Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Belle Starr Biography
Belle Starr Biography
Criminal (1848–1889)
OCCUPATION: Criminal
BIRTH DATE: February 5, 1848
DEATH DATE: February 3, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH: Missouri
PLACE OF DEATH: Briartown, Oklahoma
AKA: Belle Shirley
NICKNAME: “Bandit Queen”
FULL NAME: Myra Maybelle Shirley
Belle Starr gained notoriety as an outlaw on the western
edge of the United States in the mid-1800s. While she did consort with infamous
characters, historians suggest her renegade reputation surpasses her actual
criminal activity.
Born in 1848, Belle Starr was known as an infamous outlaw in
the Wild West—the western edge of the expanding United States in the second
half of the 1800s. She associated with famous outlaws, like Frank and Jesse
James, and was arrested several times. In recent years, however, historians
have gathered data that suggests that she committed far fewer criminal acts
than her legend would suggest, with the men in her life being the main
purveyors of illicit acts. Belle Starr was killed in 1889, with her murderer
having never been brought to justice.
Early Life and Family History
Myra Maybelle "Belle" Shirley, who later became
known as Belle Starr upon her marriage to Sam Starr, was born on Feb. 5, 1848,
in Carthage, Missouri. She was the daughter of John Shirley and his third wife,
Elizabeth Hatfield Shirley. A pianist, Belle grew up in a household with her
parents and their other children, including much older half-siblings from her
father’s first marriages. Her elder brother John Addison—called Bud—influenced
her greatly, as did the fact that she grew up in the years leading up to the
Civil War in the contested Missouri territory. Though Belle received her
education from a girl's academy, Bud taught her to use guns and ride horses,
and it is believed that she joined him—unofficially—as he tried to subvert the
Union’s efforts in Missouri. (The Shirley family supported the Confederacy.)
Bud died in 1864, and the Shirley family moved to the Scyene
area of Texas. There, Belle met Jim Reed, marrying him in 1866. In 1868, she
gave birth to her first child, whom she called Pearl. A second child, Eddie,
was born in 1871.
The Legend of Belle Starr
Throughout her adult life, Belle regularly consorted with
criminals. Reed and his family fled from the law numerous times before he was
killed in 1874. Legend has it that Belle joined in on her husband’s nefarious
activities, but there is little evidence to suggest that she did. Rather, some
historians suggest that she wanted to live a life of quiet domesticity. Before
Reed's death, Belle had returned to her parent's farm, leaving the marriage.
In 1880, Belle wed Sam Starr, who was Cherokee and part of
the Starr gang. Together, they lived on Cherokee land, harboring criminals like
Frank and Jesse James at their home. In 1883, Belle and Sam were convicted of
stealing horses. Each spent nine months in jail in Detroit, then returned to
Indian Territory. By this time, Belle was known as a felon, with her notoriety
growing over suspicion for later crimes. She reputedly carried one or two
pistols and wore gold earrings and a man’s hat with feathers, though some have
argued that she lived more of a home-based life while Sam engaged in illicit
activity.
Belle was arrested twice more, but was never convicted
again. Sam Starr was killed in 1886, and Belle went on to live with Bill July
on Cherokee land. She allegedly reformed, refusing to shelter criminals in her
home. When July (whom she called July Starr) was arrested for horse theft, she
did not defend him.
Death and Ensuing Mystery
Belle Starr was shot to death on February 3, 1889, near Fort
Smith, Arkansas just before her 41st birthday. She had cultivated some enemies
over the years—including her son Eddie and daughter Pearl, with a farmland
tenant being viewed as the murder's primary suspect.
Edgar Watson, who rented land from Belle, was a fugitive
wanted for murder whom she kicked off her land once she discovered his history.
Authorities believed that Watson might have ambushed Belle and he was thus
arrested on suspicion that he'd committed the act. Yet he was eventually
released as there were no witnesses to the crime.
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Buffalo Bill Cody Biography
NAME: Buffalo Bill Cody
OCCUPATION
Theater Actor, Military Leader, Folk Hero
BIRTH DATE: February 26, 1846
DEATH DATE: January 10, 1917 2 IN THE CHEST HOME PAGE
PLACE OF BIRTH: Scott County (near LeClaire), Iowa
PLACE OF DEATH: Denver, Colorado
William F. Cody AKA Buffalo Bill Cody
NICKNAME: Buffalo Bill
FULL NAME: William Frederick Cody
Hunting and killing over 4,000 buffalo earned Buffalo Bill
Cody his nickname, and his status as an Old West legend was cemented with his
traveling Wild West show.
Beginnings of a
Legend
Born near LeClaire in Scott County, Iowa, on February 26,
1846, William F. Cody worked for a freight company as a messenger and wrangler
before trying his luck as a prospector in the Pikes Peak gold rush in 1859. The
next year, at age 14, Cody joined the Pony Express, fitting the bill for the
advertised position: "skinny, expert riders willing to risk death
daily."
Buffalo Bill: The Hero
Cody later served in the American Civil War, and in 1867 he
began buffalo hunting (to feed constructions crews building railroads), which
would give him the nickname that would define him forever. His own assessment
puts the number of buffalo he killed at 4,280, in just over a year and a half.
In 1868, Cody returned to his work for the Army as chief of
scouts (and his ongoing work with the military garnered him the Congressional
Medal of Honor in 1872, which was subsequently stripped and then reinstated),
all the while becoming a national folk hero thanks to the dime-novel exploits
of his alter ego, "Buffalo Bill.” In late 1872, Cody went to Chicago to
make his stage debut in The Scouts of the Prairie, one of Ned Buntline’s
original Wild West shows (Buntline was also the author of the Buffalo Bill
novels). The next year, "Wild Bill" Hickok joined the show, and the
troupe toured for ten years.
Beyond a Showman
In 1883, Cody founded his own show, "Buffalo Bill's
Wild West," a
A champion of women’s rights and a lifelong soldier, Buffalo
Bill Cody was more than just a Wild West showman and buffalo hunter. But his
larger-than-life persona, at times real and at others fictitious, is what lives
on in the hearts and minds of fans of the frontier West.
We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something
that doesn't look right, contact us!
Citation Information
Article Title: Buffalo Bill Cody Biography
Author: Biography.com Editors
Website Name: The Biography.com website
URL: http://www.biography.com/people/buffalo-bill-cody-9252268
Access Date: September 28, 2016
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: July 7, 2014
Monday, September 26, 2016
Wild Bill Hickok Biography
Wild Bill Hickok Biography
Law Enforcement, Folk Hero (1837–1876)
NAME: Wild Bill Hickok 2 IN THE CHEST Home Page
OCCUPATION: Law Enforcement, Folk Hero
BIRTH DATE: May 27, 1837
DEATH DATE: August 2, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH: Troy Grove, Illinois
PLACE OF DEATH: Deadwood, South Dakota
FULL NAME: James Butler Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok is remembered for his services in Kansas as
sheriff of Hays City and marshal of Abilene, where his ironhanded rule helped
to tame two of the most lawless towns on the frontier. He is also remembered
for the cards he was holding when he was shot dead -- a pair of black aces and
a pair of black eights -- since known as the dead man's hand.
A legend during his life and considered one of the American
west's premier gunfighters, James Butler ("Wild Bill") Hickok was
born May 27, 1837, in Troy Grove, Illinois. The son of William Alonzo and Polly
Butler Hickok, he was by all accounts a master marksman from an early age.
Hickok moved west in 1855 to farm and joined General James
Lane's Free State (antislavery) forces in Kansas. He was later elected
constable of Monticello Township in Johnson County, Kansas.
For the next several years, Hickok worked as a stagecoach
driver. During the Civil War he found employment as a teamster and spy for the
Union Army.
Birth of a Legend
Wild Bill Hickok's iconic status is rooted in a shootout in
July 1861 in what came to be known as the McCanles Massacre in Rock Creek,
Nebraska. The incident began when David McCanles, his brother William and
several farmhands came to the station demanding payment for a property that had
been bought from him. Hickok, just a stable-hand at the time, killed the three
men, despite being severely injured.
The story quickly became newspaper and magazine fodder.
Perhaps most famously, Harper's New Monthly Magazine printed an account of the
story in 1867, claiming Hickok had killed 10 men. Overall, it was reported that
Hickok had killed over 100 men during his lifetime.
During the Civil War, Wild Bill Hickok served in the Union
Army as a civilian scout and later a provost marshal. Though no solid record
exists, he is believed to have served as a Union spy in the Confederate Army
before his discharge in 1865.
In July, 1865, in Springfield, Missouri's town square,
Hickok killed Davis Tutt, an old friend who -- after personal grudges escalated
-- became an enemy. The two men faced each other sideways for a duel. Tutt
reached for his pistol but Hickok was the first to draw his weapon, and shot
Tutt instantly, from approximately 75 yards.
Wild Bill Hickok’s legend only grew further when other
stories about his fighting prowess surfaced. One story claimed he killed a bear
with his bare hands and a bowie knife. The Harper's piece also told the story
of how Hickok had pointed to a letter "O" that was "no bigger than
a man's heart." Standing some 50 yards away from his subject, Hickok
"without sighting his pistol and with his eye" rang off six shots,
each of them hitting the direct center of the letter.
Final Years
Following his Civil War service, Wild Bill Hickok moved to
Kansas where he was appointed sheriff in Hays City and marshal of Abilene. Both
towns had become outposts for lawless men before Hickok arrived and turned
things around. In an 1871 account that changed his life, Hickok was reportedly
involved in a shootout with saloon owner Phil Coe. In the melee, Hickok caught
a glimpse of someone moving towards him and responded with two shots killing
his deputy Mike Williams. The event haunted Hickok for the rest of his life.
After in inquest where other incidents of Hickok’s brand of “frontier justice”
was revealed, he was relieved of his duties.
Hickok never fought in another gun battle. During the next
several years he appeared in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, living off his
fame as the consummate gunfighter.
In 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was suffering from glaucoma.
Relegated to making a living through other means than law enforcement, he
traveled from one town to another as a gambler. Several times he was arrested
for vagrancy. On March 5, 1876, he married Agnes Thatcher Lake, an owner of a
circus in Cheyenne, Wyoming territory. He left his wife a few months later to
seek his fortune in the goldfields of South Dakota. It was here that he
supposedly became romantically linked to Martha Jane Canary, also known as "Calamity
Jane," but most historians discount any such amorous relationship between
the two. (She wanted to be buried next to her sweetheart and that's where they put her.)
While in Deadwood, South Dakota, Wild Bill Hickok became a
regular poker player at Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. On the afternoon of August
2, 1876, he was playing cards with his back to the door, something he seldom
did. A young drifter named Jack McCall walked in and approached Hickok from
behind. Not wasting a second, he quietly drew his revolver and shot Hickok in
the back of the head, instantly killing him. Even in death Hickok's legend
grew. The cards he was holding at the time -- a pair of black aces and a pair
of black eights -- became known as "the dead man's hand."
McCall was brought to trial the next day. He was found not
guilty by a “miners’ court” after telling judges that Hickok killed his
brother, though later accounts showed McCall had no brothers. After his
release, McCall had lingered in Deadwood for a short while before heading to
Wyoming. Less than a month after Hickok's death, the trial was found to have no
legal status because Deadwood was located in Indian Territory - McCall's
acquittal was deemed invalid. Still, feeling he had escaped punishment, McCall
began to brag to anyone that would listen that he had killed Wild Bill Hickok.
But the U.S. marshals were on his trail and McCall was arrested on August 29,
1876 in Laramie, where he was held before he was extradited to Yankton, South
Dakota. The trial began on December 4 and it only took two days for the jury to
find McCall guilty. He was sentenced to death on January 3, 1877 and on March
1, 1877 he was executed by hanging.
Citation Information
Article Title: Wild Bill Hickok Biography
Author: Biography.com Editors
Website Name: The Biography.com website
Access Date: September 26, 2016
Publisher: A&E Television Networks
Last Updated: February 8, 2016
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