Pearl Hart, Lady Bandit
Pearl was born in Lindsay, Ontario in 1871. Her mother sent her to boarding school when she was 16. There she met a man named Hart and they fell in love. A short time later they eloped. She wasn't married long. When he started abusing her, she fled back to her mother in Ontario. He begged her to come back, and being weak, she went. It wasn't long before he was up to his old tricks. She left him again and didn't look back.
She ended up in Trinidad, Colorado. She didn't stay there long, though, and wandered from town to town. Soon she arrived in Phoenix. By pure luck, she ran into Hart. They got back together and stayed together for three years. During that time, they had two children, a boy and a girl.
Once again Hart lapsed into his old habits. Pearl sent her children back home to her mother. She headed east herself, where she worked as a domestic. It took two years for Hart to track her down and convince her to go to Tucson with him. He continued to abuse her, but she got a break when he left to join the army. While he was gone, she left and went to Phoenix. Apparently she tried to kill herself three different times, but was saved each time. Deciding to live, she took a job as a cook for a mine on the Gila River.
She was there but a short time before she took off for Globe. But the wagon broke down and she had to go back to the mining camp. Shortly after her return she met a man named Joe Boot. He also wanted to go to Globe. They hired two men to drive them there. Upon their arrival, Pearl went to work at a boardinghouse. Unfortunately one of the major mines closed and most of the boardinghouse's clientele left town.
Pearl had no way to earn money. And to make matters worse, she received a letter telling her that her mother was on her deathbed. Pearl was frantic that she could not get back in time to see her mother. Her old friend Boot suggested that they work a mining claim he had to try to raise money to send her to Ontario. They were unsuccessful.
It was Boot who came up with the idea to rob the Globe stage. Pearl didn't like the idea, but was desperate for the money. She made Boot promise not to hurt anyone. On May 30, 1899, the two rode to a isolated point on the stage road. From horseback, the pair rode out in front of the moving stage as it came around a curve. Boot waved a .45, while Pearl carried a .38. Boot kept the driver covered, while Pearl dismounted and ordered the passengers off the stage. She searched them for guns and money. She took the two guns they had and about $430 in cash. As they rode away, Pearl warned them not to look back.
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