Howdy folks and greetings from the Great Plains of North Texas where it is a stunning 75 F and sunny today which translates to 24 C which means that me and Jack are having a great time today hanging around outside!
Ok, we are in the third quarter of the Belle Starr series. If you haven't been following, she is a famous lady outlaw from the American Old West, 1800's. Well, she was famous in her day but has been largely forgotten in modern times.
My theory for that is because she wasn't a beauty queen. She looked tough but was not considered beautiful by most.
Are we Shallow Hal?
Personally I'm not saying she wasn't beautiful. But if she was what the world considered beautiful she would have been the most famous outlaw of all time with many books and movies made of her. In my humble opinion. That's how shallow we are.
Sorry for getting sidetracked. It must be the warm weather. When we left off in the last post her husband Sam had agreed to turn himself into the U.S. Marshal. Bond was made and him and Belle were staying in town, Fort Smith.
The big fair
Their time in town coincided with an annual fair that was getting ready to start, a 5 day affair called "The Annual Fair of Western Arkansas and Indian Territory." Now this might be boring to those of you not interest in history but I think the description of the fair is interesting as far as what they consisted of in 1886 so here goes with the main attractions. Oh, this is written by the local newspaper The Fort Smith Elevator:
A competitive military drill and sham battle in which ten or twelve military companies and two batteries will take part, the United States Artillery Company at Little Rock being one of them..Governor Hughes will deliver the opening address and the state militia will be properly organized for the first time in the history of the state and will be reviewed by him.
The attractions in the city will be grand illuminations, fireworks, trades procession, etc. Three race balloon ascensions take place with a trapeze performance on each and horse races each day."
Now I don't know about you all but that sounds like some pretty good entertainment! I don't know what "grand illuminations" are but I bet they're impressive. And the balloon races with trazpeze artists hanging from them and performing with no nets?? Wow.
Belle and Sam are celebrities
But this is where it gets good. When the organizers found out that Belle and Sam were in town and planned to attend the fair, last minute arrangements were made and Belle was asked to participate. lol.
So even though they were both considered outlaws and Sam was the most sought after outlaw of his day and was in the middle of court proceedings for robbery, they were inviting them to be in the fair to boost attendance!
This is classic city government working at it's best is it not?
Anything to bring in cash? Ok well, what they came up with for Belle was a mock stage coach robbery. And if you remember she did indeed rob a stagecoach early in her career! So I guess she was well suited for the part.
Oh, this is funny too. Remember the "Hanging Judge" Mr. Parker? He had dealt with Belle and Sam and sent them to prison and it was Parker who requested that Belle take the lead in this drama!
lol. I'm DANG SURE that he knew she had robbed that stage back in the day.
Here's Judge Parker:
source
Does he look like he has a sense of humor? I think he does. Let's just hope he didn't think it was funny hanging all those men.
The show and mock robbery was a big hit and the Judge was one of the passengers who got "robbed." Belle had requested one of the prosecutors be a passenger but he couldn't make it.
Belle's plan for payback
As it turns out she later confessed that she had a secret and sinister plan in asking for that prosecutor to be there because he had ridiculed Sam in court for being illiterate and Belle was gonna kill him.
She said although they were all using blanks, she was going to have one real bullet and shoot that prosecutor.
I'm so glad that guy didn't show up! Can you imagine having the toughest judge in the country sitting beside the man you shoot to death? yikes.
Come on girl, you gotta stop and realize you can't do anything you want! So far in her life she pretty much has. Her story continues tomorrow.
Thanks for reading folks, God bless you all!
-jonboy Texas
the gentleman redneck
ps- ya know....you might just be a redneck if:
You go into a liquor store and come out with all of your Christmas shopping done!
