Belle Starr: The Bandit Queen

Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas where we are in the midst of a -4 C/25 F degrees at night with a high of 40 F or 4C, very unusual for this time of year. No snow though.

Yesterday I started a new series about the fascinating story of Belle Starr who was Cole Younger's girlfriend and they had a daughter together but when Cole was sentenced to life in prison she started her own life of crime in Texas and Oklahoma.

In my last post Belle had just stolen $30,000 from a bank in Dallas and fled to Indian territory where she had become friends with the leader there, Tom Starr, who was a fearsome man. Sheriffs and Marshals stayed away from this reservation because of Tom Starr and his men.

Tom Starr side bar

I need to explain about Tom Starr so you'll know why Belle's friendship made the reservation a safe place for her to go. I'll just quote a description from the historian Glenn Shirley:

"Tom Starr stood 6 foot 5 inches tall with great muscular strength to match and wore size 13 boots. His eyes were steel gray and could pierce the darkness of night.

His shoulder length black hair was combed straight back from a broad forehead beneath a weatherbeaten felt hat the he wore with the brim turned up from the face.

He wore rough clothes, enhanced by a rawhide necklace studded with the dried earlobes of men he had killed, and he had a habit of smiling when engaged in some particularly murderous activity.

People in towns around said they would rather meet the devil himself than Tom Starr and his robberies, butchery and house burnings were a source of embarrassment to the proud Cherokee Nation."

As far as I know his actions were against other tribal enemies, not against the white man.

Belle is arrested

Ok, now you can see why she always disappeared into the Indian territory and felt safe there because she had the favor and friendship with Tom Starr. Also, I keep calling her last name Starr but at this point in her life her last name is still Shirley.

About a year after she robbed that bank she was off the reservation and was picked up on charges of horse theft. I'm not sure about the circumstances surrounding that charge or if it was even actually her who stole horses. I reckon it doesn't matter because she charmed a deputy sheriff and started a "love affair" with him.(in other words conned him.)

He agreed to alope with her, broke her out of jail and off they went to the Indian territory. Well, he was only there for about a month and his passion left him for some reason! lol. He took off but she was free.

Belle becomes the Queen of desperadoes

At this point she begins to gather about herself a bunch of misfits and male admirers, like modern day groupies. She could out ride and out shoot all of them so she had their respect and devotion. One of these young men was called Blue Duck, a three quarters Cherokee man.

He borrowed $2,000 from her and left for Fort Dodge to a gambling hall. Well, he was swiftly parted from his money and came back to his leader or mistress with head hanging low about what had happened.

She saddled up and took off for Fort Dodge. Remember she used to be a dealer so she knew it was a crooked game that took her money. When she gets there she walks inside, pulls out her pistol and tells them to fill her sack which they do, a cool $7,000. That's over $173,000 in today's money.

She says to them "Gentlemen, there is a little change you're due; I haven't time to give it to you now; if you want it come down into the Territory." The men were speechless, they'd never dreamed of being robbed by a woman, especially in such a bold fashion.

I just KNOW she took off on her favorite horse Venus, who was very fast.

source

Tomorrow we continue with her story, so far she does whatever she wants!
She didn't learn from Cole's experience?

Thanks for reading folks!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck

ps- ya know....you might just be a redneck if:

If you have the taxidermist's number on speed dial!