Starr, Belle Carthage Missouri Press. "Carthage Puzzled About Belle Starr---1886 July 4 Observance" was the title of the article.
There is a picture of Belle Starr on horseback and the caption under the picture states "Ex-Carthage girl on horseback. The picture shows Belle Starr, born in Carthage as Myra Belle Shirley and her husband Sam Starr, a Cherokee Indian. She was the daughter of John Shirley who in the days before the Civil war operated a hotel at the northwest corner of the square. She was reared here and educated in the Carthage Female Seminary. She left for Texas in 1863 with her parents after her brother, a Confederate guerrilla, had been killed in a skirmish at Sarcoxie. After the war she figured in Indian territory history and finally died of gunshot wounds in 1889. The gunshot wounds were in her back. There were not many men who would have cared to meet her with a gun face to face."
The article gives accounts of her life in Carthage and when she left Carthage. The article also gave accounts of the July 4th celebration in Carthage. Dated January 29, 1953.
