Myra Bell Case

On February 5, 1848 a baby girl named Myra Bell Shirley was born. She was the apple of her parents eyes. She attended the Carthage Female Academy where she excelled in almost all of her subjects. She seemed to be a perfect child. Little did her parents know that their little girl would become a famous outlaw of the west.

When Myra was older she married a man named Jim Reed. She had her First child Pearl and was seemingly happy with Jim. Jim tried his hand at farming but grew restless and fell into bad company with the Starr clan, a Cherokee Indian family. Jim shot the man who killed his brother by "accident and then , wanted by the law, fled to California with Myra and Pearl.

After Reed was killed in a gunfight Belle left her children with her mother and rode the Outlaw trail. She got involved with an Indian outlaw who went by the name of "Blue Duck". Although the relationship was short lived and Belle met Sam Starr, another Cherokee outlaw. After they married they both dove into a life of rustling, horse stealing and bootlegging whiskey. Both were arrested but returned to the life of crime after they got out.

When Jim died she married a younger bandit who went by the name Jim July. July and Belle fought often and July was once reported offering and accomplice $200 to kill Belle. On February 3, 1889 she was shot to death.

Although Belle Starr may have seemed to be a bad person. She was a hero to most. She was thought of as a "female Robin Hood" and was dubbed "the Bandit Queen". She was a western folk hero and wild person who married 3 times. And she diffidently lived life to the fullest.