
Pro and anti-Confederacy factions developed with tensions escalating by the day.
It has been reported that the teenaged Belle acted as a spy for the Confederacy and even
that she joined Quantrill’s Raiders.
Both suggestions are unlikely.
However, any news that she may have gotten about Union troop movements she would have
no doubt passed on to Bud.
In June, 1864, Bud was shot and killed by Union soldiers in Sarcoxie, Missouri when
they surrounded the house he was owned by a Confederate sympathizer.
Desperate to prevent further tragedy, the family packed up and moved to Texas.
They had gotten out of Carthage just in time.
Three months later it was burned to the ground by Confederate rebels, determined to drive
Union soldiers from the town.
Belle drove one of the family’s wagons as they wound their way down from Missouri to
a small town ten miles south-east of Dallas called Scyene.
Things didn’t go nearly as well for the Shirley’s in Texas as it had in Missouri.
John had hoped to reinvest in a hotel but those plans didn’t work out and he was forced
to return to farming.
Conflict arose with the locals who accused John of taking more than his share of water
from the communal well.
Belle was enrolled at the local one-room schoolhouse.
Her attendance, however, was erratic.
This was probably because she was bored with the material, having already covered it at
the girl’s school in Carthage.
Marriage While back in Carthage, Belle had come across
a boy by the name of John Reed.
Reed, who was two years older than Belle, joined Quantrill’s Raiders when he was 17.
He was tall and stocky and his ability with his fists and with a gun earned him the respect
of the older members of the gang.
Belle admired him from afar but her family moved away before a relationship could develop.
Belle was ecstatic to learn, sometime around 1865, that the Reed’s had also relocated
to Texas.
They quickly became a couple and, on November 1, 1866 they were married.
Belle was eighteen at the time.
Jim and Belle moved in with the Shirley family, where Jim helped out on the family farm.
Jim didn’t take to farm work and tried his hand as a salesman.
He worked for a saddle maker in Dallas, selling saddles and bridles for a time.
By the end of 1867, however, Jim’s family had moved back to Missouri.
He and Belle decided to join them.
The Reed’s set themselves up on a farm in Bates County.
Jim worked the land with his brothers.
Then, in September, 1868, Belle gave birth to a daughter, Rosie Lee.
From the start Belle took to calling the baby ‘her little pearl’.
Soon everyone was calling the baby Pearl.
The first opportunity that John and Eliza Shirley had to see their grand-daughter was
when Belle returned to Texas to attend the funeral of her younger brother Ed.
The events surrounding the murder are cloudy, but it appears that he was involved in horse
theft.
Following the funeral and reunion with her parents, Belle returned to the Reed farm in
Missouri.
Her relationship with Jim was strained, as he spent less and less time on the farm and
more at the horse racing track.
It was while at the races that Jim ran into a man named Tom Starr.
Starr was a half Cherokee outlaw who made a living by selling whiskey in Indian territory,
a practice which happened to be a Federal crime.
Starr ran the enterprise with his sons and they were soon joined by Jim Reed.
Jim’s foray into the outlaw world escalated dramatically when his brother, Scott, was
murdered.
Jim vowed revenge and hunted down the killer, dispatching both him and his brother.
Belle now found herself with a husband who was being hunted by, not just the law, but
also the friends of the men he had killed.
Jim knew he had to get out of Missouri, so he relocated his young family to Los Angeles.
We don’t know what he did there to support the family, but suspicions are strong that
it was through such nefarious means as stage coach robbery and gambling.
On February 22nd, 1871, Belle gave birth to a second child – a boy who was named James
Edwin, nicknamed Eddie.
Only a month later, Jim was accused of involvement in a counterfeit money scam and was forced
again to relocate his family.
When the L.A. authorities began looking into his case, they discovered that he was also
wanted for murder.
Jim skipped town and made his way on horseback to Texas.
Belle and the two children took the stagecoach.
In March, 1871, Belle turned up at the family farm in Texas with two kids and a wanted husband.
Belle’s father helped them to set up on a small farm near Coon Creek in Bosque County.
But Jim Reed had already proven that he was no farmer.
Soon the farm was attracting a regular assortment of vagabonds, who would sit around with Jim
and plan out their various crimes.
Jim became involved in rustling livestock.
When he learned that a local man by the name of Dick Cravey had $4,000 in cash stashed
at his house, Jim and his brother, Sol, couldn’t resist the temptation.
However, the robbery was botched and they ended up murdering Cravey.
A few months later the brothers were accused of murdering another man.
This man, whose last name was Wheeler, had apparently reported to the authorities what
he knew about the Reed mob’s illegal activities.
He was found with his tongue cut out.
This latest outrage resulted in both Jim and Sol having a $500 reward placed on their capture,
dead or alive.
It was time to move once again.
Leaving the children with Belle’s parents, the couple headed into Choctaw Indian territory,
where the authorities would be unable to follow.
Jim was unable to stay out of trouble.
On November 19, 1873, along with two accomplices, he rode to the farm of a wealthy retired judge
who lived near the South Canadian River.
The judge and his wife were hung from a tree and forced to divulge the location of cash
in the house.
The bandits got away with the huge sum of $30,000.
By now the strain on the marriage was too much.
Belle was fed up with the life of crime that her husband had forced her into.
She packed up and took the children back to the family farm in Scyene.
Reed headed for San Antonio, where he took up with a woman named Rosa McCommas.
He continued his outlaw ways but fate caught up with him when a former associate shot him
in the back on August 6th, 1874.
Belle Starr Belle was now a widow with two young children
to care for.
She stayed on the family with her parents.
In 1876, John Shirley died.
This forced Eliza to sell the farm and relocate to Dallas.
Belle and the children went with her.
Allegedly, Belle was briefly married for three weeks to Charles Younger, uncle of Cole Younger
in 1878, but this is not substantiated by any evidence.
On June 5, 1880 Belle married Sam Starr the son of her husband’s former associate Tom
Starr and settled in the Indian territory.
There, she learned ways of organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves
and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law.
At twenty-three, the half-Cherokee Sam was nine years younger than his new bride.
They moved onto Cherokee Nation territory and settled into a homestead some 760 miles
southwest of Fort Smith.
They cleared three acres of land and planted corn.
There were plenty of fish in the nearby river and game was also plentiful.
It seemed like the ideal existence and it could have been if Belle’s past hadn’t
gotten in the way.
Former associates of Jim Reed began to learn that Belle had a hideout in Indian territory,
safe from the reach of the law.
So many outlaws began turning up that Belle and Saw were forced to convert a nearby cave
into a sort of robber’s roost with three log cabins being erected.
Up until now, Belle had managed to keep herself from actual involvement in illegally activity.
That changed in 1882 when she and Sam asked a neighbor if they could put some horses in
his pen prior to their selling them.
The neighbor agreed but, on inspection, pointed out that at least two of the horses belonged
to other local farmers.
Sam and Belle ignored the claims and went ahead and sold the horses.
When the original owners of the stolen horses found out, they pressed charges.
Sam and Belle were handed an indictment to appear before the court on the charge of larceny.
Sam’s father, Tom, put up bail for the couple.
Both Belle and Sam were found guilty.
Sam was given a year’s prison time in Detroit, Michigan while Belle was sentenced to two
concurrent six-month spells at the same facility.
With their mother and step-father in jail, the children were farmed out to family and
friends.
Sam and Belle were both model prisoners, earning themselves an early release after nine months.
They settled back into life on the farm and things were pretty quiet for a few months.
Then, in December, 1884 a former associate of Jim Reed by the name of Jim Middleton turned
up, looking for a place of refuge from the law.
Middleton was wanted for murder and the law was hot on his trail.
Middleton hung around the area for several months.
Then, one day, Belle and Sam’s ranch was raided by law enforcement officers from Lamar
County.
The officers had received permission from the Cherokee nation leaders to conduct the
raid.
Middleton was not in residence at the time, but the raid scared him enough to make him
want to make a run for it.
But with the law so close on his trail, he couldn’t figure out a way to get out the
area without being detected.
Belle came to his rescue, suggesting that she drive a wagon with the children in tow,
to visit relatives in Arkansas.
Middleton would hide in the wagon covers and make his getaway when they were clear of prying
eyes.
The plan was working well and, after some time, Middleton was ready to light out on
his own.
However, seventeen-year-old Pearl refused to let him take her horse.
This led to fourteen-year old Eddie heading off to the nearest farm in an attempt to buy
a horse.
He came back with a broken down, half-blind mare.
It was hardly the ideal getaway transport but it was all that Middleton had and he set
out on his own, with Belle’s Colt 45 as his only protection.
Five days later the horse was found in some scrub on a riverbank, not far from Fort Smith.
Then, on May 11th, Middleton’s body was found a couple of hundred yards downstream.
The authorities soon traced the gun that was in his holster back to Belle.
They also discovered that the horse, though legitimately purchased by Eddie, had previously
been stolen.
The end result was that Belle was once again up on charges of larceny.
Belle was found not guilty this time around.
However, she returned home only to discover that her husband, Sam, had been wounded in
a shootout with Indian police.
Sam had by now become ensconced in his own life of crime.
Fearful of the rough justice that Indian police were likely to dish out, Belle convinced him
to hand himself in to Federal authorities.
Sam was indicted for trial in February, 1887 and then released on bail.
On December 17th, Sam, Belle and the children attended a party at a neighbor’s house.
Everything was laughter and merriment until Frank West, the local law officer turned up.
He and Sam got into an argument that soon devolved into a gun battle.
Within minutes both men were dead.
Family Problems Belle Starr was now widowed for the second
time.
Sam’s death made possession of the ranch on Cherokee land a problem.
They had not bought the land, it being in their possession due to Sam’s Indian blood.
Now that he was dead, however, Belle’s right of possession was disputed.
With pressure mounting on her to get out of Cherokee territory she decided there was another
solution.
She married Sam’s brother, Bill July, alias Jim Starr.
She was once again married to a Cherokee and so, had possession rights to the land.
Now 39, Belle was fifteen years older than her third husband.
The marriage of convenience was not pleasing to Pearl, aged nineteen, or Eddie, aged seventeen.
Both of them constantly argued with Jim, which was a source of ongoing frustration for Belle.
Around this time, Pearl fell in love with a young man who, in the course of time, approached
Belle to ask her consent to marry her daughter.
Belle flatly refused, giving the reason that she had long told Pearl that she could only
marry a man who had at least $25,000 worth of property.
She later tried to trick the young man by sending him a letter with Pear’s forged
signature on it, stating that she had married someone else.
The young couple soon figured out the ruse and continued to see one another behind Belle’s
back.
Before long, Pearl became pregnant.
Belle was not happy, giving her daughter two options – have an abortion or never bring
the child into her presence.
Pearl chose the latter option, giving birth to a girl she called Flossie on April 22,
1887.
She took the baby to live with her paternal grandparents.
In 1887, Jim was arrested for horse theft.
By this time, however, Belle was making an effort to go straight.
She had stopped allowing fugitives to use her place as a hideout.
When it came time for Jim’s trial, she refused to assist in his defense.
Meanwhile, young Eddie Star was having his own problems.
He was shot while trying to steal a horse.
Belle feared that he would die.
She sent a message to Pearl, telling her that she had better come back to see her brother
for the last time.
She added however, that she was not to bring the baby.
Pearl returned to see Eddie, who recovered from his injury.
Belle put pressure on her daughter to give Flossie up for adoption during the visit.
Pearl outrightly refused.
But Belle was a stubborn woman.
She maneuvered things behind the scenes and Flossie was taken from Pearl and placed in
an orphanage in November, 1888.
Eddie was now up on horse theft charges of his own.
Again, Belle refused to participate in the defense.
Eddie’s trial was scheduled for March 1889.
He returned to the family homestead and, reportedly, threatened to kill his mother.
He then took off, never to see Belle again.
Belle’s problems escalated when a couple, the Watsons, turned up at the farm looking
for sharecropping work.
Belle decided to take them up on the offer, keen to take in some extra money.
Belle became quite friendly with Mrs. Watson.
On one occasion the woman revealed that her husband was wanted for murder.
This caused warning bells in Belle’s mind.
If the Cherokee Tribal Council found out that she was again harboring fugitives, they would
surely kick her off the land.
Belle offered to give the Watsons, their sharecropping fee back to get them to leave.
But Edgar Watson refused.
It was only when Belle revealed that she knew that Watson was a wanted man that he left,
taking up with his wife in a nearby tenant cabin.
End of the Line
On July 2nd, 1889, Belle and her young husband, Jim, left on horseback to meet Jim’s trial
appointment at Fort Smith.
Belle’s intention was to accompany him halfway, pay a debt at a store on King’s Creek and
then return home.
They stayed the night with friends some twenty miles from Fort Smith.
The next morning, Belle turned for home while Jim carried on to the fort.
Belle stopped off at King’s Creek where she had lunch at the local store.
Further along the trail she stopped at the home of a man named Jackson Rowe.
This was a popular meeting place for locals.She hoped to see her son Eddie, who had been staying
there, but he left before she arrived.
Present was Edgar Watson, the sharecropper who Belle had forced off her land.
As he saw Belle arrive, he promptly left.
After a short time eating and conversing with friends, Belle got back on her horse and continued
toward home.
She never made it.
She was blasted from her horse by a shotgun blast.
The killer then approached the dying figure on the ground and blasted again.
Belle’s panicked horse galloped for home.
A concerned Pearl set out to find her mother.
By the time she got to the murder site, a young boy had already found the body.
Belle was taken to a farmhouse, barely alive.
Pearl was just in time to be alongside at the moment that her mother took her last breath.
The question of who killed Belle Starr has intrigued historians for well over a century.
Both of her children have been suspects, Eddie had threatened his mother at least once after
she had disciplined him with a bullwhip, but the most likely candidate is Edgar Watson.
Watson was actually put on trial for the murder.
However, the evidence was deemed as circumstantial and he was acquitted.
He eventually returned to Florida, where he was killed in a shootout with a posse.
No other efforts were made to track down the killer of Belle Starr.
There were several other potential suspects besides Watson, including July himself.
Apparently July had been caught with a young Cherokee girl, and Belle had been making his
life hell.
Just a few weeks after Belle’s death, July was mortally wounded by a deputy who was on
his trail.
The facts of Belle Starr’s life are certainly not as exciting or outlandish as they fictionalized
version that began with the dime novel Belle Starr: The Bandit Queen or The Female Jesse
James in 1889.
In summarizing her life for a Fort Smith Elevator reporter about a year before her death, Belle
said, ‘I regard myself as a woman who has seen much of life.’
The reality was that she was not the female Jesse James, she wasn’t even a bandit queen.
What she was a twice widowed woman with two children who did what she could to survive,
only to be shot down in cold blood.
Hers is a story of hardship and tragedy in the real Old West.
Her grave site is near Eufair Lake, Oklahoma.
A horse was engraved on her tombstone, along with these words:
Shed not for her the bitter tear, Nor give the heart to vain regret
Tis but the casket that lies here, The gem that filled it sparkles yet.