The Infamous Belle Starr

Myra Belle Shirley, better known as Belle Starr was born in Carthage, Missouri, the notorious Belle Starr moved with her family at the age of sixteen to Scyene, Texas, just outside of Dallas.  In the 1860s, Starr became involved with bank robber Cole Younger, Jesse James’ partner.  The couple spent several months together in a small cabin on the Oklahoma Strip with Younger was hiding out from the law after robbing several banks.  After Younger rejoined the James Gang, Starr gave birth to a daughter, Pearl, who was though to be Younger’s child.  Starr’s next romance was with another bank robber, Jim Reed.  Along with Reed and two other criminals in 1869, Starr robbed a California prospector suspected of having hit a rich vein.  The four tortured the prospector until he told them where his gold was hidden, and they got away with $30,000.  After Reed was shot in a gun fight in 1874, Starr and an Indian outlaw named Blue Duck organized a horse-and-cattle-rustling ring.  Starr then married a Cherokee Indian named Sam Starr were arrested in 1883 and sentenced to six months in jail.  After their release, they returned to rustling and were arrested again in 1886.  Although they appeared before ‘hanging’ Judge Isaac Parker at Fort Smith, they were released for lack of evidence.  Sam Starr was shot and killed in a barroom brawl in December 1886.  Starr’s last lover was a Creek Indian named Jim July.  On February 3, 1889, after riding part of the way to Fort Smith with July, Starr turned back to her home in Younger’s Bend.  A gunman apparently lying in wait shot her off her horse.  She was found by a passing traveler who took her home to her daughter.  When she died.  Pearl had her tombstone engraved with the following 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.”