Nov 13, 2018 06:44 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 13, 2018 07:20 PM by C C.)
Death Valley Days had a typical Hollywood-fied episode about her in 1964 (rare color television for the era). With Anne Francis of Forbidden Planet fame in the starring role.
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/1...earl-hart/
BIO: Pearl Hart (born Pearl Taylor; c. 1871 – after 1928) was a Canadian-born outlaw of the American Old West. She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States, and her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender. Many details of Hart's life are uncertain, with available reports being varied and often contradictory.
Hart was born Pearl Taylor in the Canadian village of Lindsay, Ontario. Her parents were both religious and affluent, providing their daughter with the best available education. At the age of 16, she was enrolled in a boarding school where she became enamored with a young man, named Hart, who has been variously described as a rake, drunkard, and/or gambler. The two of them eloped, but Hart soon discovered that her new husband was abusive and left him [...] During their time together they had two children, a boy and a girl, whom Hart sent to her mother who was then living in Ohio [...]
[...After...] watching Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show [...] left [...] on a train bound for Trinidad, Colorado [...] Hart described this period of her life thus: "I was only twenty-two years old. I was good-looking, desperate, discouraged, and ready for anything that might come. I do not care to dwell on this period of my life. It is sufficient to say that I went from one city to another until some time later I arrived in Phoenix". During this time Hart worked as a cook and singer, possibly supplementing her income as a demimonde. There are also reports she developed a fondness for cigars, liquor, and morphine during this time.
[...] By early 1898, Hart was in the town of Mammoth, Arizona. Some reports indicate she was working as a cook in a boardinghouse. Others indicate she was operating a tent brothel near the local mine, even employing a second lady for a time. While doing well for a time, her financial outlook took a downturn after the mine closed. About this time Hart attested to receiving a message asking her to return home to her seriously ill mother.
Looking to raise money, Hart and an acquaintance known only as "Joe Boot" (whose name is probably an alias) worked an old mining claim he owned. Upon finding no gold in the claim, the pair decided to rob a stagecoach that traveled between Globe and Florence, Arizona.
The robbery occurred on May 30, 1899, at a watering point near Cane Springs Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of Globe. Hart had cut her hair short and dressed in men's clothing. Hart was armed with a .38 revolver while Boot had a Colt .45. One of the last stagecoach routes still operating in the territory, the run had not been robbed in several years and thus the coach did not have a shotgun messenger. The pair stopped the coach and Boot held a gun on the robbery victims while Hart took $431.20 (equivalent to $12,684 in 2017) and two firearms from the passengers. After returning $1 to each passenger, she then took the driver's revolver. After the robbers had galloped away on their horses, the driver unhitched one of the horses and headed back to town to alert the sheriff.
Accounts of the next few days vary. According to Hart, the pair took a circuitous route designed to lose anyone who followed while they made their future plans. Others claim the pair became lost and wandered in circles. Regardless, a posse led by Sheriff Truman of Pinal County caught up with the pair on June 5, 1899. Finding both of them asleep, Sheriff Truman reported that Boot surrendered quietly while Hart fought to avoid capture.
Following their arrest, Boot was held in Florence while Hart was moved to Tucson, the jail lacking any facilities for a lady. The novelty of a female stagecoach robber quickly spawned a media frenzy and national reporters soon joined the local press clamoring to interview and photograph Hart. One article in Cosmopolitan said Hart was "just the opposite of what would be expected of a woman stage robber," though, "when angry or determined, hard lines show about her eyes and mouth." Locals also became fascinated with her, one local fan giving her a bobcat cub to keep as a pet.
The room Hart was held in was not a normal jail cell, but made of lath and plaster. Taking advantage of the relatively weak building material, and possibly with the aid of an assistant, Hart escaped on October 12, 1899, leaving an 18-inch (46 cm) hole in the wall. She was recaptured two weeks later near Deming, New Mexico.
Hart and Boot came to trial for robbing the stagecoach passengers in October 1899. During the trial Hart made an impassioned plea to the jury, claiming she needed the money to be able to go to her ailing mother. Judge Fletcher M. Doan was shocked and angered when the jury found her not guilty and scolded the jurors for failure to perform their duties. Immediately following the acquittal, the pair was rearrested on the charge of tampering with U.S. mail. The pair was convicted during their second trial, with Boot receiving a sentence of thirty years and Hart a sentence of five years.
Both Hart and Boot were sent to Yuma Territorial Prison to serve their sentences. [...] The attention Hart had received in jail continued once she was imprisoned. The warden, who enjoyed the attention she attracted, provided her with an oversized 8 by 10 feet (2.4 by 3.0 m) mountainside cell that included a small yard and allowed her to entertain reporters and other guests as well as pose for photographs. Hart in turn used her position as the only female at an all-male facility to her advantage, playing admiring guards and prison trusties off of each other in an effort to improve her situation.
Hart's release from prison came in the form of a December 1902 pardon from Arizona Territorial Governor Alexander Brodie. The reason for this pardon, given on the condition she leave the territory, is unclear. At the time, Hart claimed she was needed in Kansas City to play the lead in a play, written by her sister, about her life of crime. A later rumor emerged in 1964, following the death of all potentially involved parties, alleging Hart was pardoned because she had become pregnant in a manner which would embarrass the prison. There is no evidence Hart ever had a third child, so this rumor, if true, may indicate a successful ploy on Hart's part. Upon release from prison, Hart was provided with a train ticket to Kansas City.
After leaving prison, Hart largely disappeared from public view....
https://www.americancowboy.com/people/pe...ial-prison
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/1...earl-hart/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Hart
http://www.annalsofcrime.com/04-03.htm
~
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/1...earl-hart/
BIO: Pearl Hart (born Pearl Taylor; c. 1871 – after 1928) was a Canadian-born outlaw of the American Old West. She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States, and her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender. Many details of Hart's life are uncertain, with available reports being varied and often contradictory.
Hart was born Pearl Taylor in the Canadian village of Lindsay, Ontario. Her parents were both religious and affluent, providing their daughter with the best available education. At the age of 16, she was enrolled in a boarding school where she became enamored with a young man, named Hart, who has been variously described as a rake, drunkard, and/or gambler. The two of them eloped, but Hart soon discovered that her new husband was abusive and left him [...] During their time together they had two children, a boy and a girl, whom Hart sent to her mother who was then living in Ohio [...]
[...After...] watching Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show [...] left [...] on a train bound for Trinidad, Colorado [...] Hart described this period of her life thus: "I was only twenty-two years old. I was good-looking, desperate, discouraged, and ready for anything that might come. I do not care to dwell on this period of my life. It is sufficient to say that I went from one city to another until some time later I arrived in Phoenix". During this time Hart worked as a cook and singer, possibly supplementing her income as a demimonde. There are also reports she developed a fondness for cigars, liquor, and morphine during this time.
[...] By early 1898, Hart was in the town of Mammoth, Arizona. Some reports indicate she was working as a cook in a boardinghouse. Others indicate she was operating a tent brothel near the local mine, even employing a second lady for a time. While doing well for a time, her financial outlook took a downturn after the mine closed. About this time Hart attested to receiving a message asking her to return home to her seriously ill mother.
Looking to raise money, Hart and an acquaintance known only as "Joe Boot" (whose name is probably an alias) worked an old mining claim he owned. Upon finding no gold in the claim, the pair decided to rob a stagecoach that traveled between Globe and Florence, Arizona.
The robbery occurred on May 30, 1899, at a watering point near Cane Springs Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of Globe. Hart had cut her hair short and dressed in men's clothing. Hart was armed with a .38 revolver while Boot had a Colt .45. One of the last stagecoach routes still operating in the territory, the run had not been robbed in several years and thus the coach did not have a shotgun messenger. The pair stopped the coach and Boot held a gun on the robbery victims while Hart took $431.20 (equivalent to $12,684 in 2017) and two firearms from the passengers. After returning $1 to each passenger, she then took the driver's revolver. After the robbers had galloped away on their horses, the driver unhitched one of the horses and headed back to town to alert the sheriff.
Accounts of the next few days vary. According to Hart, the pair took a circuitous route designed to lose anyone who followed while they made their future plans. Others claim the pair became lost and wandered in circles. Regardless, a posse led by Sheriff Truman of Pinal County caught up with the pair on June 5, 1899. Finding both of them asleep, Sheriff Truman reported that Boot surrendered quietly while Hart fought to avoid capture.
Following their arrest, Boot was held in Florence while Hart was moved to Tucson, the jail lacking any facilities for a lady. The novelty of a female stagecoach robber quickly spawned a media frenzy and national reporters soon joined the local press clamoring to interview and photograph Hart. One article in Cosmopolitan said Hart was "just the opposite of what would be expected of a woman stage robber," though, "when angry or determined, hard lines show about her eyes and mouth." Locals also became fascinated with her, one local fan giving her a bobcat cub to keep as a pet.
The room Hart was held in was not a normal jail cell, but made of lath and plaster. Taking advantage of the relatively weak building material, and possibly with the aid of an assistant, Hart escaped on October 12, 1899, leaving an 18-inch (46 cm) hole in the wall. She was recaptured two weeks later near Deming, New Mexico.
Hart and Boot came to trial for robbing the stagecoach passengers in October 1899. During the trial Hart made an impassioned plea to the jury, claiming she needed the money to be able to go to her ailing mother. Judge Fletcher M. Doan was shocked and angered when the jury found her not guilty and scolded the jurors for failure to perform their duties. Immediately following the acquittal, the pair was rearrested on the charge of tampering with U.S. mail. The pair was convicted during their second trial, with Boot receiving a sentence of thirty years and Hart a sentence of five years.
Both Hart and Boot were sent to Yuma Territorial Prison to serve their sentences. [...] The attention Hart had received in jail continued once she was imprisoned. The warden, who enjoyed the attention she attracted, provided her with an oversized 8 by 10 feet (2.4 by 3.0 m) mountainside cell that included a small yard and allowed her to entertain reporters and other guests as well as pose for photographs. Hart in turn used her position as the only female at an all-male facility to her advantage, playing admiring guards and prison trusties off of each other in an effort to improve her situation.
Hart's release from prison came in the form of a December 1902 pardon from Arizona Territorial Governor Alexander Brodie. The reason for this pardon, given on the condition she leave the territory, is unclear. At the time, Hart claimed she was needed in Kansas City to play the lead in a play, written by her sister, about her life of crime. A later rumor emerged in 1964, following the death of all potentially involved parties, alleging Hart was pardoned because she had become pregnant in a manner which would embarrass the prison. There is no evidence Hart ever had a third child, so this rumor, if true, may indicate a successful ploy on Hart's part. Upon release from prison, Hart was provided with a train ticket to Kansas City.
After leaving prison, Hart largely disappeared from public view....
https://www.americancowboy.com/people/pe...ial-prison
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/1...earl-hart/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_Hart
http://www.annalsofcrime.com/04-03.htm
~