Still another pistol-packing mama of the old frontier was Belle Star, a Dodge City resident in the spacious days of the cattle drives from Texas to the loading pens at Dodge, where Wyatt Earp was at the moment marshal. Belle, an accomplished horsewoman whose vocabulary achieved fame even in a time and place of great freedom of expression, had a personal interest in other people's livestock which kept her in constant hot water. When her husband, an Indian named "BlueDuck," lost $2,000 in a brace game of faro in Dodge, Belle, according to Forbes Parkhill, held up the gambling establishment and recovered not only the original $2,000 but interest to the tune of $5,000 more, "proving that a pair of six-shooters beats a pair of sixes." On another occasion Belle was leading a band of horse thieves near Fort Smith, Oklahoma Territory, when her hat blew off. Nobody did anything about it and Belle pulled her Colt. "Get down there and pick it up, you ignorant bastard," she screamed at Blue Duck. "Haven't you got any manners when you're with ladies?"
from page 337, The American West
from page 337, The American West