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Pearl Hart, The Lady Stagecoach Robber Of The American West
A woman who needed money and wanted nothing more than to be a hard-bitten cowboy, committed one of the last signature crimes of the Wild West
The stagecoach robber is an enduring image from the American Wild West. Dusty outlaws in cowboy gear brandishing six shooters likely come to mind but these desperados weren’t all men. In fact, one of the last stagecoach robbers on record was a petite woman named Pearl Hart who became a celebrity following her daring crime and capture.
Hart was born Pearl Taylor in 1871 in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada to a respectable middle-class family. She received a good education and had a solid upbringing, but her life went off the rails when she was 16 and fell in love with Frank Hart while attending a boarding school. The older man was a known gambler, drunk and general layabout. She married him anyway. Their relationship became defined by his drinking, abuse, and inability to provide for his family.
In 1893, the couple traveled to the Chicago World’s Fair. While her husband worked as a barker on the midway, Pearl became absolutely fascinated with the cowboy lifestyle after watching the famous Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Combined with also attending women’s rights…
