Bob Crofut Ridgefield, Conn.

Myra Maybelle Shirley, the legendary Belle Starr, was not involved in any gunfights, but she did seem fond of carrying a six-shooter, as seen in Bob Crofut's 1997 painting Bandit Queen.

The life of Myra Maybelle Shirley, better known as Belle Starr, has been romanticized by many writers and, of course, by Hollywood. The appeal of a "lovely lady" leading thieves and rustlers has been powerful through the years, often too powerful to allow facts to spoil the stories. Many tales were published by the National Police Gazette in the 19th century, and other publications picked up on the intriguing copy. Fraudulent biographies, spiced by bogus letters and entries from Belle's diaries, sold for 25 cents. The fascinating, often fantastic, stories led to the myth and legend of Belle Starr.

Belle Starr, according to the legend, was the "Bandit Queen"--a lovely lady who ruled outlaw gangs with her guns, her will and her personal favors. This amoral, amorous adventuress associated with the James boys and the Youngers. She was alleged to have borne Cole Younger's illegitimate child. Her marriage to bandit Jim Reed was said to have been performed on horseback, not by a man of the cloth, but by another member of the gang. She has been credited with stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, cleaning out crooked poker games with her six-shooters, and galloping down city streets with pistols blazing.

After her first husband was shot down, Belle married Sam Starr and, legend has it, became the mistress of the notorious outlaw Bluford "Blue" Duck. Her home was called the headquarters for the several bands of rustlers and brigands that she captained over the years. In the end, though, shotgun blasts left the "Petticoat Terror of the Plains" dying in the road just a few days before her 41st birthday. Speculation on who shot her from ambush has produced several suspects, but the fact her killer was never brought to justice only adds to her legend.

Belle's true life was one without glamour. The so-called Bandit Queen was actually an unfortunate woman hardened by her times and associates. She has been described as "bony and flat chested with a mean mouth; hatchet faced; gotch-toothed tart." In her later years, she really was a companion to known thieves and felons, but it is doubtful she ever did more than steal horses and provide a haven for fugitives.

Her father, John Shirley, was the black sheep of a well-to-do Virginia family. He moved west to Indiana, where he was married and divorced twice. His third wife was Eliza Pennington, on the Hatfield side of the feuding Hatfield and McCoy families. The Shirley family moved to southwest Missouri in 1839. John Shirley prospered raising wheat, corn, hogs and blooded horses.

Bell was probably born near Carthage, in Missouri's Jasper County. Shirley family records, supported by the 1850 federal census data, indicate that three children were born while the family resided in Jasper County--John Allison "Bud" in 1842; Myra Maybelle (or Maebelle) on February 5, 1848; and Edwin in 1850.

The next decade brought financial success and two more sons to the Shirleys. They sold their land in 1856 and moved to Carthage, the growing and developing county seat. The capital from the sale of their land was used to purchase city lots and to build a wayside inn, a tavern, a livery stable and a blacksmith shop. The businesses occupied almost an entire city block. The 1860 census estimated the worth of John Shirley's holdings at $10,000, a significant sum in those days. He was a respected member of the community; his library was an attraction to the intelligentsia, as were Eliza's piano and her gracious Southern manners.

Myra Belle attended the Carthage Female Academy, where she was instructed in "the three Rs," along with music and classical languages. She was a bright student. Although educated as a lady, she flaunted her status as a little rich girl. Growing up in a hotel, she always had an audience. She also loved the outdoors. She spent countless hours roaming the countryside with her older brother Bud, who taught her to be a competent rider and to handle guns. But good times in Carthage became troubled times with the advent of the Civil War.

Jasper County saw both armies pass through time and again. Residents were forced to take sides. Neighbors became bitter enemies. Irregular bands of jayhawkers and "Red Legs" laid waste to Missouri communities in support of the Union. Guerrillas and bushwhackers, led by "Bloody Bill" Anderson and William Clarke Quantrill, retaliated with death and destruction in Kansas. Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger rode with these Rebel raiders.

John Shirley, like many of his neighbors from the South, admired Quantrill and was ecstatic when son Bud joined the bushwhackers. Bud, who knew the area and the people well, served admirably as a scout. He attained the rank of captain and the distinction of being much sought after by Federal troops. Young, vivacious Myra Belle most likely gleaned information from her many social contacts and passed it on to her brother.

Bud's fate was sealed in June 1864 when the house in Sarcoxie, Mo., where he and a companion were being fed was surrounded by Federal militia. The two men bolted. Bud was killed climbing a fence, while his compatriot escaped and hastened to Carthage to inform the Shirleys of Bud's demise. Some of Belle's biographers have her strapping on six-guns and seeking vengeance at this point, but there is no record of such actions, and it is doubtful that a well-educated 16-year-old girl would go that route.

John Shirley's business was ruined by the war. The death of his son was the final straw. He sold his property in Missouri, loaded his family and household goods into wagons and set out for Texas. Little is known of the Shirleys' journey there. It is known that Texas, at that time, was a refuge for the dregs of society. The Shirley family settled near Scyene, a small settlement southeast of Dallas, on a land grant of 800 acres. The family lived in a dugout at first but soon constructed a four-room clapboard house that was, at that time and in that locale, like a mansion.

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