Description: Portrait of Ed Reed (on right), Belle Starr's son, and Edgar Clark of Denton, Texas, with an unidentified man on the left. They are standing by a wooden contraption and in front of a painted backdrop. Both men are wearing similar rings on their left ring fingers. According to the 1900 U.S. Census, Edgar Clark was born in May of 1870 and living with his widowed mother and siblings at the Clark home located at the corner of Center (which is now Carroll Blvd) and Mulberry streets in Denton, Texas. His occupation was listed as "bartender." James "Ed" Edwin Reed was born in California on February 22, 1871 to Myra Maybell Reed, who later became known as Belle Starr. He was shot and killed in Claremore, Indian Territory [Oklahoma], on December 14, 1896 while attempting to arrest two men - J. N. Clark and Joe Gibbs - charged with peddling whiskey. He was previously a deputy U.S. Marshall and was known for the killing of two outlaw brothers in Wagoner, Oklahoma: Zeke and Dick Crittendon. Ed Reed's notorious past included horse theft and stolen property in Fort Smith, Arkansas (c1889), and along with his brother, Russell, the murder of James Rich in Echo, Texas (1893). Reed later turned state's evidence in another case, was released and made into a deputy marshal [-Cherokee Advocate, Dec.19, 1896].
Creator: W. H. Catterlin Co.
Partner: Denton Public Library