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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 wasnt 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 gangs 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 neighbours 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 behavior.
Belles 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 wasnt 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 Ill 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.
Belle was buried on February 3, 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:
Belle Starr
Born in Carthage, Missouri, February 5, 1848 Died February 3, 1889.
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.
Lyrics as reprinted in Woody Guthrie, American Folksong, New York, NY, 1961 (reprint of 1947 edition), p. 28
Belle Starr, Belle Starr, tell me where you have gone
Since old Oklahoma's sandhills you did roam?
Is it Heaven's wide streets that you're tying your reins
Or singlefooting somewhere below?
Eight lovers they say combed your waving black hair
Eight men knew the feel of your dark velvet waist
Eight men heard the sounds of your tan leather skirt
Eight men heard the bark of the guns that you wore.
Cole Younger was your first and the father of your girl
And the name that you picked for your daughter was Pearl
Cole robbed a bank and he drawed the life line
But I heard he was pardoned after Twenty Years time.
Your Cherokee lover, Blue Duck was his name
He loved you in the sand hills before your great fame
I heard he stopped a bullet in Eighteen Eighty Five
And your Blue Duck's no longer alive.
You took Jim Reed to your warm wedding bed
And from out of your love was born the boy, Ed
A pal killed Jim Reed by the dark of the moon
And your son Ed was blowed down in a drunken saloon.
Then there was Bob Younger you loved him well
He rode with the James boys out down the long trail
They caught him in Minnesota along with the gang
He died down in jail in the cell or the chain.
You loved Mister William Clarke Quantrill
And his Civil War guerrillas in the Missouri hills
He hit Lawrence Kansas and fought them still
And when he rode out Two Hundred lay killed.
They say could have, they whisper you might
Have loved Frank James on a couple of nights
He fought the Midland Railroad almost to death
Then in Nineteen Fifteen Frank drawed his last breath.
They say it could be, they say maybe so,
That you loved Jesse James that desperado,
Jesse got married, had a wife and a son,
Was shot down at home by the Ford brothers guns.
Belle Starr, Belle Starr, your time's getting late,
But how is Jim Younger, did you hear his fate?
He was jailed and then pardoned for all he had done,
And he blowed his own brains out in Nineteen and One.
Eight men they say combed that black waving hair
Eight men knew the feel of your dark velvet waist
Eight men heard the sounds of your tan leather skirt
Eight men heard the bark of the guns that you wore.
Belle Starr, Belle Starr, tell me where have you gone
Since old Oklahoma's sand hills you did roam?
Is it Heaven's wide streets that you're tying your reins
Or singlefooting somewhere below? Dave Samuelson, liner notes for Bobby Barnett, "American Heroes & Western Legends," Bear Family Records BCD 16 121 AH, 1997. Lyrics as recorded by Bobby Barnett, Nashville, TN, 1974; reprinted ibid.
Belle Shirley lived near Wilburton, Porum and Fanshaw;
Her name was respected until she turned outlaw.
Belle Shirley married Sam Starr who rode the Owlhoot Trail;
She joined up and soon became as rough as any male.
She picked up men's bad habits and was handy with a gun;
She robbed and she plundered and thought it was great fun.
CHORUS:
Belle Starr, Belle Starr,
With a bullet in your back,
Are you lyin' there a-wishin'
That you'd never joined that pack?
Dyin' is not easy on some forgotten trail;
She wanted to be famous and she did not fail.
Some claimed Belle was wicked while others called her brave,
When she staged a hold-up and hid out in Robert's Cave.
Belle Starr became a legend; yes, that's a well-known fact,
But she ended up an outlaw with a bullet in her back.
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