Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas where it is sunny and 68 degrees right now, or 20 C if you like.
Continuing with our series about Belle Starr, one of the West's colorful women bandits, yesterday we left off with her and her husband a running horse theft operation. I don't know how long they were running this thing before they got formally charged with theft but it was by a local white man living on the reservation.
Trouble with a local
The story is a long, involved one but basically what happened was she was riding in the reservation and her horse was sore so she "borrowed" another one. The other one was loose and looked good so she took it. When the owner found out about it she told him she would pay him for it but never did. That's the case in a nutshell.
So the horse's owner filed a charge against her and two deputies were assigned to go pick her up. It wasn't easy because they wanted to grab them on the road somewhere. They weren't going into Indian Territory with just the two of them. (People had a bad habit of never coming back after venturing into the Territory.)
After asking around and scouting around they got a lead on Belle's location and it was far from their home so it was a go for the attempt to capture them. They found them camped out, it was Sam, Belle, and a black child, don't know how old.
Belle and Sam are snatched
They got the drop on Sam and the kid when they took the horses down to the river to water them. Then they chained Sam up to a tree and told the kid to go tell Belle that Sam wanted her. They told the kid they'd kill him if he didn't do as he was told.
The kid went and told Belle and she came down the path to the river. Now, being a woman the deputies didn't want to get violent with her so each of them hid behind a tree on either side of the path and when she walked past they both jumped out and grabbed an arm.
In their report they said "she fought like a tiger and threatend to kill them both and she would have" but they were able to subdue and cuff her. She had a pistol on a belt and had two derringers hidden in "her bosom."
Her and Sam were taken to the Federal Courthouse in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It had a jail in the basement and that's where they were held:
The judge presiding over the trial was none other than the famous Judge Parker known as the "Hanging Judge." He was very strict to say the least, I mean this guy was tough! If you were brought before him on a count of murder or rape you were going to swing basically.
But he was surprisingly lenient with Sam and Belle, perhaps because she was a woman. They were found guilty of horse theft and he sentenced them to a one year term in the House of Corrections, Detroit, Michigan. With good behavior they could be out in 9 months.
I thought it was interesting to read an article by one of the newspapers who insulted the trash out of Belle. It was an article written by the Fort Smith New Era on Feb 22, 1882 and they gave a description of Belle in this way:
"As an equestrienne, Belle Starr is without rival, is said to be an expert marksman with the pistol, and while she could not be considered even a good looking woman, her appearance is of that kind as would be sure to attract the attention of wild and desperate characters."
It's amazing that people were always critizing her because she wasn't a beauty queen. They were shallow back then too! I think they did get lucky with that sentence though because Judge Parker was known for his harsh judegments.
Belle's story continues tomorrow with a very surprising stint in prison.
Thanks for reading folks!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know....you just might be a redneck if:
You consider a three piece suit to be: a pair of overalls, a plaid flannel shirt and thermal underwear!
Belle Star may not have been a beauty queen, but I don't think her looks ever had anything to do with men taking favorable to her.
I think the attraction was to her wild side, and this she had in spades.
Things out of the ordinary always get the attention of the people, and she was far from your average run of the mill farmer's wife.
yes sir thebigsweed I agree totally, she had the respect of the outlaws because she could out shoot and out ride all of them and she was a good strategist with alot of guts! And I think that's what the attraction was, I have alot of respect for her as far as abilities.
Morning janton, oops Belle should have paid for that horse!
haha! howdy angiemitchell! Yes Ma'am it was a dumb mistake, I think she got arrogant and overconfident.
I think you are so right my friend janton.
Hi @janton. Horse theft was a big thing in those days and she was very lucky to get a slap on the wrist.
howdy today sir cryptoandcoffee! Well sir, it certainly was especially from the toughest judge in the country!
Howdy Janton, I am back. Well, looks like Bell is already making stupid mistakes!
howdy Miss Lena! well, I think she just got overconfident and arrogant and didn't think that a little guy like that would cause her any trouble. It was indeed a stupid mistake like you said! good to see you back! I haven't forgotten about your post either. lol. I've been gone almost all day so I'm way behind again.
Well, will see what is she going to do next!
Detroit Michigan! That is a long way to go to spend time in jail!
Sounds like a lovey day at your house! It's snowing here.
haha! oh snow! wonderful, I bet it IS beautiful to look at isn't it?
Yes I thought that was nuts, they sent them all the way to Detroit. I think that was another mercy thing by the judge for some unknown reason.
Maybe it was a newer prison with better facilities for women? Who knows? But it certainly was a long ways from home.
Our temperatures have been hovering right around 32 degrees, so we get a few flakes and then it changes back into a misty rain. I'm thinking things might be covered in ice before it actually turns to all snow. Could make for some hazardous driving by morning
howdy Melinda! oh yeah I hate those kind of conditions that you are describing there, icy conditions yuck. Well we have little of that here anyway and we don't have to travel a long way like we used to do everyday in real estate.
I have no where that I have to go, but they do a good job here with keeping our roads in good winter driving condition.
howdy again Melinda...oh that's good. Well in Akron and the surrounding areas it depended on the neighborhood. In other words the nice ones had great service and they ignored the poor ones, that's why we had to buy a 4 wheel drive because we always went into the poor ones!
I have not noticed that happening here. I know it doesn't in my town, but we are pretty rural. I wonder if it does in Milwaukee.
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When you are there you can send me a message if you get lost! (My Discord name is the same as here on Steemit)
howdy sir cryptoandcoffee! what do these guys do?
Basically choose the best people on the platform. You will recognize names when you go and look. Have a look and then decide no pressure from anyone.
ok, thank you sir cryptoandcoffee!
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TrufflePigwell howdy there trufflepig and thank you! You have a strange name, bytheway but God bless you for your work!
Like you said, they were shallow back then, too! It amazes me that people needed to comment on that aspect.
When are you publishing a book of this stories??? When you do, I'll design a cover for you. You're a great writer!
haha! well..after I pick myself up from falling out of my chair...no one has ever accused me of that before, being a great writer, so I have no plans to write a book and publish one and have never even considered it, but coming from you the compliment makes my whole month even though I somewhat disagree! lol.
But who knows, if I ever did I'd sure take you up on the cover design offer!
Thanks again for the kind words and yes, men were pigs back then too, it was a man who wrote that in an article about the trial.
Thanks so much for reading my posts, I think very few read the whole thing, I thought surely that quote would get some attention but you're the only one who caught it or cared enough to comment on it!
I don't always have time to keep up with reading, especially when I get on a writing tangent! I really love your writing and I wish I'd had these historical stories to read to my kids back when we were homeschooling. Seriously, you bring history alive in a way that just feels easy and... I don't know, I just really think you have a gift. You should take my word for it. I'm VERY picky. :)
howdy today Byn! ok I believe you and thank you, that helps a bunch! I have read a couple of posts about history lately and it was so boring I couldn't concentrate, like a dry text book. I don't think history has to be boring. Thank you so much for the kind words!
EXACTLY. I have read a LOT of history over the years when I was homeschooling (and I think that's your market, right there!) and it was often hard to find history that was interesting AND accurate. It always seemed strange to me, because history is OBVIOUSLY chock full of intriguing, fascinating and amazing stories.
you are SO right about history because people were always crazy and always did crazy and unexpected things! lol.
Belle was lucky in the fact that she only got a year then? They could have got a lot worse, wonder if their previous history was taken into account.
howdy sir preppervetuk! Well I don't know what happened, it has baffled historians to go before the Hanging Judge and get a slap on the wrist so I'm not sure. Maybe he owed the people who ran the Detroit program a favor, who knows. I think it was more because she was a woman and he wasn't keen on strict punishment for women perhaps.
She was lucky , only one year, and then free to continue to live a life of crime, uhm, I mean a god fearing decent life... 🤠
/FF
haha! well sir I think she at least shrank your criminal activities but her husband increased his. But yeah, slap on the wrist from the toughest judge in America.