PART TWO: PEARL STARR  

Preface

            This story of Belle and Pearl Starr, in large part, has come from the family records and recorded history of Belle Starr’s descendants.  As family members readily admit, over the past century a great deal of fabrication and pure folklore has shadowed the truth to such an extent that some lore has also found its way into family records.  It is the intention of this writer, however, to present here the story of the two Starrs as they actually lived, and as their families and descendants have recorded their ancestry.

            As indicated in the acknowledgments, numerous search assistants have contributed to making this work possible.  Special gratitude must go to Flossie Wiley, Belle Starr’s  great-granddaughter, and to Veleska Ridley, Belle Starr’s great-granddaughter for sharing their family documents.  No doubt future accounts of Belle and Pearl Starr will be resented by other writers, as in the past.  It is hoped, however, that the story of Belle and Pearl Starr presented here will not only meet with the approval of Starr descendants, but also provide a manual for future accuracy reference.  I hope these true accounts also prove to be interesting, if not more so, as those accounts presented by other respected writers who chose to incorporate the folklore sometimes necessary to hold the reader’s interest.

The Civil War

            Like her father, Belle greatly resented the Union movement toward destroying their family’s way of life.  The Shirleys were slave owners and depended on such help to maintain their farm, hotel, tavern and livery stable enterprises.  Most of their neighbors in southern Missouri shared their political views, and John Shirley’s tavern became the center for Confederate activity in the region.  A sharp-faced and beady-eyed young man, William Clarke Quantrill, had visited Shirley’s tavern on several occasions, giving heated dissertations about the need to organize a Missouri army to fight for their beliefs.  Young Belle, listening to such discussions, became a strong Confederate activist and encouraged young men to support Quantrill.  Her older brother, John Allison, was one of the first to join Quantrill and became a captain in the ranks of these Missouri irregulars. 

            Belle, being a female, could not join Quantrill’s men, but she wanted to help the cause in any way she possibly could. Quantrill needed information on federal troop movements within Missouri and other information.  Belle, already somewhat of a privileged character in public places, knew everybody within 150 miles of Carthage as a result of their visits to the Shirleys’ hotel and tavern.  Keeping a sharp ear open around the hotel, Belle was very successful in picking up bits of information, which she arranged to supply Quantrill’s camps with.  Although Judge Shirley strongly opposed his sixteen-year-old daughter riding through the night to carry information into Quantrill’s camps, Belle was by now her own boss and apparently seasoned enough to handle any man who might cause trouble for her.

Belle Becomes A Starr

            Belle married Sam Starr on June 5, 1880 in a Cherokee marriage ceremony, and moved into the Starr cabin.  Soon after Belle had settled into her new home with Sam Starr, she went to Rich Hill, Missouri, to get Eddie and Pearl.

            At last Belle had her family together again.  With the Starrs providing support, in a somewhat questionable manner, Belle set out to improve her new home – cleaning up and redecorating the cabin, planting flowers, and improving the overall atmosphere of the place.  This was a happy period in Belle’s life.  Located on a big bend in the Canadian River, some fifty miles west of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Belle named her new home Younger’s Bend.  Her children, Pearl and Eddie, would have been ages twelve and nine at this time.  Myra Maebelle Shirley, Belle Reed, and Belle Younger, now became Belle Starr – hostess of Younger’s Bend, which had a reputation of being an outlaws’ den.

            Belle quickly made friends with neighboring Indian Territory farmers, often playing piano for the region’s church services, barn dances, and social affairs.  The respect she once commanded during her youth in Carthage, and later in Dallas, was even more so in Indian Territory.