Pearl Hart, Lady Stagecoach Robber

Pearl Hart, Lady Stagecoach Robber

Joseph Parish

Pearl Hart was a late 1800s outlaw specializing in stagecoach robberies. She is listed as one of the last stagecoach robbers of the old west. It was her gender, which propelled her to fame and not so much her actual exploits.

Born with the name of Pearl Taylor in Lindsay, Ontario from affluent parents who granted their daughter the best of education facilities. At 16 years of age, Pearl attended one of the most premium boarding schools that money could buy. It was at this time in her life that she met and married a young drunkard and gambler named Hart. Shortly after they eloped, Pearl abruptly discovered that her recent groom was extremely abusive and decided to return to her mother. These periodical moments of reconciliation and departure went on for a number of years. During those years, Harts gave birth to two children, one a girl and another was a boy, who were eventually sent to reside with her mother in Ohio. During a period of employment with the world’s fair in Chicago, Hart developed a firm fascination involving the western type of cowboy lifestyle. The final turning point for her was attending a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. Upon the fair concluding, she once again parted ways with her husband and began a journey to Trinidad, Colorado accompanied by a piano player known professionally as Dan Bandman.

Hart describes this interval of her life as a period when she “looked good, was desperate, but discouraged and ready to tackle anything.” She would wander from town to town until finally arriving in Phoenix. To support herself, she served as a regular cook and bar singer. Some circles report that she developed a fondness for imported cigars, expensive liquor, and the drug morphine at this time.

During her stay in the city of Phoenix, Arizona she encountered her former husband who convinces the young lady to reunite with him. She agreed and he moved to her location. All was well as long as she had her saved money, however, as soon as her money was exhausted, he returned to his previous abusive ways. In 1898, Hart was residing in the city of Mammoth, employed as a boarding house cook. Some unverified reports have stated that on occasion she would function as a madam in a tent brothel at one of the local mines. When the mine finally closed for good her fortune took a turn for the worse.

In an effort to secure money Hart and a friend of hers worked a mining claim which the friend owned. With no gold to be had from the mining the claim, the pair decided they would rob the stagecoach line running from Globe to Florence. It was determined they would undertake the deed on the 30th of May. The location of the robbery was at a route watering point located close to what was called Cane Springs Canyon. This area was approximately 30 miles to the southeast of the town of Globe. At the time of the robbery, Hart cut her hair in a man like, short style and dressing entirely in men's style clothing. She carried a.38 caliber revolver with her, while her associate was in possession of a Colt. 45.

Since the stage had never been robbed in a vast number of years, the stage line did not find it necessary to employ shotgun carriers as guards. Along the route the stage was stopped, and her accomplice held his gun on the victims as Hart relived them of a total of $431.20, along with several personal firearms. Being of a generous nature Hart returned one dollar to each of the passengers. The pair finally mounted their horses and took off. In the meantime, the stage driver unhitched one of the stages horses and road toward town intent on informing the sheriff of what had taken place. Within a few days, Sheriff Truman from Pinal, captured the pair around the 5th of June 1899. Hart is reported to have put up a fight to avoid arrest, but eventually both were securely in custody.

After her arrest Hart was sent to the jail in Tucson, which there were no facilities to accommodate a lady. Within weeks the media caught wind of the stagecoach robber who was a female, and not a man, and it spawned a news reporting frenzy. The national reporters quickly gathered amongst the local press people clamoring for an interview, as well as photos of Hart. The particular room where Hart was held at the prison was not your topical jail cell, but rather one made from lath and plaster, such as one finds in a normal home. Using the weak building material to her advantage, Hart escaped on the 12th of October 1899, leaving behind an 18-inch hole carved in the wall. Her freedom was short lived, however, and two weeks later she was recaptured in Deming, New Mexico.

During her trial in October of 1899 Hart made a plea to the judge and jury that she needed the money to visit her ailing mother. As a result, she was declared not guilty to the anger of Judge Fletcher M. Doan. Just about immediately after being acquitted, she was arrested again on mail tampering charges. During her second trial, she was convicted and received a sentence in Yuma Territorial Prison for five years.

Hart was a popular celebrity in prison. The warden was fond of the attention she had brought to the prison so in return, he provided her an oversize 8 by 10 feet cell that included a small courtyard and he even allowed her to entertain quests and reporters. Being the only female in the prison, she used it to her advantage to improve her situation while incarcerated.

Hart received a pardon from Governor Alexander Brodie in December of 1902, on the condition that she agreed to leave the territory. Rumor has it that Hart received her pardon and left the area because she had become pregnant and it presented an embarrassment to the prison. Upon release she was provided with a train ticket to Kansas City, Missouri.

Hart disappeared from public view after being released from prison. At one point she was employed by the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show performing under an alias. By 1904 it was reported that she was operating a cigar shop in Kansas City, at which time she was arrested for receiving stolen property, however it turned out that she was acquitted of this charge.

There is a considerable amount of mystery surrounding Hart and she eventually died on December 30, 1955. Her featured life has been documented in a series of pulp Western fiction novels, in a 1900 film and a play about her life entitled “Lady with a Gun” and now this interesting woman from the old west is the subject of my latest rant.

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