One of the Most Infamous American Outlaws was a Woman

Belle Starr, known as the Bandit Queen, was one of the most infamous outlaws in the American Old West. She was born in Carthage, Missouri in 1848. She was brought up with the manners and customs of the social elite, played the piano  well and was an accomplished horsewoman. She attended Carthage Female Academy where she received a good education in the womanly arts. Belle had a trim, attractive figure and dressed in high style including the latest fashions in dresses, broad-brimmed hats and modish boots. She often rounded out her ensemble with a quirt attached to her wrist and two six guns buckled on her waist. She fraternized with Jesse James and other members of the Quantrill gang where she probably learned her thieving skills. Her specialty was horse stealing along with a sprinkling of bank and post office robberies. Horse stealing got her jailed for a few months but she usually won acquittals at her trials. Belle became an American legend after her death in 1889. An unknown assassin waited in ambush and  shot her in the back with a shotgun.

Photo: encyclopediaofarkansas