Born on February 5, 1848 in Carthage, Missouri, Myra Maybelle Shirley grew up to become one or the best-known women of the Old West. You're not familiar with Myra Shirley? It's probably because she became famous under a different name.
Myra Maybelle Shirley was an educated woman who preferred being alone either reading a good book or playing a piano… But we know her as, Belle Starr the bandit queen.
Although she was always surrounded by men, it sure wasn’t because she was a beauty. She had the proverbial face that could stop a clock. At the age of 18 Myra married her first husband, Jim Reed. Cole Younger, of the Younger Brothers fame, hung around their place, and supposedly, fathered her first child.
She and her husband, Jim Reed, moved to Texas. In 1874, after a number of run-ins with the law, Jim Reed, was killed. By now, Myra Maybelle was known just as “Belle.” She moved to the Indian Territory and married her second husband, Sam Starr. During this time, Jesse James hid out at their place.
In 1882, Sam and Belle Starr spent nine months in jail for stealing a couple of horses. When they got out, returning to an outlaw life, Sam Starr got himself killed in a shoot-out at a Christmas dance.
Under threats of being kicked off the Indian Territory, she married her third husband, another Indian, 15 years younger than Belle. His name was Jim July.
On Saturday, February 2, 1888, just two days before her 40th birthday, Belle Starr was shot out of the saddle by two shotgun blasts. Although the suspects ranged from a neighbor, to her husband and even her own daughter, the killer was never officially determined.
Although Belle Starr is known as the “Bandit Queen”, she was probably just a homely woman who chose the wrong man time and time…and time again.
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