Myra Maybelle Shirley, alias Belle Starr, was born in a log cabin in Carthage, Mo., on Feb. 5, 1848. Her mother was a member of the famous Hatfield clan.

The family raised wheat, corn, hogs and horses on a farm outside of Carthage. In 1856 they sold their farm and moved into town where they built an inn, a tavern, a livery stable and a blacksmith shop. Their businesses covered an entire block in the town. They were highly respected members of the community.

Belle was considered to be a spoiled rich girl. She was trained in the classics at the Carthage Female Academy and was an accomplished pianist. She loved to play and loved the accolades from her audiences. When the Civil War broke out, her father’s business as an innkeeper was ruined, and her brother, Bud, was killed. Her family relocated to Texas, hoping for a fresh start.

Belle was heavily influenced by her elder half-brother, Bud. He taught her to ride a horse and to shoot. Bud tried to subvert the Union’s efforts in Missouri, and it is believed he may have taken her on some of these early Civil War campaigns. This is the first exposure Belle had to guns and subversive activities.

Belle Starr (Myra Maybelle Shirley) at about 16.

Although she was raised in a wealthy family, in her teens in Texas she became romantically involved with Cole Younger, who was associated with the Younger Brothers Gang and the James Brothers Gang. She was enamored with the idea of being an outlaw and became the common-law wife of Jim Reed, occupation: horse thief. She was also his partner in crime.

After this, Belle’s occupation was listed as “criminal.” She participated in an Old West show in Fort Smith, Ark. Here she gained a lot of notoriety and nearly celebrity status. She was known to carry two pistols and was rougher and tougher than most women of the day.

Belle had two children, a son, James Edwin Reed, and a daughter, Pearl Younger. The son became a horse thief, and the daughter a prostitute. Both were estranged from their mother. It is believed Pearl’s father was Belle’s boyfriend, Cole Younger. Pearl used the names Pearl Younger, Pearl Starr and Rosie Reed. Her son’s father was probably the criminal Jim Reed. James Edwin Reed used the name “Eddie.” He was a horse thief and a police officer.

Belle and first husband Jim Reed.

After Jim Reed was killed in a shootout in 1874, Belle married one of the Youngers, Bruce. He was a gambler and a known cheat. This marriage lasted only a few months. Belle drifted into Oklahoma Indian Territory where she led a band of cattle and horse thieves.

Here, Belle met and quickly fell in love with the handsome, brawny Sam Starr, a Cherokee Indian, cattle rustler, bootlegger and bandit. She joined Starr in all of his illegal activities and was portrayed from this point on as the “Bandit Queen of the Old West.”

Belle loved the idea of portraying the Bandit Queen, wearing ostentatious plumed hats and velvet skirts atop her horse named Venus. The role seemed to suit her well until she and Sam were apprehended by the law, arrested for being horse thieves, and both were jailed in Detroit for five months.

Although Belle was prosecuted for – and certainly guilty of – many crimes, this is the only time she was ever apprehended, convicted and jailed. One of her memorable quotes – “I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw” – speaks to her love of the life she had chosen.

Upon their release from jail, they immediately went back to work rustling cattle. Shortly after this, Sam Starr was killed in a duel by an old enemy and Belle took up with Creek (Muscogee) Indian, Jim July Starr, an adopted son of Sam Starr’s father. Jim July was 15 years younger than Belle.

Jim was arrested for robbery and summoned to Ft. Smith, Ark., to face charges. On the way from Oklahoma to Arkansas, according to Jim, they were ambushed and Belle was shot twice in the back. The date was Feb. 3, 1889. His story contended that it was a neighbor with whom they had an ongoing feud. The murder was never solved. Jim himself was a suspect as were her two children, a farm worker whom she had unjustly punished and whipped, and others.

Inscription on grave marker: “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.”

Belle became the subject of many movies, stories and television programs, most of which are said to be romanticized and heavily exaggerated. About herself, a year before her death, she said, “I regard myself as a woman who has seen much of life.”

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.