Introduction
Pearl Hart
November 9, 1892
I am in utter disbelief. I've been living in Phoenix for almost a year and guess who shows up on my doorstep? My first husband, Frank Hart, was standing right there in front of me with a big goofy grin on his face. I slammed the door in his face, but he made his way in anyways. I met Frank when I was living in Toronto and we got married way too soon. I'll admit I was a little immature at seventeen, but he was ten times worse. To make a long story short, life got hard fast and he liked to relieve his anger on me!
March 3, 1893
Well, I let Frank sweet talk his way back into my life. It was good for the first couple of weeks, but Frank and I both just couldn't get along. He and I both drink way more than we can handle, and not to mention I'm hooked on cigarettes and morphine. I can't stay sane without my morphine. It's just that I love him so much, and even though it gets really bad sometimes, I don't know what I would do without him.
January 20, 1895
I've been really down since Frank left me to join the army. I've been so depressed, and all I do is sleep and drink. I'm embarrassed to even admit that I tried to end my life last week. Thank God my friend Sarah stopped by to see me and found me lying on the kitchen floor. I've got some really good friends here in Phoenix and they seem to be determined to get me back in good health.
May 5, 1897
I haven't written in here in a long time! It's probably because I'm not so depressed anymore and I've been staying busy. I was working in Mammoth for some miners this last year, and while I was there I met a man by the name of Joe Boot. He was so smart and I couldn't help but be infatuated with him. I guess you could say he was very manipulative, but I didn't really mind it. He thought it would be better if we went to Globe to work, so we packed up our stuff in the middle of the night and started moving. It came a terrible downpour and we had to get some help from a couple of Mormon boys.
February 12, 1898
We had only been in Globe for two months when I got a letter from my aunt saying that my mother was really sick. She said that she probably only had a few days left. I went crazy. I had no money, and no way of getting to Canada to be with her. All I could do was sit here and wait for a letter saying that she was dead. I got the letter two days ago, so I'm expecting to hear from my aunt any day.
June 2, 1899
I've been so angry since my mother died. It wasn't fair that I couldn't be with her while she was sick. I don't blame my insanity solely on this, but it had a lot to do with it. A couple of days ago Joe and I actually held up a stagecoach with three passengers in it. We stole four hundred dollars! We made each of them get out of the coach and empty out their pockets. We never had any intention of killing any of them, but that woman was crying her eyes out! Of course I showed them a little bit of sympathy and left a couple of dollars for them to eat on! We headed to Florence afterward, and that's where we'll be hiding out for the next few days. It was such a high, and I'm afraid it won't be the last time I hold someone at gun point.
Depiction of what a robbery might have looked like!
Editor's Note: The next few journal entries came from the diary Pearl Hart kept while being held in Pima County Jail in Tucson, Arizona.
March 20, 1900
Well, the law caught up to me pretty quick. I've been in jail for the last several months, and it's getting really ridiculous. The guards treat me like a celebrity. Almost every day there's some kind of reporter at the jailhouse asking me questions. I guess it's because I'm really attractive and I'm tougher than most women. I really don't think I live up to the reputation they give me, but I might as well enjoy it. The Cosmopolitan magazine actually wrote me, and added a couple of my letters to their magazine. I thought that was kind of odd. I miss seeing Joe everyday. He really taught me well though, so I don't think I'll be in here too much longer. I've been sweet-talking one of the guards. He has no idea what I've got planned, but it's going to be big.
June 3, 1902
It's taken a lot longer than I thought it would to finish my little scheme. I've been seeing a guard named Jerry every night, and I've finally got everything figured out. I saw my lawyer this morning, and told him that I thought I was pregnant. I really showed him my acting skills. I was crying and saying that it wasn't fair to be treated like this in a prison. I told him I was so humiliated and that I was going to tell all of the reporters about how this guard lured me from my prison cell. If I'm really pregnant, it's very possible I'll be getting out of here soon!
July 16, 1902
I knew everything would work out for me. I got paroled a few days ago because the prison didn't want to be embarrassed. I don't know why they mess with me anyways. I've never hurt anybody or anything. I'm happy because now I can go see my two children that have been staying with relatives. I haven't seen them in several years, so hopefully they will remember me. Everyone that knows me says I'm too smart and beautiful to be so recklessly careless, but I can't seem to change who I am. I enjoy it too much!
Author's note:
I liked the story of Pearl Hart because I thought it was pretty comical the way she was treated in prison. She wasn't really treated like a prisoner at all. She was actually treated more like a celebrity. It was said that she had so many people visit her at prison to interview her, and the guards actually posed in pictures with her. It's said that she was tall, slender, and very gorgeous. I guess you don't see a lot of models holding up banks these days, so it was probably a pretty cool thing to see. Pearl Hart was kind of hard to write about, because she really only had the one major robbery, which was the stage coach robbery. Just like the rest of the women, she suffered a lot of hardships with her mother dying and her husband joining the army. After reading about Pearl, I thought she seemed emotionally unstable. She was really immature I thought, and couldn't really take care of herself. She was always relying on someone else to take care of her. Pearl was actually arrested again a couple of years after her release because she was accepting stolen goods and running a pickpocket ring. She was released shortly after, and ended up remarrying and lived well into her eighties.
Bibliography
East Central Arizona History: Pearl Hart
Copyright 1996 by Paul Machula
Arizona Daily Star: Pearl Hart
Published 10-31-08 By Kimberly Matas
Image Information
Original Image
First image
Spartacus Educational Schoolnet
Original Image
Second Image
Sharlot Hall Museum
I am in utter disbelief. I've been living in Phoenix for almost a year and guess who shows up on my doorstep? My first husband, Frank Hart, was standing right there in front of me with a big goofy grin on his face. I slammed the door in his face, but he made his way in anyways. I met Frank when I was living in Toronto and we got married way too soon. I'll admit I was a little immature at seventeen, but he was ten times worse. To make a long story short, life got hard fast and he liked to relieve his anger on me!
March 3, 1893
Well, I let Frank sweet talk his way back into my life. It was good for the first couple of weeks, but Frank and I both just couldn't get along. He and I both drink way more than we can handle, and not to mention I'm hooked on cigarettes and morphine. I can't stay sane without my morphine. It's just that I love him so much, and even though it gets really bad sometimes, I don't know what I would do without him.
January 20, 1895
I've been really down since Frank left me to join the army. I've been so depressed, and all I do is sleep and drink. I'm embarrassed to even admit that I tried to end my life last week. Thank God my friend Sarah stopped by to see me and found me lying on the kitchen floor. I've got some really good friends here in Phoenix and they seem to be determined to get me back in good health.
May 5, 1897
I haven't written in here in a long time! It's probably because I'm not so depressed anymore and I've been staying busy. I was working in Mammoth for some miners this last year, and while I was there I met a man by the name of Joe Boot. He was so smart and I couldn't help but be infatuated with him. I guess you could say he was very manipulative, but I didn't really mind it. He thought it would be better if we went to Globe to work, so we packed up our stuff in the middle of the night and started moving. It came a terrible downpour and we had to get some help from a couple of Mormon boys.
February 12, 1898
We had only been in Globe for two months when I got a letter from my aunt saying that my mother was really sick. She said that she probably only had a few days left. I went crazy. I had no money, and no way of getting to Canada to be with her. All I could do was sit here and wait for a letter saying that she was dead. I got the letter two days ago, so I'm expecting to hear from my aunt any day.
June 2, 1899
I've been so angry since my mother died. It wasn't fair that I couldn't be with her while she was sick. I don't blame my insanity solely on this, but it had a lot to do with it. A couple of days ago Joe and I actually held up a stagecoach with three passengers in it. We stole four hundred dollars! We made each of them get out of the coach and empty out their pockets. We never had any intention of killing any of them, but that woman was crying her eyes out! Of course I showed them a little bit of sympathy and left a couple of dollars for them to eat on! We headed to Florence afterward, and that's where we'll be hiding out for the next few days. It was such a high, and I'm afraid it won't be the last time I hold someone at gun point.
Depiction of what a robbery might have looked like!
Editor's Note: The next few journal entries came from the diary Pearl Hart kept while being held in Pima County Jail in Tucson, Arizona.
March 20, 1900
Well, the law caught up to me pretty quick. I've been in jail for the last several months, and it's getting really ridiculous. The guards treat me like a celebrity. Almost every day there's some kind of reporter at the jailhouse asking me questions. I guess it's because I'm really attractive and I'm tougher than most women. I really don't think I live up to the reputation they give me, but I might as well enjoy it. The Cosmopolitan magazine actually wrote me, and added a couple of my letters to their magazine. I thought that was kind of odd. I miss seeing Joe everyday. He really taught me well though, so I don't think I'll be in here too much longer. I've been sweet-talking one of the guards. He has no idea what I've got planned, but it's going to be big.
June 3, 1902
It's taken a lot longer than I thought it would to finish my little scheme. I've been seeing a guard named Jerry every night, and I've finally got everything figured out. I saw my lawyer this morning, and told him that I thought I was pregnant. I really showed him my acting skills. I was crying and saying that it wasn't fair to be treated like this in a prison. I told him I was so humiliated and that I was going to tell all of the reporters about how this guard lured me from my prison cell. If I'm really pregnant, it's very possible I'll be getting out of here soon!
July 16, 1902
I knew everything would work out for me. I got paroled a few days ago because the prison didn't want to be embarrassed. I don't know why they mess with me anyways. I've never hurt anybody or anything. I'm happy because now I can go see my two children that have been staying with relatives. I haven't seen them in several years, so hopefully they will remember me. Everyone that knows me says I'm too smart and beautiful to be so recklessly careless, but I can't seem to change who I am. I enjoy it too much!
Author's note:
I liked the story of Pearl Hart because I thought it was pretty comical the way she was treated in prison. She wasn't really treated like a prisoner at all. She was actually treated more like a celebrity. It was said that she had so many people visit her at prison to interview her, and the guards actually posed in pictures with her. It's said that she was tall, slender, and very gorgeous. I guess you don't see a lot of models holding up banks these days, so it was probably a pretty cool thing to see. Pearl Hart was kind of hard to write about, because she really only had the one major robbery, which was the stage coach robbery. Just like the rest of the women, she suffered a lot of hardships with her mother dying and her husband joining the army. After reading about Pearl, I thought she seemed emotionally unstable. She was really immature I thought, and couldn't really take care of herself. She was always relying on someone else to take care of her. Pearl was actually arrested again a couple of years after her release because she was accepting stolen goods and running a pickpocket ring. She was released shortly after, and ended up remarrying and lived well into her eighties.
Bibliography
East Central Arizona History: Pearl Hart
Copyright 1996 by Paul Machula
Arizona Daily Star: Pearl Hart
Published 10-31-08 By Kimberly Matas
Image Information
Original Image
First image
Spartacus Educational Schoolnet
Original Image
Second Image
Sharlot Hall Museum