Black Bart (outlaw)

Charles E. Boles ( – ? Last seen February 28, 1888), also known as Black Bart, was an English-born American outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies. Often called Charley by his friends, he was also known as Charles (or C. E.) Bolton. Considered a gentleman bandit with a reputation for style and sophistication, Charles Boles remained in California for another two years before giving up and returning East again.

In 1854, Boles (who now used this spelling) married Mary Elizabeth Johnson. By 1860, they were living with their four children in Decatur, Illinois.

Civil War

On August 13, 1862, Boles enlisted as a private in Company B, 116th Illinois Regiment (his name is spelled "Boles" in the company records). He became a First sergeant within a year. Boles was seriously wounded at the Battle of Vicksburg, and took part in Sherman's March to the Sea

Copycat robber

On November 14, 1888, another Wells Fargo stage was robbed by a masked highwayman. The lone bandit left a verse that read:

Detective Hume was called to examine the note. After comparing it with the handwriting of genuine Black Bart poetry, he declared the new holdup was the work of a copycat criminal.

Rumors and theories

Victoria Tudor, the Marysville Cemetery Commissioner has said Boles had lived in Marysville, California in later life, working as a pharmacist. Boles is rumored to have been buried in an unmarked grave in the Knights Landing Cemetery in Knights Landing, California.

Verses

Boles, like many of his contemporaries, read dime novel–style serial adventure stories which appeared in local newspapers. In the early 1870s, the Sacramento Union ran a story called The Case of Summerfield by Caxton (a pseudonym of William Henry Rhodes). In the story, the villain dressed in black and had long unruly black hair, a large black beard, and wild grey eyes. The villain, named Black Bart, robbed Wells Fargo stagecoaches and brought great fear to those who were unlucky enough to cross him. Boles may have read the Sacramento Union story. He told a Wells Fargo detective that the name popped into his head when he was writing the first poem, and he used it.

Although Boles received much notoriety for his poetic verses, he left only two that have been authenticated. The first was at the scene of the August 3, 1877, holdup of a stage traveling from Point Arena to Duncans Mills, California:

The second verse was left at the site of his July 25, 1878, holdup of a stage traveling from Quincy to Oroville, California:

List of crimes

1870s

July 26, 1875: The stage from Sonora, Tuolumne County to Milton, Calaveras County was robbed by a man wearing a flour sack over his head with two holes cut out for the eyes.
December 28, 1875: The stage from North San Juan, Nevada County to Marysville, Yuba County. A newspaper related that it was held up by four men. This too had a description of the lone robber and his "trademarks". The "three other men" were in the hills around the stage; the driver saw their "rifles". When the investigators arrived at the scene they found the "rifles" used in the heist were nothing more than sticks wedged in the brush.
August 3, 1877: The stage from Point Arena, Mendocino County to Duncans Mills, Sonoma County.
July 25, 1878: A stage traveling from Quincy, Plumas County to Oroville, Butte County.
October 2, 1878: In Mendocino County, near Ukiah, Bart was seen picnicking along the roadside before the robbery.
October 3, 1878: In Mendocino County, the stage from Covelo to Ukiah was robbed. Bart walked to the McCreary farm and paid for dinner. Fourteen-year-old Donna McCreary provided the first detailed description of Bart: "Graying brown hair, missing two of his front teeth, deep-set piercing blue eyes under heavy eyebrows. Slender hands and intellectual in conversation, well-flavored with polite jokes."
June 21, 1879: The stage from La Porte, Plumas County to Oroville, Butte County. Bart said to the driver, "Sure hope you have a lot of gold in that strongbox, I'm nearly out of money." In fact, the stage held no Wells Fargo gold or cash.
October 25, 1879: An interstate route was robbed when Bart held up the stage from Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon, to Redding, Shasta County, California, stealing U.S. mail pouches on a Saturday night.
October 27, 1879: Another California robbery, the stage from Alturas, Modoc County, to Redding, Shasta County. Jim Hume was sure that Bart was the one-eyed ex-Ohioan, Frank Fox.

1880s

July 22, 1880: In Sonoma County, the stage from Point Arena to Duncans Mills (same location as on August 3, 1877; Wells Fargo added it to the list when he was captured).
September 1, 1880: In Shasta County, the stage from Weaverville to Redding. Near French Gulch, Bart said, "Hurry up the hounds; it gets lonesome in the mountains."
September 16, 1880: In Jackson County, Oregon, the stage from Roseburg, Oregon to Yreka, California. This is the farthest north Bart is known to have traveled.
September 23, 1880: In Jackson County, Oregon, the stage from Yreka to Roseburg (US President Rutherford B. Hayes and General William T. Sherman traveled on this same stage three days later). On October 1, a person (Frank Fox?) who closely matched the description of Bart was arrested at Elk Creek Station and later released.
November 20, 1880: In Siskiyou County, the stage from Redding to Roseburg. This robbery failed because of the noise of an approaching stage or because of a hatchet in the driver's hand.
August 31, 1881: In Siskiyou County, the stage from Roseburg to Yreka. Mail sacks were cut in a "T" shape, another Bart trademark.
October 8, 1881: In Shasta County, the stage from Yreka to Redding. Stage driver Horace Williams asked Bart, "How much did you make?" Bart answered, "Not very much for the chances I take."
October 11, 1881: In Shasta County, the stage from Lakeview to Redding. Hume kept losing Bart's trail.
December 15, 1881: In Yuba County, near Marysville. Bart took mail bags and evaded capture due to his swiftness afoot.
December 27, 1881: In Nevada County, the stage from North San Juan to Smartsville. Nothing much was taken, but Bart was wrongly blamed for another stage robbery in Smartsville.
January 26, 1882: In Mendocino County, the stage from Ukiah to Cloverdale. Again the posse was on his tracks within the hour and again they lost him after Kelseyville.
June 14, 1882: In Mendocino County, the stage from Little Lake to Ukiah. Hiram Willits, Postmaster of Willitsville (present-day Willits, California), was on the stage.
July 13, 1882: In Plumas County, the stage from La Porte to Oroville. This stage was loaded with gold and George Hackett was armed. Bart lost his derby as he fled the scene when it was determined that the Wells Fargo agent in LaPorte had supplied hardware to bolt down the strongbox. His derby was traced to him eventually through the laundry mark. The same stage was again held-up in Forbestown and Hackett blasted the would-be robber into the bushes. This was mistakenly blamed on Bart.
September 17, 1882: In Shasta County, the stage from Yreka to Redding; a repeat of October 8, 1881 (same stage, place and driver), but Bart got only a few dollars.
November 24, 1882: In Sonoma County, the stage from Lakeport to Cloverdale; "The longest 30 miles in the World."
April 12, 1883: In Sonoma County, the stage from Lakeport to Cloverdale; another repeat of the last robbery.
June 23, 1883: In Amador County, the stage from Jackson to Ione.
November 3, 1883: In Calaveras County, the stage from Sonora to Milton.

Bestowal

In geography

In some areas where Black Bart operated, notably Redwood Valley, California, there is a traditional annual Black Bart Parade featuring a man dressed as Black Bart playing him as a stereotypical Old West villain. Also in Redwood Valley, California, the road leading from California State Route 20 to Hell's Delight Canyon is called Black Bart Trail. There is a large rock at the side of Highway 101 on the Ridgewood Summit between Redwood Valley and Willits known by locals as "Black Bart Rock", though it is not the actual rock behind which Black Bart was reputed to have hidden while robbing stagecoaches (that rock having been lost in a series of highway improvements over the years). In Duncans Mills, California, there is a plaque commemorating Black Bart and featuring his first poem. In Oroville, there is a road named Black Bart Road, as well as a stone mortar monument with a description of a robbery that took place at the scene. In South Lake Tahoe, California there is a Black Bart Avenue off of Pioneer Trail commemorating his poems. In San Andreas, CA, there is an inn named for him: the Black Bart Inn. A pumpkin farm in Warrensburg, Illinois (near his Decatur residence) is named Black Bart's Pumpkin Patch.

In literature

Black Bart's life and exploits and his pursuit and capture by Hume and Morse are the subject of the 2017 novel The Ballad of Black Bart by Loren D. Estleman. The book was named Best Fiction in its "True West Best of the West 2018 Western Books" by True West Magazine.

The first full length biography is Gentleman Bandit: The True Story of Black Bart, the Old West's Most Infamous Stagecoach Robber, written by John Boessenecker and published by Hanover Square Press in 2023.

In comics

Black Bart is a character in La Diligence (The Stagecoach), by Morris and Goscinny, a Lucky Luke comic book from 1968.

In film and television

Dan Duryea starred as Black Bart (1948), a film produced by Universal Pictures.

In 1954, Arthur Space played Black Bart in the eponymous episode of Jim Davis's syndicated western television series, Stories of the Century.

In Gunsmoke episodes, a Black Bart wanted poster can be seen posted in Matt Dillon's office.

Black Bart appears as a character in Bob Clark's 1983 film, A Christmas Story, though he is only a figment of Ralphie Parker's imagination.

The South Park episode "Casa Bonita" includes an area known as "Black Bart's Cave".

In the 1917 film A Romance of the Redwoods, the leading male character is a highwayman named "Black" Brown. The movie largely parallels Black Bart's life, such as the Northern California setting, the rigging sticks on rocks to give the impression that a group of armed men are aiming at a stagecoach, and the character of Brown being shot in the hand.

The 1954 Death Valley Days episode "Black Bart" (Season 3, Episode 4) has Don Beddoe playing the title character.

A working title of the 1974 Western comedy film Blazing Saddles was Black Bart, a pun in reference to both this historical Bart and the film's main character being an African American named Bart.

In music

He inspired the Blue Lotus album Across The Canyon.

The song "Black Bart" is the 10th track on the 2013 album Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies of heavy metal band Volbeat.

References

Bibliography

External links

From Full Books "The Case of Summerfield" by William Henry Rhodes
From Project Gutenberg "The Case of Summerfield" by William Henry Rhodes
Black Bart: California's Infamous Stage Robber
OdieWare Homepage: Black Bart