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In his forty years as a freelance writer and newspaper reporter, Bill Kelly had interviewed and written about hundreds of names familiar to us: Mickey Rooney, Rory Calhoun, Sylvester Stallone, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Broderick Crawford, Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ginger Rogers, Ida Lupino, John Wayne, Aldo Ray, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Leonard, Muhammad Ali, and Henry Armstrong are among many.

Bill has authored an astounding 15,000 magazine articles -- a phenomenal feat for any writer. He had appeared in Poker Digest, Card Player, Real West, True West, Treasure Search, Treasure Cache, Lost Treasure, South Bay, Country Review, True Detective, Inside Detective, California Highway Patrolman, Oklahoma State Trooper, Texas Highway Patrol, Inland Empire, Reader’s Digest, Poker World, Ring Magazine, Boxing Illustrated, K.O., and Variety. His freelance work has appeared in too many California newspapers to list here, but they include, Herald Examiner, Orange County Register and Press-Enterprise.

His critically-acclaimed Collector’s Edition of Bill Kelly’s Encyclopedia of Gunmen is a reference book treasured by historians and Western buffs alike. Bill’s second book, Treasure Trails and Buried Bandit Booty, is a collection of true accounts of buried outlaw swag, and contains clues to reportedly hidden loot throughout the United States.

Bill recently appeared on the History channel as an old west historian in High Rollers: The History of Gambling.

His latest book is Gamblers of the Old West ($24.95). An autograph copy can be purchased by contacting Bill by e-mail: wildbill@cosmoaccess.net or by snail mail: 29759 Longhorn Dr. Canyon Lake, Ca. 92804.

Bill Was born in Tom’s River, New Jersey, on May 5, 1927. He now resides in Canyon Lake, California, where he spends most of his waking hours writing tons of articles to be enjoyed by thousands of readers.

His book, EMPTY SADDLES, is a nostalgic tribute to the sagebrush sagas of the 1940s and 50s, and contains Bill’s interviews with fifty Cowboy stars that made cinema history. No release date has been set for this book at this writing***

BELLE STARR: THE WEST'S MOST FAMOUS FARO DEALER

At times there appeared a gambler who "stacked his chips" on various "lay outs" from Bangor to Brazos. He never missed a trick when it came to being crafty. Indeed, it added to his gusto to play not only against the luck of cards, but the talents of the other gamblers. He was quite prepared for the double stake - his life and his money - and of the two, held the former as of nugatory value. Of course he kept his pistol in prime order, sweet of pull, and at-the-ready. There would be little excitement about the game without drawing of cards and revolvers. There was always rot gut liquor - always in abundance in such gambling places. Those who ran gambling halls seldom indludged. Novices were urged to drink long and hearty, while the professionals were singularly abstemious. When play began, the inevitable result was that the intoxicated hombre lost all his gold dust. There was always the poor loser who sprung to his feet, his thumb on the hammer of his Colt revolver. He had "the drop," so to speak. Perhaps the three kings which beat his three queens, or four treys which beat his ace full, had become a trifle overbearing. Then there was the table, thoroughgoing stranger who had been dealing. In one stretched palm of the other hand he seemed to say, "It's all on the up-and-up, boys," That stoical-looking man to his right was his sidekick. It was his deal before, and alas the trick was done. The party to the left, seated on the soapbox, had a shrewd suspicion that in the "muss" the table might be upset; so he covered his chips with his hands to keep them from scattering. The old-timer, who had seen long service, calmly puffed his pipe; he had witnessed such shenanigans before. The noncommissioned man toyed with his pistol. He seemed to think that trouble was a-brewing and that if there was to be any gunplay, "promiscuous-like," he would know whom his pistol should cover. The man staring into the Colt revolver displayed a certain coolness. There was a quiet deliberateness about his knaverly which was of the most defiant kind. Overhead, a lamp threw a brilliant light and accented the play of human features.

It was something that happened somewhere, practically every day in the territories and according to the recollections of Belle Starr, "A prospector shot a professional gambler over a game of draw." Or "A gambler shot a cowhand dead at poker." This was as much a part of the old West as the sheepherders and soldiers; the mountain men, miners, and misfits...and the padres and the preachers. She was born on the only daughter of Elizabeth and John Shirley, in Medoc, Missouri, ten miles outside of Carthage, on February 5, 1848. Christened Myra Maybelle Shirley, she was later to become known as the famous "Bandit Queen" Belle Starr, or as noted by some historians, "Bella" Starr. Neither way is objectionable since she signed her name 'both' ways.

John Shirley was a bored farmer who loved to gamble and always shifted from one deal to another. He sold his farm and moved into town where he opened a tavern that specialized in whiskey and cards. Shooting scrapes, fist fights and cutting affrays were the usual everynight deversions. Over the flip of a card, an eye would be gouged out, or an ear chomped off. The loser of one of these brawls would usually end up on boot hill. Into this lawlessness the Shirley's reared their offspring: Preston, aged 20; Ed, aged 18, and Myra Belle, aged 8. In time, Myra Belle could outride and outshoot her brothers, or any other kid in the vicinity. She attended Carthage Female Academy through the eighth grade, took piano lessons and often entertained by playing "Sweet Betsy From Pike," on a Tinny piano in some gambling hall. On her off days she occasionally filled in as a faro dealer.

In 1863 a company of Federal Militia killed her brother, Ed, who was leading a company of Confederate guerillas. At this time Carthage was in ashes and the Shirley family had rolled across the prairie country, toward Dallas, Texas, stopping off at the present town of Holdenville, Oklahoma, their creaking oxen-pulled wagon bouncing through rutted trails and sinking sandholes of dangerous Choctaw and Cherokee country. They had to pass through Fort Smith Arkansas - a rip-roaring, hell-for-leather town bordering on Indian Territory. It was here that Myra Belle Shirley came in contact with con-artists, prostitutes, gamblers, whiskey peddlers, and gunmen, stiff-legged and fearlessly swaggering along the plankwalks, guns swinging from hip holsters. It was here, among this kaleidoscopic mass of humanity, that she got the gambling bug.

In Texas, they lived on a farm, near Scyene. The Shirley farm became a refuge for Conferate guerrillas whose impertinence> engrossed her. In 1866 Frank and Jesse James rode into Sceyene with four of the Younger brothers and made the Shirley farm their headquarters. When the gang lit out for Missouri a few months later, 18-year-old Belle was pregnant. She had several lovers but she claimed Cole Younger as the father of her illegitimate daughter whom she named Pearl Younger. Leaving her daughter with her parents, Myra Belle went to Dallas where she got a job dealing cards in a saloon. In no time she became adept at poker and raked in the money. She fared well financially as a Faro dealer and this is how she made her living off and on for several years.

She had been concentrating on a man who sat at her Faro table for quite sometime. Although he was unlucky at cards, he was daring and reckless. He was also on the dodge from the law. His name was Jim Reed. He called her the belle of Dallas. Thereafter, she dropped her first name and became Belle. One night Reed's gang took Belle out into the woods and she and Jim Reed were married by John Fisher, another notorious outlaw. It was only a mock ceremony on horseback, but Reed took it serious. He took Belle and little Pearl to live with his parents at Rich Hill, Missouri.

They returned to Texas where Belle opened a gambling hall in Dallas. Jim joined a consortium of outlaws led by Tom Starr, who terrorized the Cherokee Nation and had a standing reward on his head - dead or alive. Belle aided the gang by keeping her eyes and ears open about payroll shipments while dealing cards. When murder warrants were issued against Jim, the Reeds fled to California where they stayed in hiding for two years. Belle's second child, Ed Reed, was born in Los Angeles. Belle supported them by returning to her old trade as a Faro dealer.

Jim and Belle robbed and tortured a hawk-nose, Creek Indian who lived on the North Canadian river near Eufala. They tortured him until he told where he had hidden $30,000 in gold. With a posse on their tails the Reeds swiveled into their saddles and galloped to Dallas. Belle bought some fancy new clothes and they visited races, fairs and gaming tables in the finest saloons. When the Austin-San Antonio Stage Coach was robbed, Belle and Jim were implicated and they had to run again. Belle's parents took the children to raise. In August of 1874, Jim Reed was gunned down by John Morrice in the home of Charley Lee, near Red River, Lamar County Texas. Charley Lee, accompained by his wife and Morrice, hauled the body by springwagon to Paris, Texas. By the time she was thirty, Belle had slipped in and out of many beds including that of Jim French, Jack Spaniard, Sam Starr, Jim July, John Middleton, Bruce Younger, cousin of Cole, and a white man among the notorious horse thieves called Blue Duck. While in Dodge City she loaned Blue Duck $2000 which he lost in a poker game. When he told her of his loss she buckled on her revolvers, took Blue Duck to the gambling bar and told him to wait outside. She strode into the place, covered the players with her revolvers and demanded the money back. When the players refused she held them up for all the money that was on the table - $6,500.

In due time she married Sam Starr and had the audacity to rename Sam's Glass Holler, Younger's Bend. Sam and Belle were caught stealing horses and brought before Judge Isaac Parker at Fort Smith. Sentenced to a year in the Detroit penitentiary, Belle was out in nine months. She was reviled in the Detroit newspapers as "Queen of the Bandits," Petticoat Terror of the Plains," and the "Lady Desperado." John Middleton had a price on his head for killing Sheriff J.H. Black and was on the lam. He found his way to Younger's Bend in 1884. Belle immediately became enamored with John and he became one of her many lovers. Meanwhile Sam Starr and Felix Griffin had been implicated in a robbery of the Creek County treasury. A posse caught up with Griffin, but Sam managed to zigzag his way back to Younger's Bend. He found that his wife had ridden off with John Middleton. They agreed to separate to allay arrest. The plan was to meet near Dardanelle. Three days later Middleton's horse, saddled and bridled, a loaded .45 hanging from the saddle's horn, was found near the bank of the Poteau River. A search party was organized and they found Middleton's body. Sam had shot his face off and left him in the wilds to be eaten by wild animals and buzzards.

So Belle returned to Younger's Bend with Sam and all was forgiven. Sam got drunk at a Christmas party and drew on Frank West. Both went for their guns and both fell dead almost simultaneously. Jim July, a 24 year old Creek horse thief, moved in with Belle at Younger's Bend. He was a wanted man. Belle made Jim July change his name to Jim Starr. In 1889 she convinced him to give himself up and rode with him part of the way to Fort Smith. On the way back to Younger's Bend she stopped at a friend's house and argued with Ed Watson. Neighbors reported hearing two shots near the bank of the Canadian. Shortly afterwards, they saw Belle's riderless horse trot past. When they investigated, they found Belle Starr lying face down in a mud puddle. Her entire back was riddled with buckshot.

When friends wired Jim Starr of Belle's death he reached the Bend in nine hours. He learned the details, and Pearl told him of the conversation she had overheard between Ed Watson and her mother. Jim took it from there, charged Watson with the murder of Belle Starr, but without too much proof to back up his story. Commissioner Brizzolars ordered Watson released. Watson stayed in the Territory only long enough to collect his family and belongings, then moved to Arkansas. Within a short time he stole a horse; he was convicted in the Crawford County Circuit Court at Van Buren and sentenced to 15 years in the penitentiary at Little Rock where he escaped.

Ed Watson was finally slain by a posse of citizens on October 24, 1910 in Florida, and serves him right. Many historians believe that it was Ed Reed, Belle's own son, who shot her. Shortly before the shooting they had quarrelled bitterly over the loan of Belle's prize horse. She had told him not to ride it, but he did anyway. Taking up her quirt she beat the boy unmercifully and he left home, threatening to kill her. He was very jealous of his mother and Jim Starr and hated them both.

Pearl Younger, daughter of Belle, married a man named Bill Harrison but soon was divorced. It was not long after until she had a child out of wedlock that she called Flossie. The child was promptly put among relatives. It was not until many years later that Flossie found out that Pearl was her mother and Belle Starr her grandmother.

Jim July Starr was shot in Ardmore, Oklahoma resisting arrest in January 1890. He was buried in Potter's field. Belle's grave today looks over the Eufaula dam in Eufaula, Oklahoma. Pearl placed a marker at her mother's grave with the following inscription: Belle Starr Born in Carthage, Missouri, Feb. 5, 1848 Died Feb. 3, 1889 Shed not for her the bitter tear Nor give the heart in vain regret 'Tis but the casket that lies here The gem that filled it sparkles yet.