Pearl Hart: The Frontier's Top Bandit Who Robbed a Stagecoach in 1899

Pearl Hart, born Lillie Naomi Davy in Canada in 1871, became the first woman to rob a stagecoach in the American Old West. On May 30, 1899, disguised as a man, she and her companion Joe Boot robbed the stagecoach traveling between Globe and Florence, Arizona, stealing over $400 (about $16,000 today). They were captured on June 5 by Pinal County Sheriff Truman and his posse. Hart's trial became a media sensation; her dramatic testimony led to acquittal on robbery charges, but she was convicted for illegally carrying a gun. She served time in a men's prison, where she received a private cell and visitors. Paroled in 1902, she lived off her fame for a few years, then faded from public view, eventually marrying and dying in the 1950s. Stagecoach robberies were relatively rare, with about 450 known incidents over 50 years, but they were widely publicized. Hart's story is part of the mythology of the Wild West, though modern research casts doubt on her claims of a privileged upbringing.