b'WOMEN OF THE OLD WESTPART 2 By Edward H. Peplow Jr. Reprinted from Outdoor ArizonaA T LAST, PEARL FOUND HER MTIER when she got to court. She was Sarah Bernhardt. She was the consummate coquette. She was the outrageous flirt. She was pouting little girl and the heartbroken woman and the penitent sinner and the unjustly accused saint. The newspapers had a ball, and soon Pearl Hart, girl bandit, was headlined across the country. The jurors, 12 good men and true, also had a ball, watching Pearl show her ankle, batt her lashes, and swish her full figure at them. They found Joe guilty with no hesitation, but they acquitted Pearl! Judge Fletcher Morris Doan blew his stack. He gave the jurors a thorough tongue lashing and ordered Pearl arrested again immediately on a lesser charge of stealing the stage drivers pistol. This time, Pearls blandishments didnt work, and she was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Justice had prevailed.Then came the surprise ending to the saga of Pearlin Lincoln County, Kansas, in 1870, she arrived inliving in a small apartment, immediately adjacent Hart. Three years after she was sent to Yuma, she wasArizona with her parents in 1882, in a covered wagon.to the museum she was building, in the structure abruptly paroled! The only condition was that she wasThey established the Orchard Ranch on Lower Lynxthat housed the first government of the Territory to get out of Arizona and stay out for good. AgainCreek, 20 miles south of Prescott, near Dewey. Thereof Arizona. In many ways, Sharlot Hall was the the name of Pearl Hart was on the front pages, butSharlot grew to know and love the mountains andembodiment of the pioneer woman of the West. all the stories contained the same question: Why wasthe desert and the people of Arizona. Her educationGentle as a woman should be, she was tough enough she paroled? The answer was hidden until 1955, whenwas gained in rural Kansas and Arizona, with ato do a mans work. Sensitive and kind, she was George H. Smalley, former editor of the Tucson Dailyterm of high school in Prescott. Then she studiedrealistically the life around her and courageous Citizen and one-time secretary to Governor Alexanderfor a short time under Miss Addie Murphy at theenough to report accurately what she saw. Devoted O. Brodie, during whose administration Pearls paroleCumnock School of Expression in Los Angeles and aas she was to her home and her writing, she still had was affected, revealed it. And it was quite simple. good education it must have been, for no more faciletime and energy to lead in the many worthwhile writer, able reporter, and gifted poet has ever gracedenterprises that only the ladies, God bless em, could Pearl hit on the rather obvious idea of convincingthe state. Her accomplishments were recognized in anaccomplish. She was the first honorary member of the the warden that she was pregnant. While at first, thathonorary degree conferred upon her by Dr. Rufus vonstate BPW. might not seem such a big deal, it became one becauseKleinsmid and the University of Arizona.of the many possible ramifications. Suppose sheBy 1912, the Arizona Federation of Womens Clubs accused the warden himself? A terrible black eye forSharlot Hall never married. It must have been by choicehad 22 affiliates and a total of some 800 members the administration of a territory that was strugglingfor reasons of her own, for certainly so charming andin 12 counties. Probably Congress heard that the for statehood! What kind of prisons did they havefine a woman must have been besieged by would- women of Arizona were organized, and decided out there anyway? Suppose she said another inmate,be suitors. Yet, her life was very obviously full andthat to try to withhold statehood any longer would such as Trustee Billy Stiles, with whom she oftenfulfilling, judging by the rich heritage of her works.be both futile and dangerous. It was these women enjoyed the freedom of the yard, was the father? SameShe served as associate editor of Out West Magazinewho built the libraries and schools. It was they question: What kind of prison, etc.? from 1905 through 1909. She was Arizona Territorialwho got the hospitals going and the country clubs Historian from 09-12, the year her mother died. Howand the museums and the churches. They kept Oh, it was political dynamite all right, evenshe covered the ground she did and accomplishedthe communities clean and wholesome as places though there are those inclined to doubt Pearlso much in the days when travel was difficult andwhere they could raise their childrendespite the herself understood all the potentials of her littlethe business of living consumed the full energies ofimpressions gained from TV and Wild West stories.idea. Governor Brodie certainly did, and he verymost people is marvelous. As mistress of the Orchard prudently decided that it would be improper for aRanch, she was a gracious hostess, good neighbor, andFrank Cullen Brophy, well known Arizona banker, baby to be born in prison; no innocent should becompanion and helper to her father. Yet, she exploredrancher, and civic leader said it well. He had inflicted with such a stigma. Pearl Hart was paroledmost of Arizona and wrote extensively about thespent a great deal of time as a boy on a ranch near on December 15, 1902. And it proved, for a while,history and natural wonders of the state.Tombstone, and his uncle and other men Frank knew a real Christmas present. The Hearst press is saidwell had been there during the hell-raising days of the to have provided her with a railroad ticket to NewSharlot Halls father died in 1925, and four yearsEarps and the Clantons and the Doc Holidays. So it York and a contract to appear on a vaudeville circuit.later she sold the beloved Orchard Ranch so shewas natural for an enterprising writer of Arizonians She was still good for some headlines but not forcould be close to a work that had become veryone day to ask Frank Brophy for some of the inside long. Her act went sour and was canceled. Then sheimportant to her. She moved to Prescott and beganstories on Tombstone during Tombstones days of joined Buffalo Bills show for a short time before shethe task of restoring the old log governors mansionBoothill fame.dropped out of sight for good. there, and founding a historical museum which is today known by her name. Her books were theHe said he didnt know any. To which, of course, Quite the opposite was Sharlot Mabridth Hall, poetbeginnings of the library, her collections of notesthe writer replied, Aw, come on, Frank, just a few, laureate of Arizona and one of the most influentialand writings the nucleus of the museums archives.please. It was obvious the writer thought he was and beloved women ever to call Arizona home. BornIt seems appropriate that she spent her last yearsholding back. Frank Brophys answer was surprising, 20 February 2021'