Women Of The West
'Strong-Willed, Strong-Minded'
"But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man." Genesis 2:20b-22 (NIV)
"Raise less corn and more hell!" Mary E. Pease talking to farmers.
"You put me in here a cub, but I will go out a roaring lion and make all hell howl." Carry Nation, 1900, as she was thrown in jail for smashing her first saloon.
"The active disloyalty of these two women (Misses Lizzie Powell and Maggie Creath) is notorious, and their beauty, talents and superior education have made many a man a bushwhacker who except for that influence would have been an honest man. They are even openly and persistently disloyal. I regard them each of sufficient importance to either justify a strict surveillance or banishment from the state." A correspondence from General John McNeil of the Missouri State Militia to Provost Marshal W.R. Strachan, December, 1862.
When the Lord God created woman, He not only gave her to the man, but He gave her a mind as well, in some cases, a very strong-willed mind. Through ancient times the woman has sat back and waited on her man to hunt, bring home food that she might cook and raise her family well. That role was passed down from mother to daughter for generations untold. Barefoot and pregnant, raising children, keeping house and home together, yet in every generation there were always the ones who raised more hell than children.
In the Old West women have been portrayed as the weaker sex, following blindly, staying at home, sewing, cooking, but if you search carefully, you will see it was the woman who was the backbone of the Old West way of life. It was she who held things together with her finely woven threads of responsibility, security and strength. And when injustice had been done to her home and family, it was she who sought out justice, quick to right the wrongs.
It was through this strong-willed mind, a mind of her own, that some of the women found their place in history as companions to the outlaws or ended up as outlaws themselves. Dee Brown in his book The Gentle Tamers says the common bond for these ladies to go down the Outlaw Trail was "they lost their hearts to some romantic reprobate and therefore could lay the blame - as their sisters had done for centuries - upon the unregenerate sex." This writer, however, tends to disagree a bit with this statement, believing that since woman was given a mind of her own, she used it, and it was her way of showing the world she was her own woman that she went down the Outlaw Trail. Granted there were ones who rode with the men as their companions, giving nothing more than physical and emotional support, yet there were those who robbed, stole and held up stagecoaches with the best of the male outlaws simply because they wanted to.
One such flower of the West was Etta Place. A mild-mannered schoolteacher, she became associated with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, possibly aiding, abetting and abedding both of them. The trio began associating with each other somewhere around 1899 and by 1901 were heading to Bolivia by way of Fort Worth, Texas, and New York City. In Bolivia Etta took her place with the outlaws, helping the displaced Banditos Yanki. Denis McLaughlin in his book Wild and Woolly says of Etta at this time not only did she keep house but that she did ride with the men "the pinafore of the former tasks being replaced by immaculate riding habit, sombrero and Colt .45 while engaged in the latter." Maybe her love for the outlaws or the love of an adventure sent Etta to a new country and to a new occupation of outlawry until 1907 when she returned to the states, reasons of illness being given. Nothing more is heard about Etta after she is left in the Denver Hospital, yet her memory still remains as the haunted schoolteacher turned hunted outlaw.
Another companion to other Hole in the Wall members was Laura Bullin (sometimes spelled Bullion.) Also known as Della Rose, Laura came to Hole in the Wall with husband Edward Bullin but the rose blossomed a bit more by becoming enarmored of Bill Carver. Around 1896 Laura began pushing her dark hair underneath her hat and riding with the boys in their escapades. Carver was killed in 1901 and Laura's tear-stained eyes dried up under the nurturing wing of Ben Kilpatrick. Together with Kilpatrick, Laura committed a few robberies ending up in St. Louis where they were arrested in 1901. Once Laura was released from her cell, nothing more is heard of her...the blossomed rose had faded from sight.
"Shed not for her the bitter tear,
Nor give the heart to vain regret,
'Tis but the casket that lies here,
The gem that fills it sparkles yet."
Thus was the epitaph from daughter to her slain mother, killed by an unknown assassin in
Oklahoma...from the Pearl to the Starr.
Myra Belle Shirley was born in Missouri yet her family packed up and headed to Texas when her brother Bud was killed by Yankee troops during the Civil War and the family hotel was burned to the ground. The family settle in Scyene, Texas, John Shirley beginning another business. Daughter Belle married Jim Reed at the age of 18 after first meeting the likes of one Cole Younger who rode to Texas with his brothers to escape from the law in Missouri. The outlaw way of life was in her blood now. Whether the little girl born to Belle and Jim was Reed's or Younger's was never proven, but her mother called her "My little Pearl."
Though she dressed the part of the lady, Belle could handle her pistol and rifle. In Scyene, Belle opened her livery stable which was always kept full by the horses Jim brought in from his 'horse tradin'' business. Reed was killed in 1874. Though one young lover after another graced Belle's bed, she still lived up to her nicknames of 'The Lady Desperado,' 'The Bandit Queen,' and 'The Petticoat Terror of the Plains.' Even standing before 'Hanging Judge' Parker and receiving a light sentence had Belle back at work within the year.
Though several suspects were looked at, no one ever found the killer of Belle Starr, shooting her from the saddle of her horse Venus.
The lady rode the Outlaw Trail on her own terms. A lover's influence, family background, whatever the reason, these ladies chose their own destiny. Their deeds will forever be in the books of history as legendary simply because they were women who chose a different path than the schoolmarms and the housewives of their day. They chose to ride off into the sunset their own way.
SOURCED:
Brown, Dee. The Gentle Tamers: Women of the Old Wild West. Bantam Pathfinder, Toronto, 1958.
The Gunfighters. Time-Life Books, New York, 1974.
McLaughlin, Denis. Wild and Woolly: An Encyclopedia of the Old West. Doubleday and Company, New York, 1975.
Nash, Jay Robert. Encyclopedia of Western Lawmen and Outlaws. De Capo Press, New York, 1992.
Joni K. Buckner
Dallas
TX
September 1998