Belle Starr - The Bandit Queen

Belle Starr - The Bandit Queen

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"I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw."

-- Belle Starr

An artist's rendition of Belle Starr

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

But, when the two moved to Missouri, Reed was a wanted man, allegedly for murdering a man named Shannon. The two fled to California with their young daughter Pearl and before long a second child came along who they named Edward.

In 1869 Belle, Reed and two other outlaws rode to the North Canadian river country, where they tortured an old Creek Indian until he told them where he had hidden $30,000 in gold. With their share of the loot, Jim and Belle returned to Texas, where she played the role of "Bandit Queen" to the hilt.

But, it wasn’t long before the outlaw life caught up with Reed and on August 1874, Reed was killed in a gunfight by a member of his own gang. Belle left her children with her mother while she rode the Outlaw Trail. In Indian Territory (what is now Oklahoma,) Starr got involved with a flat-faced Indian outlaw who went by the name of “Blue Duck.”

However, that affair was short lived when his place was taken by Sam Starr, a tall, slim Cherokee. The honeymooners settled down on Sam's sixty-two acres on the north side of the Canadian River, near Briartown. Belle named the place Younger's Bend, after her first love.

Jim Reed rode with the James-Younger Gang and the Tom Starr Gang.

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.

Belle herself told a story of how a slim man with blinking eyes once visited her and Sam at Younger's Bend. Starr was suspicious of the cold and silent man, but Belle told him he was an "old friend from Missouri." Sam Starr never knew the blinking blue-eyed man was Jesse James.

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 gang’s operation was Fort Smith, Arkansas. 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 neighbor’s horse. After a trial, he sentenced Belle to two consecutive six month prison terms and Sam to one year in the Federal Prison in Detroit. After serving their time, Belle and Sam returned to Younger's Bend.

However, their time behind bars did nothing to change their lawless ways. Upon release they immediately returned to a life of rustling and bootlegging. In 1886 Belle and Sam were again arrested by United States marshals, who brought them to Fort Smith on charges of robbery and horse-stealing. The Starrs were arraigned the following day before Judge Parker, but the hanging judge was forced to dismiss the charges for lack of evidence.

Judge Isaac Parker

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

By this time, Belle had become a celebrity. Richard Fox's Police Gazette had turned her into a western folk hero, "a female Robin Hood and a Jesse James." She was dubbed the "Bandit Queen." After she left prison, Belle briefly worked in a Wild West show playing the part of an outlaw bandit who held up a stagecoach.

During a friend's Christmas party in December 17, 1886, Sam Starr got into a gunfight with an old nemesis Frank West. Both men hit their marks and died of their wounds.

But Belle did not remain alone for long. In 1889 Belle entered into her third marriage, 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 – I’ll kill the old hag myself and spend the money for whiskey!” A few days later On February 3, 1889, Belle Starr was shot to death from an ambush on a lonely country road. She was 41 years of age.

An investigation was made into her death and several suspects were questioned including a neighbor she had quarreled with named Watson, her husband July, her son Ed, and even her daughter Pearl

Apparently, Belle had caught July fooling around with a young Cherokee girl, which had led to much discord in the marriage. Belle was estranged from her son Ed and rumors speculated she may have had an incestuous relationship with him and that she routinely beat him with a bullwhip. Even Pearl might have killed her mother because Belle had interfered with Pearl's marriage to the father of her child.

Just a few weeks after Belle's death, a deputy who was on July's trail mortally wounded him.

Belle was buried 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:

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.

From 1875 to 1880, Belle was the undisputed leader of a band of cattle and horse thieves who made their headquarters in the Oklahoma Territory.

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, © August, 2006

Belle Starr had a short-lived affair with a Cherokee Indian

outlaw named Blue Duck.

This image available for photographic prints

and downloads HERE!

A rare tintype of Blue Duck, courtesy Sloan Christy.

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