Talk:Pearl Hart

Inconsistent dates

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"The robbery occurred on May 30, 1899" ... "Hart and Boot came to trial for robbing the stagecoach passengers in October 1898" 209.202.78.212 (talk) 14:51, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the spot. I have double check my sources and fixed the dates. --Allen3 ^talk 15:13, 16 August 2010 (UTC)

Any information on what was stolen? Thank you 142.59.2.42 (talk) 18:39, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

Another one

The text near the end of the Early life section suggests that her husband (or perhaps Bandman) left her in Tucson to fight in the Spanish-American war, which didn't start until late April 1898, but the start of the Life of crime section places her in Mammoth, Arizona (granted, only 50 miles from Tucson) in "early 1898". This would appear to be a contradiction.

In fairness, volunteers started signing up immediately after the explosion of the USS Maine on 15th February (see article - last paragraph), so if he was one of the first (did word spread that fast?) she could have moved to Mammoth immediately and been there before the end of February, which could constitute "early 1898", I suppose. One way or another those timings could do with clarification, if such is available from the sources. --Mikepeat (talk) 12:12, 31 May 2017 (UTC)

Early life

As documented in John Boessenecker's book Wildcat, and corroborated by family and the Lindsay historical society, Hart's early life as described in this entry is completely false and details of her later life are also incorrect. Her real name was Lillie Naomi Davy. Hart's father, Albert Davy, was a wandering laborer best known for his heavy drinking and frequent brawling. Albert met Hart's mother, Lindsay native Anna Duval, in 1846. Both were illiterate. Hart was the couple's third child, born in 1871. Her childhood was one of poverty, exacerbated by her father's alcoholism and abuse and, in 1877, his rape of a young woman named Alice Timms. Davy was given a flogging and a one-year jail sentence.

Hart had very little schooling and amidst the chaos of her family life drifted into her earliest acts of crime in 1881 in the Village of Orilia, 50 miles from Lindsay, just after the birth of Davys' eighth child. Hart, then 11, and her brother Willie, 13, were caught stealing a cow and then re-selling it. Lillie was released, but Willie was sentenced to three years in the Boys Reformatory of Upper Canada.

In 1884, after the family was abandoned by Albert Davy, Hart was witness to the horrific gang rape of her mother by four local men.

The family eventually ended up in Rochester NY where they were constant strains on the local systems. Hart had involvements with several abusive men over the years and worked her way west as a young woman largely through prostitution. Her sister Katy was her frequent collaborator over the years, as children in Rochester where they regularly committed crimes, as prostitutes, and later worked together in Katy's stage career.

Hart was never in the Wild West show. She finished her days in Los Angeles living with her daughter and granddaughter.

This article definitely needs a major update. Bevansaith (talk) 18:58, 25 July 2023 (UTC)