So many legends surround Belle Starr, the “bandit queen,” it is often hard to separate the facts from the romanticized fiction that has been told and written about her. It has been suggested that she led a gang of murderers and thieves on a crime spree through Indian Territory, but there is little evidence to support such a charge.

We do know from court records that in July of 1882, Belle and her Cherokee husband Sam Starr were charged with stealing a horse belonging to Pleasant Andrew Crane. A warrant for their arrest was issued by the federal court in Fort Smith which then had jurisdiction over Indian Territory.

The warrant was carried out by L.W. Marks who was the deputy marshal for the Vinita District of the Cherokee Nation. The warrant shows that Marks did not arrest Sam and Belle Starr until September of 1882, nearly eight weeks after the charges were filed. Fannie Marks, the deputy’s wife, told years later about the arrest of the Starrs.

In those days both communication and travel were slow. When a deputy marshal set out into Indian Territory to make arrests, he generally would rent a wagon, outfit it with supplies, and hire a driver, cook and guards. Then he would cross into the Indian Country with a handful of warrants and begin the sometimes tedious job of locating the wanted outlaws.

Commonly, the marshal would set up camp at a central location, form a posse of local citizens, head out to make a few arrests and then bring the prisoners back to camp where they would be guarded and fed. Then the traveling prison camp would move to another location and begin the procedure all over again. When the marshal had served all the warrants he could, he would then take his group of prisoners back to face their charges in Fort Smith.

Marks had been trailing Belle and Sam Starr for some time. It had been reported to him that they were heading for the Osage hills to evade arrest. According to his wife’s later reminisces, the Starrs stopped for the night at the home of an African-American family who lived on Bird Creek near Catoosa.

The marshal and his men camped on the creek, out of sight. Soon Sam Starr and one of the boys from the house brought their horses to the creek for water. The marshal arrested and disarmed Starr and then sent the child back to the house. He was to tell Belle that Sam wanted her down at the creek. When Belle approached the creek, she too was arrested.

Belle proved to be a loud and unruly prisoner, causing much grief to her guards. As the only woman among the outlaws, she was not chained as the others were. This would prove to be a mistake.

According to Fannie Marks, the prison wagon camped at Muskogee on the way back to Fort Smith. They were stopped at the old fairgrounds (now Spaulding Park). The marshal and his posse were out making arrests of other criminals so the prison camp was lightly guarded. They returned to camp at suppertime to find it in an uproar.

Belle had been eating dinner in her tent with a guard seated outside. A gust of wind blew up the tent flap revealing the guard with his back to her, his holstered pistol within her reach. In a flash, Belle grabbed the pistol and got off a shot, though it did no harm.

The posse returned to find Belle running through the camp in pursuit of the guard, hoping to free all the prisoners. She was quickly recaptured, and for the rest of the journey to Fort Smith she was kept handcuffed.

Sam and Belle Starr were tried for horse theft by Judge Isaac Parker and both sentenced to serve prison time in Detroit. This was the only crime for which Belle Starr was ever convicted. This fact never stopped the stories from being told about her and for many years, she was the most famous woman outlaw of the West.

Reach Jonita Mullins at jonita@netscape.com.