Hart, Pearl

Pearl Hart (born Pearl Taylor; 1871–1955) was a Canadian-born outlaw of the American Old West. She committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the United States, and her crime gained notoriety primarily because of her gender. Many details of Hart's life are uncertain, with available reports being varied and often contradictory. Hart was born Pearl Taylor in the Canadian village of Lindsay, Ontario; At the age of 16, she was enrolled in a boarding school where she became enamored with a young man, named Hart; During their time together they had two children, a boy and a girl, whom Hart sent to her mother who was then living in Ohio. In 1893, the couple attended the Chicago World's Fair, where he worked for a time as a midway barker. She in turn developed a fascination with the cowboy lifestyle while watching Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.[4] At the end of the Fair, Hart left her husband again on a train bound for Trinidad, Colorado, possibly in the company of a piano player named Dan Bandman.[3]: 50 

During this time Hart worked as a cook and singer, possibly supplementing her income as a demimondaine (prostitute); By early 1898, Hart was in the town of Mammoth, Arizona. Some reports indicate she was working as a cook in a boardinghouse.[3]: 50  While doing well for a time, her financial outlook took a downturn after the mine closed. About this time Hart attested to receiving a message asking her to return home to her seriously ill mother.[3]: 51 Looking to raise money, Hart and an acquaintance known only as "Joe Boot" (likely an alias) worked an old mining claim he owned, but found no gold in the claim.

The pair decided to rob a stagecoach that traveled between Globe and Florence, Arizona.[6] The robbery occurred on May 30, 1899, at a watering point near Cane Springs Canyon, about 30 miles southeast of Globe.[3]: 51  Hart had cut her hair short and dressed in men's clothing. Hart was armed with a .38 revolver while Boot had a Colt .45.[4] One of the last stagecoach routes still operating in the territory, the run had not been robbed in several years and thus the coach did not have a shotgun messenger.[3]: 51  The pair stopped the coach and Boot held a gun on the robbery victims while Hart took $431.20 (equivalent to $14,045 in 2021) and two firearms from the passengers. After returning $1 to each passenger, she then took the driver's revolver. After the robbers had galloped away on their horses, the driver unhitched one of the horses and headed back to town to alert the sheriff.[3]: 52 Following their arrest, Boot was held in Florence while Hart was moved to Tucson, the jail lacking any facilities for a woman.[3]: 53–54  The novelty of a female stagecoach robber quickly spawned a media frenzy and national reporters soon joined the local press clamoring to interview and photograph Hart.[6] One article in Cosmopolitan said Hart was "just the opposite of what would be expected of a woman stage robber," though, "when angry or determined, hard lines show about her eyes and mouth".[4] Locals also became fascinated with her, one local fan giving her a bobcat cub to keep as a pet.[4]

Taking advantage of the relatively weak building material, and possibly with the aid of an assistant, Hart escaped on October 12, 1899, leaving an 18-inch (46 cm) hole in the wall.[9]Both Hart and Boot were sent to Yuma Territorial Prison to serve their sentences. Boot became a prison trusty, driving supply wagons to chain gangs working outside the walls. One day while driving a wagon he escaped and was never seen again After leaving prison, Hart largely disappeared from public view. She had a short-lived show where she re-enacted her crime and then spoke about the horrors of Yuma Territorial Prison.[7]: 400–401  Following this she worked, under an alias, as part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.[4] In 1904, Hart was running a cigar store in Kansas City when she was arrested for receiving stolen property.[4]

A census taker in 1940 claimed to have discovered Hart living in Arizona under a different name,[4] as she had married again.