Love, Outlaws, and a Killer Christmas Party

Belle Starr, Ft. Smith, Arkansas, 1886. The man on the horse is Deputy U.S. Marshal Benjamin Tyner Hughes who, along with one of his posse, Deputy U.S. Marshal Charles Barnhill, arrested her at Younger's Bend in May 1886 and brought her to Ft. Smith for arraignment. Public Domain

Myra Marybelle Shirley was born near Carthage, Missouri, in 1848, well after the Missouri Compromise had been signed in 1820, and Missouri had been admitted to the Union as the 24th state in 1821. What was on the horizon after her birth, however, was great national distress.

A few years after her birth, Sen. Stephen Douglas authored a bill that promoted the idea of popular sovereignty, specifically concerning the institution of slavery, whenever new states were admitted. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law in 1854, allowing for citizens to choose whether to make the new state slave or free. The compromise that undid the Missouri Compromise would help lead to a nationally compromising ordeal in the Civil War. Carthage, and Missouri as a whole, had a front-row seat to the war’s turmoil, violence, and chaos. Interestingly, Shirley’s life would go on to reflect the era.

A studio portrait of Belle Starr, probably taken in Ft. Smith, 1887. Public Domain

The young girl had been born into relative privilege. She was classically educated at a local girls’ academy, where she studied piano, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and literature. Her elder brother, Bud, who had taught her how to hunt, fish, trap, shoot guns, and ride horses, became an outlaw and was killed in one of the local skirmishes between Union supporters and Confederate advocates―Bud being in the latter camp. Another brother, Edwin, was also killed by Texas Rangers. One of her close childhood friends was Cole Younger, who went on to join Frank and Jesse James and create the James-Younger Gang. After Bud’s death in 1864, the family moved from the chaotic Carthage to the small, now-nonexistent town of Scyene in Texas.

Looking for Love

In 1866, Shirley married Jim Reed, a young man whose family had already had numerous run-ins with the law. He would be the first of Shirley’s outlaw lovers and husbands, most of whom met their end in untimely and violent manners. Reed, who had fought with William Quantrill’s band of guerilla fighters known as Quantrill’s Raiders, lived a notorious life as a husband and father of two. He was involved in robberies, murdered a man in Arkansas, passed counterfeit money in California, and would finally meet his violent end in 1874 when a lawman killed him for a $1,500 reward.

Reports differ on how Shirley felt about her husband’s illegal activities, but most agree she did not approve, as it appears she separated from him a few years into their marriage. In 1880, she remarried, but only for about three weeks. Her brief husband, Bruce Younger, was a cousin of Cole’s. Shortly after their marriage, he disappeared, his body found some years later in a New Mexico cave.

Shirley moved to southeast Oklahoma where she met young Sam Starr, a Cherokee outlaw. They were married on June 5, 1880. It appears she had finally settled down and found happiness. Peace and tranquility, however, were not to be part of that happiness.

Blue Duck, one of the many men involved with Belle Starr, May 24, 1886. Public Domain

‘The Bandit Queen’ Is Born

Upon their marriage, Shirley (Reed before their wedding) changed her name to Starr, Belle Starr to be precise, and with that change, a new identity was born. She would become known by several monikers: “the female Jesse James” and, most famously, “The Bandit Queen.”

The Starrs’ homestead was located in Younger’s Bend on the Canadian River near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Nestled in Indian Territory, it became a safe haven for horse thieves, robbers, and various other criminals running from the law. Belle Starr had become known for her abilities with guns and horses. Commonly adorned with a plumed hat, a necklace of rattlesnake rattles, and fine dresses, not to mention her fine education, she was an anomaly among society’s rough-and-tumble.

In 1883, Sam and Belle’s criminal run nearly came to an abrupt halt when they were arrested by legendary U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves on a charge of horse theft and brought before Arkansas’s Judge Isaac Parker, famously known as the “Hanging Judge.” They were given light sentences―one year in prison each―though it may have been because the “stolen” horses had been sold to them by horse thieves in a no-questions-asked purchase. They were released early on good behavior.

Photo of Isaac Parker, known as the "Hanging Judge," taken between 1860 and 1865 by Mathew Benjamin Brady. Fort Smith Historical Society. Public Domain

By this time, Belle had indeed become a star, though a rather infamous one. After their release from prison, the couple happily returned to Fort Smith. But crime and criminals would continue to find them. Sam was involved in the robbery of a post office and went on the run. In early 1886, Belle helped John Middleton, who was on the run for murder, escape Indian Territory. While crossing a river, Middleton drowned. The horse that Belle had purchased for Middleton’s escape proved to be stolen. She turned herself in for larceny and posted bond (she would be found not guilty). She posted bail again a few months later after being accused of being a leader in the Starr gang robbery. When no witnesses could identify her, she was acquitted, and her fame continued to grow.

When Belle returned home in October, she found Sam wounded. He had been shot and his horse killed out from under him by an Indian posse. She convinced him to turn himself in to the U.S. Marshal at Fort Smith. While in town, her notoriety brought her to the attention of local fair organizers and she became a gun-toting side-saddle-riding attraction.

“Riding a horse bareback at full gallop, she broke clay pigeons and glass balls with rifle fire while in motion, varying the performance by leaping from the animal while moving at full speed, breaking more glass balls and clay pigeons from the ground with her rifle, then leaping back on her animal as it galloped past her again, still at full speed and continued her firing,” a local paper reported.

A Deadly Christmas Dance

Sam had posted bond and was scheduled to return to Fort Smith for trial in February of 1887. The trial would never take place.

Lucy Surratt, a local Choctaw, hosted a Christmas party. The party was well attended and included Sam and Belle Starr. During the festivities, Sam noticed a familiar face. It was his cousin three times removed, Franklin Pierce West, who was also a lawman. West had been the one to shoot Sam’s horse out from under him. During that chase, Sam had been caught and held by two deputies, while West sauntered off for medical help. Somehow, Sam escaped and yelled back, “Tell Frank I'll get him for shooting Belle’s favorite horse.”

It was during this week in history, on the night of Dec. 17, 1886, that Sam made good on his promise and confronted West. According to the Ottawa Daily Republic, “The men went out into the yard. Both drew their pistols and, after facing each other a moment, Sam raised his weapon and fired. The shot took effect in West’s neck, but he immediately returned the fire, catching Sam in the right side. As West fell, he fired twice more at Sam and then died. Starr threw his arms around a small tree and held himself on his feet till he died.”

Belle buried her husband, and immediately began a relationship with Jack Spaniard―a relationship cut short when he was arrested for murder, tried, convicted, and hanged. She then married Bill July, a distant relative of the late Sam Starr whom she convinced to change his last name to Starr. Belle then made proclamations that she was going straight and she no longer wanted anything to do with the criminal world. Over the next two years, she would be true to her word, but it didn’t stop crimes and criminals from finding her.

She still lived in a criminal safe haven, and when she discovered that one of her farmland tenants, Edgar Watson, was wanted for murder in Florida, she forced him to leave. “The Bandit Queen” wished to be queen without the banditry. It was, however, not to be.

Belle Star, "A Wild Western Amazon," as depicted in the National Police Gazette, 1886. Library of Congress. Public Domain

The Queen’s Murder

On Feb. 3, 1889, “the female Jesse James” was ambushed and shot in the back twice by shotgun. The prime suspect was Watson, but there were no witnesses and apparently not enough evidence. Several other suspects were questioned, but her murder remained unsolved.

Her tombstone reads, “Shed not for her the bitter tear; nor give the heart to vain regret; tis but the casket that lies here; the gem that filled it sparkles yet.” Indeed, her sparkle continued. The same year of her murder, her celebrity reached its highest status when Richard Fox, a reporter, wrote “Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James.”

Over the years, “The Bandit Queen” has continued to be part of American popular, including the 1941 film “Belle Starr” starring Gene Tierney, and 1980 TV film “Belle Starr” starring Elizabeth Montgomery.

Whether Belle Starr chose a life of crime or whether it chose her, one can only speculate. Or perhaps she was simply a product of her time and place.

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