Today’s episode features the lives of mother - daughter outlaws, Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen and her daughter, Pearl. Season 3 features inspiring, gallant, even audacious stories of REAL 19th century women from the Wild West. These stories sometimes contain adult content which may be disturbing to some listeners, or secondhand listeners. So, discretion is advised. I am Andrea Anderson and this is Queens of the Mines, Season Three.

Carthage, Missouri is America’s Maple Leaf City, and the site of the first official engagement of the American Civil War, which took place July 5, 1861. Thirteen years earlier, Myra Maybelle Shirley, was born there on Feb. 5, 1848. They called her Belle. In an attempt to raise her to be a lady, the Shirley’s sent their daughter to be educated at the Carthage Female Academy. Belle was intelligent but she was also hot tempered and if unchecked, her mouth could turn a mule skinner’s face scarlet. As a result, she got into fights with girls and boys alike at the academy. She would carry this attitude throughout her whole life.