Pearl Hart, nicknamed the Arizona Bandit, robbed stage coaches the way some people write emails — like it was her job. And it was her job, starting in May of 1899 when, desperate for money to send home to her young son, Hart, along with her lover, Joe Boot, decided to hold up the Globe to Florence coach. According to History, Hart, dressed as a man, walked away from the robbery with $418 in cash. It would have been $421, but Hart felt bad for the passengers and gave them each a $1 so they could purchase something to eat in town. The law caught up with both Hart and Boot and they were sent to jail. Hart then charmed some guards into helping her escape, but she was caught soon afterward.
Boot was sentenced to 30 years. Hart, though, was acquitted. This infuriated the judge, who sentenced her to seven years for stealing the stage coach driver's pistol. Then, awkwardly enough, Hart got pregnant in prison and, as a way to save face, the governor of Arizona pardoned her in 1902. Her life afterwards is hard to pin down. Some say she became an actress, others a player in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Still others say she settled down with rancher Calvin Bywater and became, in the words of her neighbors, "soft-spoken, kind, and a good citizen in all respects."
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