gerhard1
Abominable Snowman
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2016
- Messages
- 875
Here is the wiki article on her.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Starr
I noticed one oddity from the article.
The problem with what Eaton says is there is no record of Watson's execution. I searched the Espy database, both by state (Oklahoma and Arkansas) and turned up nothing. I then searched by name and drew another blank.
It appears, then, that if either of these versions are true, it is the second one.
Admittedly, I've just scratched the surface here and more research is needed before any reasonable conclusions can be reached.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Starr
I noticed one oddity from the article.
According to Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton, her death was due to different circumstances. She had been attending a dance. Frank Eaton had been the last person to dance with Belle Starr when Edgar Watson, clearly intoxicated had asked to dance with her. When Belle Starr declined, he later followed her. When on the way home, she stopped to give her horse a drink at a creek, he shot and killed her. According to Frank Eaton, Watson was tried, convicted and executed by hanging for the murder.[6]
However, another story says there were no witnesses and no one was ever convicted of the murder. Suspects with apparent motive included her new husband and both of her children, as well as Edgar J. Watson, one of her sharecroppers, because he was afraid she was going to turn him in to the authorities as an escaped murderer from Florida with a price on his head. Watson, who was killed in 1910, was tried for her murder, but was acquitted, and the ambush has entered Western lore as "unsolved".
The problem with what Eaton says is there is no record of Watson's execution. I searched the Espy database, both by state (Oklahoma and Arkansas) and turned up nothing. I then searched by name and drew another blank.
It appears, then, that if either of these versions are true, it is the second one.
Admittedly, I've just scratched the surface here and more research is needed before any reasonable conclusions can be reached.