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Myra Maybelle
Shirley Reed Starr
Wood engraving from The National Police
Gazette. |
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| Myra
Maybelle Shirley Reed Starr, better known as “Belle” Starr was February 5,
1848 and died February 3, 1889. She was a famous American female outlaw. Early Years She was born Myra Maybelle Shirley (known as May to her family) on her father's farm near Carthage, Missouri. In the 1860s her father sold the farm and moved the family to Carthage buying an inn and livery stable on the town square. May Shirley received a classical education and learned piano. After a Union attack on Carthage in 1864, the Shirleys moved to Scyene, Texas. According to legend, it was at Scyene the Shirleys became associated with a number of Missouri-born criminals, including Jesse James and the Youngers. In fact, she knew the Younger brothers and the James boys because she grew up with them in Missouri, and her brother John Alexander Shirley (known as Bud) served with them in Quantrill's Raiders, alongside another Missouri boy, James C. Reed. Her brother served as one of Quantrill's Scouts. Bud Shirley was killed in 1864 in Sarcoxie, Missouri, while he and another scout were being fed at the home of a Confederate sympathizer. Union troops surrounded the house and when Bud attempted to escape, he was shot and killed. Post Civil War |
Jim
turned to crime and was wanted for murder. He moved his family to
California, where their second child, James Edwin (Eddie) was born in
1871. Later returning to Texas, Jim Reed was involved with several criminal gangs. In April 1874, despite a lack of any evidence, a warrant was issued for Reed's wife's arrest for a stage coach robbery by her husband and others. Jim Reed was killed in Paris, Texas, in August of that year. Marriage To Sam Starr Allegedly, Belle was briefly married to Bruce Younger in 1878, but this is not substantiated by any evidence. In 1880 she did marry a Cherokee Indian named Sam Starr and settled with the Starr family in the Indian Territory. In 1883, Belle and Sam were charged with horse theft and tried before "The Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker's Federal District Court in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was found guilty and served six months at the Detroit House of Corrections in Detroit, Michigan. In 1886, she escaped conviction on another theft charge, but on December 17, Sam Starr was involved in a gunfight with Officer Frank West. Both men were killed. Unsolved Murder |
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neighbor, Edgar J. Watson killed in 1910, was tried for her murder, but
was acquitted. The murder is still considered "unsolved". One source suggests her son may have been her killer whom she had allegedly beaten for mistreating her horse. Children Belle's son Eddie was convicted of horse theft and receiving stolen property in July 1889. Judge Parker sent him to prison in Columbus, Ohio. Belle's daughter, Rosie Reed, also known as Pearl Starr, became a prostitute to raise funds for his release. She did eventually obtain a presidential pardon in 1893. Ironically, Eddie became a police officer and was killed in the line of duty in December 1896. Making a good living in prostitution, Pearl operated several bordellos in Van Buren and Fort Smith, Arkansas, from the 1890s to World War I.
Story Is Popularized
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