Pearl Hart was born Pearl Taylor in the village of Lindsay in Ontario, Canada, on Nov. 13, 1876. She died Dec. 28, 1955, in Arizona. She was a folk figure and an outlaw of the American old west.

Because she was female, she gained even more notoriety. She came from a wealthy and very religious family. She had the best education and at the tender age of 16 was sent to a boarding school.

It was here she became interested in a man with undesirable intentions. He was an alcoholic and a gambler at best. His last name was Hart. Various accounts have his given name as William, Frank or Brett.

Hart and Pearl Taylor eloped. Hart was an abusive husband, and Pearl left him numerous times. They had two children together, a boy and a girl. The children ended up living with Pearl’s mother.

The Harts attended the Chicago World’s Fair where Mr. Hart got a job as a barker. Pearl spent time watching Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show and became enamored with the life of a cowboy .

She was 22 years old when she left Hart again, traveling with a piano player named Dan Bandman. Pearl worked odd jobs, drank, smoked cigars and developed a fondness for morphine.

She left Bandman for another stint with her husband, but when times again got tough, he continued to abuse her. She left him again and opened a brothel with another woman, and they had a successful enterprise near a gold mine in Arizona. She took up with a man named Joe Boot, and the pair decided to rob a stagecoach.

There is no evidence that either one of them had committed a violent crime prior to this. The date was May 30, 1899. Pearl chopped off all of her hair and disguised herself to look like a man. She was armed with a .38 revolver. They took $431.20 and three firearms from the driver and passengers.

The sheriff caught up with them and arrested them six days later. Boot surrendered without incident, but Pearl fought to try to stay at large. She escaped from jail, probably with the aid of an accomplice, and was caught again in New Mexico.

Boot and Pearl Hart went to trial. Pearl claimed she needed money for her sick mother, and the jury returned a not-guilty verdict. The two were pardoned.

However, the two bandits were immediately rearrested and charged with interfering with the U.S. Mail. They were tried again, and Boot got 30 years. Pearl got five years.

People were fascinated by Pearl Hart. She was the last bandit to rob a stagecoach, and she was the only woman ever to commit this crime.

Both were sent to Yuma prison. Boot got a prison job driving a supply wagon from the prison to chain gangs working outside the perimeter of the prison. One day, he and the wagon disappeared, never to be seen again. He served only two of his 30 years. He never resurfaced.

Pearl Hart remained in prison, but because she had so much notoriety, she was given a large cell with a small outside yard where she entertained reporters and townsfolk, and where she could pose for photographs. In 1902, she was given a pardon by the governor. However, she was made to leave the territory and never return.

The reasons for this, as with many folk heroes and heroines, were varied and probably for the most part untrue. It was said she was to star in a play that was written by her sister. Another claim was she had become pregnant, and this would be embarrassing to certain persons in the prison system. Upon her release, she was provided a train ticket to Kansas City, Mo.

Pearl did perform for a brief period, recreating her crime in her sister’s play, “The Arizona Bandit.” Then she ran a cigar store but was arrested for receiving stolen property. She was pardoned for this crime.

Her life story becomes a bit sketchy after this. Rumor has it she performed as “The Arizona Bandit” and then toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. There are other accounts of her returning to jail in Tucson, living under several assumed names, and living in Globe quietly until her death.

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.