This week (February 2-8) in crime history – Film director
William Desmond Taylor was murdered (February 2, 1922); Details of the FBI’s
ABSCAM operation were revealed to the public (February 2, 1980); Barnett
Davenport committed mass murder in Revolutionary era Connecticut (February 3,
1780); Outlaw Belle Starr was murdered (February 3, 1889); Patty Hearst was
kidnapped by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army (February 4, 1974); Medgar
Evers assassin was convicted (February 5, 1994); Panamanian dictator Manuel
Noriega was indicted on drug charges (February 5, 1988); Josh Powell kills himself
and his two sons at his Graham, Washington home (February 5, 2012); Mary Kay
Latourneau was sent to prison for violating terms of her sentence (February 6,
1998); Dalton Gang committed its first train robbery (February 6, 1891); Nevada
carry’s out first execution by lethal gas in the United States (February 8,
1924).
Highlighted Crime
Story of the Week -
On February 2, 1889, Belle Starr was murdered, when an
unknown assailant fatally shot the famous old west outlaw with two shotgun
blasts from behind. As with the lives of other famous outlaws like Billy the
Kid and Jesse James, fanciful accounts printed in newspapers and dime novels
made Belle Starr's harsh and violent life appear far more romantic than it
actually was.
Born Myra Mabelle Shirley on February 5, 1848 on a small
farm near Carthage, Missouri. She received an education in the classics and
became a competent pianist. Seemingly headed for an unexciting but respectable
middle-class life, her fate was changed by the outbreak of the Civil War, which
ruined her father's business as a Carthage innkeeper and claimed the life of
her brother Edwin. Devastated, the Shirley family abandoned Missouri for a
fresh start in Texas.
In Texas, Belle began her life-long pattern of associating
with men of questionable character. In 1866, she met Cole Younger, a member of
the James-Younger gang that was gaining notoriety for a series of daring bank
and train robberies. Rumor had it that Younger fathered Belle's first child,
Pearl, though the father might have actually been another outlaw, Jim Reed.
Regardless, Belle's relationship with Younger was short-lived, and in 1866 she
became Reed's wife. Belle was apparently untroubled by her new husband's
reputation and she had become his partner in crime by 1869. She joined him in
stealing cattle, horses, and money in the Dallas area. Riding her mare, Venus,
and sporting velvet skirts and plumed hats, Belle played the role of a
"bandit queen" for several years.
In 1874, a member of his own gang killed Reed, and Belle was
suddenly on her own. Pursued by the law, she drifted into Oklahoma Indian
Territory, where she led a band of cattle and horse thieves. There she met a
handsome young Cherokee named Sam Starr, who eventually became her common-law
husband and new criminal partner. The Starr’s managed to elude capture for
nearly a decade, but in 1883 they were arrested for horse theft and both served
five months in the Detroit federal prison.
Freed from prison, the couple immediately resumed their
criminal careers. In 1886, Belle again lost a husband to violent death when Sam
Starr was killed in a gunfight with an old enemy. Belle wasted no time in
finding a third companion, a Creek Indian named Jim July, an outlaw who was 15
years her junior. In 1889, July was arrested for robbery and summoned to Fort
Smith, Arkansas, to face charges. Belle accompanied her young lover for part of
the journey but turned back before reaching Fort Smith. On her way home,
someone ambushed and fatally wounded her with two shotgun blasts to her back. No
one was ever arrested or convicted of the crime.
Check back every
Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”
Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and author of six
nonfiction books that includes Murder and
Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949. Visit Michael’s
website www.michaelthomasbarry.com
for more information. His book can be purchased from Amazon through the
following link:
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