Belle Starr Research Paper

Belle was born on February 5,1848 in Carthage, her birth name was Myra Maybelle Shirley (her parents called her Belle), Belle was one of six children. Belle attended the Carthage Female Academy then Cravens a private school and she was very wistful for music. Belle's life was an adventure of many marriages and affairs with felons, criminals and objectionable characters. She married outlaw Jim Reed and lived in the Oklahoma Indian Territory at the home of outlaw Tom Starr who was a Cherokee.Jim became famous from marrying the most famous Belle Starr. When he was charged with murder, he hid out in Los Angeles, California. After Jim and Belle returned, Reed became involved with the Younger gang which killed and looted throughout Texas and Arkansas.The
Sam Starr was later killed by an Indian policeman on the Reservation. Belle lived up to her new name and quickly Belle Starr (the bandit queen) took several lovers, Jim Starr, Blue Duck, Jack Spaniard and Jim French. She survived all but two of these men. While living in the Choctaw Nation, near the Canadian River, an unknown assassin shot her from ambush with a shotgun. Belle was taken to her cabin where she let her spirit go an hour later two days short before her 41st birthday. Neighbors then passed by the coffin while each Indian dropped a crumb of cornbread in the coffin in traditional tribal custom. Later the grave was robbed, the pistol and Jewelry were gone. Her daughter erected a headstone with an engraved bell, a star, a horse with a poem. The Belle Star cabin where she lived and died consisted of three rooms. She had piano and knew how to play. Her walls were covered with shelves full of books and her large mantle over the fireplace had trophies linked to her marksmanship. The Bell Starr cabin was razed in 1933. Bell’s death was February 3, 1889, in