In 1889 Arizona rejoiced in the possession of a female bandit, 

Pearl Hart, who carried shooting irons and who robbed stages.  

She was a woman of the half-world with an insatiable craving for 

morphine, cigarettes and notoriety.  According to Sheriff Bill 

Truman of Pinal County, she was a very tiger-cat for nerve and 

endurance and would have killed him if she could.  When the 

Sheriff came upon the woman and her male companion, Joe Boot, 

as they were sleeping on the ground in camp in the San Pedro 

Valley, a couple of days after they had robbed a stage in Kane 

Springs Canyon, she was attired for the road in rough shirt and 

blue overalls.  Pearl for a while was held in the county jail 

in Tucson where in October she succeeded in escaping by cutting 

through a light partition.  She was recaptured in Deming New 

Mexico with a hobo companion about the time, it is understood 

she was preparing to depart with a bandit gang, wherein she 

was to rank as queen.  She was tried in Florence in November 

1898.  A sympathetic jury found her not guilty of stage 

robbery.  Judge Doan thereupon "roasted" the jurors and 

dismissed them from the panel for the balance of the term.  

The woman was then again tried on the charge of robbing the 

stage driver of a revolver.  She was promptly convicted and 

was sentenced for a term of five years to the penitentiary of 

Yuma where she was the sole female prisoner.  Her companion, 

Boot, was given a sentence of three years.  The woman was 

paroled by Governor Brodie in December 1902 upon the condition 

that she at once establish her residence at some point outside 

Arizona.  Her real name was Taylor and her home had been in 

Toledo, Ohio.