Pearl Hart

Born in Ontario in 1871, Pearl Hart was known for her beauty and brilliance. She left an abussive marriage at 22, ultimately winding up in Phoenix, Arizona. Her husband followed her there and the pair briefly reconciled but their problems resurfaced. He left for the Spanish American War and Pearl, living as a prostitute, became depressed and attempted suicide a number of times or came close to doing so. Friends interfered, thankfully, each time.

She teamed up with a miner named Joe Boot and the pair moved to Globe, Arizona, where they unsuccessfully worked on a claim. In part due to this and in part because she received word from Canada that her mother was dying, the pair turned outlaw. They first robbed men who thought they were soliciting sex from Pearl but instead found they'd solicited a heavy blow to the head by Boot & empty pockets upon waking. They soon turned to the more lucrative prospect of robbing stagecoaches.

Though she cut her hair and dressed like a man, Pearl was too good looking for the disguise to be but so convincing. Pearl, feeling somewhat bad, returned a dollar to each, "to eat on...". They got lost during their escape and a Sheriff's posse soon found them.

Pearl was released by a jury who believed her tale of desperately needing the money to see her dying mother. The case received a huge ammount of attention in the press and she was particularly lauded for her statement that, "She would never consent to be tried under a law she or her sex had no voice in making, or to which a woman had no power under the law to give her consent."

She escaped once, with help from a fellow inmate who had fallen in love with her. The pair fled to New Mexico but were ultimately aprehended by a U.S. Marshall. She was sentanced to 5 years in Yuma Territorial Prison. The press continued to focus a great deal of attention on her case.

She was the only woman ever sent there and soon became pregnant. She may have, as many female convicts in England did, done this on purpose to get out of prison. It achieved the result, intentional or no and she was released early, pardoned and told to leave the state. (Probably helped her situation that the only two men who had been alone with her were a preacher and the Governor of Arizona at the time.)

After a brief time travelling and committing petty crimes, she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for a little while. Ultimately, she is believed to have returned to Arizona, married a rancher and lived to be 90.