Belle Starr: Epilogue
Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas!
Today I'm wrapping up my series about the amazing and wonderfully complex female outlaw, Belle Starr. She was indeed many contrasting personalities rolled into one colorful character!
After studying reams of documents about her life and exploits, there are a few things about her which I know for certain:
- She was a gifted communicator and a natural born leader.
- She was charming and charismatic but also tough and controlling.
- She had a big heart to help others and was loyal to a fault.
I don't know if I mentioned this but she continued to support Cole Younger by sending him money when he was in prison and did so until her death.
Below are two events from her life. One from the day she died and the other beautifully illustrates her fiery character that was uniquely Belle.
The premonition
This is one of those fascinating tidbits that we usually learn of after someone has passed. On Belle's last day when she went to pay the bill at that small store at King's Creek she had lunch with the husband and wife owners.
When she seemed to the owner's wife to be in a down mood the wife asked her what was wrong and Belle told her that she "feared being killed by one of her enemies."
Belle then asked the lady for a pair of scissors, took off her silk scarf, cut it in half diagonally, and gave it to the stunned wife "as a keepsake." It was evident that she knew her time was short.
A lesson in etiquette
I wanted to tell you this story about Belle because it nails her personality so well. She always remembered her early training from when she was growing up and she demanded from the rough and sometimes crude dwellers of the West the full courtesy due a lady in civilization.
One day as she was riding along a road in the country the wind blew her hat off. Well, right at that time a cowboy by the name of William Kayser was riding by. She called out and asked him to retrieve her hat but he refused.
She instantly grabbed her pistol and "drew a bead on him"(aimed it at him) and with "telling oaths"(cursing) she commanded.."Get down and pick up my hat!"
Kayser did as he was told. Then Belle scolded him and said " The next time a LADY asks you to pick up her hat, do as she tells you." Years later Kayser told biographers that he never forgot that lesson in etiquette!
Lol. Belle was a powerful presence but of all the outlaws I've researched she's the only one who never killed anyone.
She went from sweet school girl:
To vixen and manipulator:
To The Bandit Queen:
source
Her legend lives on in local Oklahoma lore and in some fine research books and archives. I hope I have done her justice in sharing her story.
I also hope you enjoyed this series and thanks so much for reading!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
PS- ya know....you MIGHT just be a redneck if:
You do all your Christmas shopping at a truck stop!
With the quick temper she had, it is a surprise that she never killed anyone.
Sad to see her story coming to an end!
howdy this fine Sunday sir bigsweed! Yes sir, she was a remarkable character and I was sad that her life was taken from her so early, way too soon. The man who most people think killed her, Watson, was killed a few years later by a posse, he had committed another crime and had a shootout when they tried to bring him in.
Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
Hey janton, thank you for the summary of Belle Starr, she was a very complex character who remained a lady to the end.
Okay janton, I have to ask, you can buy gifts at a truck stop??
haha! howdy angiemitchell! don't you guys have those huge truck stops down there? They have huge ones here these days that are like shopping centers almost with tons of cool stuff. However, the joke was really referring to when they were small, dirty and junky..that's the context which makes it funny but in the last 10 years or so the truck stops are many times like small cities with food courts and things like a mall!
Really? I am amazed and no we do not have super dooper truck stops here in Australia. We only have little shops in petrol stations. So different - and obviously no comparison, haha.
well it has become a strange and unique new marketing strategy but it must be working because there are alot of them all over the country. Who knew that would happen? Some savvy marketers did.
Hey there is good stuff at truck stops... well some of the Christmas stuff. I love those mexican blankets. The only place you can get them where we live.
My neighbor has a similar look as Belle in the 1st photo.
howdy rebeccabe! haha...well I'm thinking of the grungy little old truck stops that they used to have before these big new super centers started up but yeah the modern ones are great! Oh interesting about your neighbor, maybe she's a relative. Pearl had 3 or 4 kids afterall. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
ya never know..
you know you're a redneck when you remember grungy little old truck stops.. lol
haha! that's so true! lol.
You would know she was a yank. Drops her hat , any excuse to get out a gun!
hey now! lol...sir blanchy that's pretty hilarious and kinda true. And don't think she wouldn't have used it too! lol.
And, apparently, she really liked her hats! Well, I can't fault her on that. Who doesn't like a fancy hat?
haha! yes sir fotosdenada she loved her fancy, cool looking hat with the feathers in it, she loved being the center of attention and always had the best, most expensive boots too. Thanks for reading and commenting sir!
What if he still said no - do you think she would have shot right at him or maybe just scared him a little? :) By the way, I 'm impressed with the amount of detail you put into your posts, you've done a lot of research!
howdy again sir keith! Well sir...I think she would have fired a shot right above his head because she did that in other situations, and then he would have "obeyed" lol...or complied. Thanks for the kind words, yeah I spend an ungodly amount of time researching and trying to get accurate facts. I need to stop that because is sure doesn't pay..at least at this point!
So she actually never killed anyone! Well, that's good, I didn't realized that, because she loved her pistol so much and she loved shooting. That is quite interesting and I am happy that you cleared that out. I feel much better for her now, because that makes a huge difference for her soul.
Anyway, it was a very intense story and again, your writing made it even more captivating. As I mention before, you can turn drama into comedy and warp it up with those silly jokes. Another good one here. Thanks for the tip, I didn't know you can get good stuff at the truck stops, lol.
hahaha! yes Miss Lena, now you can go Christmas shopping at the truck stops, they have everything you need! lol. Well, I think this was actually meant for when the truck stops were real little, old, dirty with a cheap little section selling trinkets and souveneirs. Now they are these huge super centers and are really nice with cool things to sell.
Wow! I had no idea! I honestly didn't know anything about shopping at truck stops, lol.
howdy again Miss Lena...yes many of the real big ones now are super nice with stuff that you can't find anywhere else! lol.. it's crazy. But the joke is still funny because it sounds funny.
It's funny to me for sure, because I am new to this truck stop business, lol
Thanks Cowboy. You are a natural story-teller and held one’s interest. I enjoyed her story and the stories were just the right length.
i noticed she had darkness under the eyes in the first two photos. I wondered if that was indicative of a health condition.
howdy redheadpei and thank you for the kind words. I didn't think about a health condition, I think she was in very good health up until she was killed, I mean she may have had something that would have showed up eventually but they said she could still jump up on her horse and ride all day so I'm thinking she was in pretty good condition but that's a good point. I should know this but I don't even know if the women had makeup to wear in the 1800's do you?
Belle doesn’t strike me as the type of women who bothered with makeup but she may have used animal fat to moisturizer her face.
Now, her daughter, a different story. ...prostitites were known to wear heavy makeup. Not sure what she used but soot mixed with water for eyeliner was common.
Women in high society whitened their face with fats and lead in 1880’s. Rosy cheeks came into fashion in 1900’s and rouge was used.
Many women made their own cosmetics from animal fats, rosewater, strawberries, etc. Face powder from rice flour.
well howdy again redheadpei! that is so interesting, I might have to do a post on that subject, lol. No one would believe alot of it! Whitening their faces sounds horrible if they had to use fats and lead! wow.Thanks redheadpei!
Welcome Cowboy. You should do a write-up on the makeup of an Outlaw Woman and prostitutes of the era.
I was thinking many of the current lipsticks have lead in them and that is dangerous to a woman’s health.
howdy tonight redheadpei! The CURRENT lipsticks have lead in them? Oh dumb can they be? the manufacturers I mean. well one of my most popular posts was about the Painted Ladies of the Old West, the prostitutes in the Cow towns like Dodge City and I found some amazing vintage photos and the women loved that post, actually 2 of them, I found the clothing absolutely fascinating and I think the women did too.
So because of that I thought about getting a couple of old research books that were just about the prostitutes of that age because many of them were famous like Doc Holliday's girlfriend Big Nose Kate, I don't know if you were reading my posts at that time but women like that were famous in the West. lol.
I like the first picture of Belle. She looked innocent on that one compared to the other pictures.
She had a very colorful and interesting life as a bandit...
howdy roger5120! yes she sure did didn't she? It's what legends are made of. lol. Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
You’re quite welcome janton. Have a good night sleep, ok..
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thanks, you too!
Howdy @janton. Thank you for researching and sharing the story of Belle Starr. What a colourful life she led. Very interesting indeed. :-)
Howdy sir Vincent! Yes sir I really liked her story. The only reason I did it initially was because when I had mentioned her as Cole Younger's girlfriend in one of my earlier posts and said that she went on to become an outlaw herself several of my female readers wanted me to do one about her because they hadn't heard anything about a woman outlaw before, so that's what I did and I'm glad because she had a wild story. Not many women were outlaws and even fewer were murdered.