Eight lovers, they say, combed her wavy black hair.
Eight men knew the feel of her dark velvet waist.
Eight men heard the sound of her tan leather skirt.
Eight men heard the bark of the guns that she wore.
--19th century anonymous verse written about Belle Starr
Amid the tangle of fact and myth surrounding the infamous “Queen of Outlaws” Belle Starr, one thing is clear: Without knowing it, she staked a claim on the American imagination.
The notion of a female outlaw in the Victorian 19th century made Belle Starr the belle of the American West, however dark her deeds.
Since her death in 1889, she has spawned so many legends, books and movies that the truth has often been lost in the fog.
More recently, the bandit queen’s myth has lost much of its luster as historians continue to dig into her past, discovering a woman whose lawlessness was inflated by myth makers. In spite of the outlaw company she sometimes kept, her sole conviction was for horse theft, and she died far more violently than she lived.
