During the “Wild West,” from about 1865-1890, during the rapid expansion of the American frontier following the Civil War, a cavalcade of different real characters entered the national imagination. Among these was Pearl Hart, the first woman to rob a stagecoach.
Why Stagecoaches Were the Ultimate Frontier Target
Stagecoaches were a long-used method of travel, going back to England in the 1600s. They involved an enclosed carriage drawn by four to six horses carrying people, luggage, mail, and often money. In the Old West, before the full expansion of the railroad system, they were a common method for transport between the many small communities that popped up at crossroads and mining towns. Stagecoaches were rarely used by poorer travelers, and were common for the middle-class and rich people. A common cargo of stagecoaches was money, often payroll for employees in locations such as mines.
Despite the mythology of the stagecoach robbery common in old west movies and other stories, they were relatively uncommon. Among thousands of stagecoach trips, about 450 robberies were known to have occurred over about a total of 50 years. With so few robberies occurring, the ones that did occur were widely publicized as daring acts, which often required a certain amount of planning and cunning to pull off.
From Canadian Poverty to Frontier Legend Through the Lies and Rise of Pearl Hart
Among the limited number of stagecoach robberies, very few involved women. Jane Kirkham was killed in an 1879 robbery (possibly by her own sheriff husband in disguise), and only a handful of women were directly involved with outlaw groups throughout the Old West.
Pearl Hart (born Lillie Naomi Davy) was born into poverty in Canada in 1871, and generally lived a life of crime throughout her youth. She eventually wound up in the mining town of Mammoth, Arizona, working as a cook.
Pearl had long held that she was a child of privilege, born to a wealthy family in Ontario, Canada, but modern research casts doubt on her claims.
The 1899 Arizona Heist and a $16,000 Frontier Payday
When the mine closed down, she and her companion Joe Boot devised a plan to rob the stagecoach that traveled between Globe and Florence, Arizona. In 1899, few stagecoach lines were still running in Arizona, mostly between towns with no railroads, and the Globe to Florence was one of the remaining lines. On May 30, 1899, Pearl (disguised as a man) and Joe robbed the stagecoach of over $400 (about $16,000 in modern currency) and escaped into the local wilderness. On June 5, the two were captured by Pinal County Sheriff Truman and his posse.
Media Circus, Private Cells and the Disappearance of the Bandit Queen
Pearl and Joe were tried, and Pearl became a media sensation. Her dramatic testimony (likely false) got her an acquittal on the robbery, but she would be convicted later for illegally carrying a gun. Pearl would be the lone woman in a men’s prison, and she basked in the media attention. She was eventually given about as comfortable a situation in the prison as possible with a private cell, and often received visitors.
Pearl Hart in prison from “An Arizona Episode.” Cosmopolitan 27: 673-677. May-October 1899. Source: Wikimedia Commons
She was paroled in 1902 and spent a few years in the public eye living off her fame. She faded from view and may have even committed some petty crimes afterward, but she appears to have eventually settled down and married, dying in the 1950s.
