PART V - Pearl goes free
 On December 15, 1902 the Arizona Citizen announced the parole of Pearl Hart. She was pardoned by Governor Alexander O. Brodie on the recommendation of the Board of Control and Prison Superintendent Griffith. The Citizen commented, “the sudden release came as a surprise to every one familiar with the case.  In fact, it must have been an agreeable surprise to the prisoner, because she confidently expected to have to serve her full sentence.” The pardon was granted on condition that Pearl remain outside the Territorial boundary until the expiration of her sentence.  Yuma’s Sentinel reported:

 

    PEARL HART FREE – The Notorious Woman Bandit will Tackle the Stage Again, This Time as an “Actress” and Not As a Highway Robber
    Pearl Hart, the notorious, once more breathes free air, having been paroled by Governor Brodie last Saturday, and she left on Monday night’s train for Kansas City.  Quite a large number of people were at the depot to get a glimpse of Arizona’s famous female ex-bandit and they were not disappointed for she was there, and if there is one thing more than another that Pearl is not “shy on” it is a fondness for notoriety.
    Her ticket was bought straight through to Kansas City, where her mother and sister live, and the latter has written a drama in which Pearl will assume the leading role, arrangements having been made to play the Orpheum circuit, the initial performance to be given in Kansas City.  It is understood that the drama will embody Pearl’s own experience as a stage robber, with all the blood and thunder accompaniments, and the famous Pearl will once again, with her trusty Winchester, hold up the driver of a western stage, line up the passengers and relieve them of their valuables while her partner, “Boots,” covers the victims with his gun and takes no chances ...  She leaves the prison in good health, and free from the opium habit, to which she was an abject slave on entering the prison.  Pearl is a little woman weighing 105 pounds, but she has the slangy, tough demeanor, and when one contemplates her part in the stage robbery, it must be admitted that she has the nerve ...

 

 A later disclosure suggested that Pearl had become pregnant while in custody, and the suddenness of her pardon was the result. There is no record of a third child being born to Pearl, so the claim may have been a ruse to gain her early release or merely a misunderstanding on the part of the prison official.
 After a brief career on the stage Pearl managed a cigar store in Kansas City but, it seems, got into a bit of trouble again and moved to New York City. It was rumored that she worked under an alias in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show for a time before returning to Arizona, shortly before the start of World War I. There she met and married a rancher named Calvin Bywater and they settled near Globe. Pearl Hart Bywater died on December 30, 1955 at the age of 85.