Happiness is a Warm Gun
By all accounts, her relationship with Sam was the happiest time in Belle’s life, but it would end in tragedy. After escaping conviction on another charge of horse theft, Belle was aghast to learn that Sam had almost been killed in an altercation with his enemy, Officer Frank West. Sam’s horse was killed, and another bullet narrowly grazed Sam’s head. On December 17, 1886, Sam found out that West was outside a neighbor’s house where he and Belle were dancing. He went outside to confront West, and in the ensuing shootout, both men died.
Belle was devastated and apparently began a brief relationship with an outlaw named Jack Spaniard until he went on the run after murdering a U.S. Marshal. One of Tom Starr’s adopted sons, Bill July, married Belle moved in with her. She decided that outlaws were no longer welcome at her farm. If she thought this would be the end of her troubles, she was proven tragically wrong.
The Death of Belle Starr
She rented acreage to farmers but discovered that one of them, Edgar A. Watson, was wanted for murder in Florida. Belle threatened to reveal his whereabouts to the Florida authorities if he refused to leave. As a result, when Belle’s body was discovered at her farm on February 3, 1889, Watson was the prime suspect. It was a grisly death because she was thrown from her horse by a shotgun blast to the back. Her killer then finished her off, and Belle’s body had shotgun wounds to the neck, back, shoulder, and face.
Watson was tried for the murder but was acquitted due to lack of evidence. He came to a bad end himself as he was shot dead in 1910. Other suspects include both of Belle’s children and her husband Bill July. We will probably never know the truth, especially since Bill was shot dead by a deputy just a few weeks later. Indeed, Belle’s family didn’t have much luck. Her daughter became a prostitute although she eventually opened a string of bordellos and married a German musician. Belle’s son was arrested for horse theft in 1889 before becoming a Deputy in Fort Smith. He was shot dead in an Oklahoma saloon in 1896.
Belle was a relatively obscure figure outside of Texas for most of her life, but her legend gained attention due to the writings of Richard K. Fox who is best known for writing the National Police Gazette and dime novels. He published a novel entitled: Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James in 1889. The novel is still cited as a historical reference by some despite the fact it is laden with fiction.
The myths, and the 1941 film with Gene Tierney paint Belle as a rough, tough criminal who still displayed a genteel feminine side. She carried two guns and had no problem threatening people with them, yet there is no evidence that she ever shot anyone. In reality, Belle Starr was tough, a necessity to survive in the Old West, but she wasn’t the female Jesse James.