Cora Hubbard

Cora Hubbard
Drawing of Cora Hubbard from the Rock Island (Illinois) Argus
Born	Cora Hubbard February 1877 Columbus, Ohio
Died	?
Other names	Cora Parker, Cora Russell, Cora Sheets
Criminal charge	Bank robbery
Criminal penalty	12 years
Criminal status	Pardoned effective January 1, 1905
Spouse(s)	John Sheets, Bud Parker
Partner(s)	John Sheets, Albert Whitfield “Whit” Tennison

Cora Hubbard (February 1877 - ?) was a 19th-century outlaw who participated in the August 17, 1897 robbing of the McDonald County Bank in Pineville, Missouri. Hubbard, who was compared at the time to the more prolific female outlaw Belle Starr, was one of only a handful of women who actively participated in the actual bank robbery process during that era.

Though Hubbard claimed to be 28 at the time of the robbery, which would have put her birth in 1870, the 1880 U.S. Census listed her age as three, which would have meant she was born in 1877. In addition, the 1885 Kansas state census puts her birth year at about 1876 and the 1900 federal census, where she is listed as an inmate at a prison in Cole County, Missouri, lists her birth as being in February 1877. Hubbard was born in Ohio to Union Army veteran Samuel C. and Elizabeth Hubbard. She was the sixth of their seven children and their third and final daughter. In the 1880 census, Samuel (1841–1919) is listed as a cross tie maker and the family is listed as living in the Cedar township of Callaway County, Missouri. Between 1880 and 1885, Elizabeth Hubbard died and the family moved from Missouri to Kansas, living in the Spring Hill Township of Johnson County and later Weir City.

By August 17, 1897, Cora had married and divorced one husband, James Russell, and had married her second husband, "Bud" Parker, just a month and a half earlier. At the time of her crime she was living on Parker's farm in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) not far from the Kansas state line.

The plans for the robbery started on Bud Parker's farm near Nowata, Oklahoma, where he had recently brought his new bride, Cora. Cora's brothers Al and William “Bill” Hubbard were living in the same area around this time and John Sheets, a 23-year-old from Missouri, was working on the Parker farm as a hired hand. It is likely the arrival of 31-year-old Albert Whitfield “Whit” Tennison, who drifted into the area that August, was the genesis for the bank robbery plan. Tennison claimed he had previous experience in bank robbing and soon had the group rallied around his idea. The McDonald County Bank was chosen because Bill Hubbard had previously lived in Pineville and knew its layout. Bill Hubbard drew up the map and Bud Parker, Sheets, Tennison and Al Hubbard were designated to execute the plan. But, when the time came for it to be put into action, both Parker and Al Hubbard backed out. Cora then left with Sheets and Tennison and reportedly told her husband that she would not live with a “damn coward.”