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Charles Earl
Boles, a.k.a. Black Bart, was born in 1829 in Norfolk County, England.
When he was two, he and his family moved to Jefferson County, New York.
In 1850 he went to California, and mine for gold. By 1861 he had a wife,
Mary Elizabeth Johnson, and two daughters. Later, in 1862 he enrolled
in the military. After serving in the military for three years, he headed
to California to mine once again. While he was in California he had a
bad experience with Wells Fargo and swore to get revenge. On July 26,
1875 something happened that would change Charles E. Boles's life forever,
a stagecoach in Calaveras County was robbed. The thief was wearing a flour
sack over his head with two holes cut out for eyes. He also wore sacks
on his boots and a long linen duster (a long coat). Black Bart started
robbing Wells Fargo stagecoaches in 1875. One thing that surprised the
stagecoach drivers was how polite Black Bart was.
On one occasion
a frightened woman handed him her purse, but he said, "No ma'am,
I don't rob the passengers. I'm only after Wells Fargo." He was always
committed his robberies alone, but sometimes he hid painted sticks in
the bushes to make the stagecoach drivers think there were more men against
them. After some of his robberies, Black Bart left a poem in the empty
strongbox. He would sign these Po8. Black Bart was finally wounded during
a gun fightwith a stagecoach driver and a passenger. He got away, but
he left a bloody handkerchief near the robbery scene. A detective looked
at the laundry mark on the handkerchief and looked all over San Francisco
to find out who it belonged to. Everyone was surprised when Charles E.
Boles was arrested! He served his time in prison, and then disappeared.
Black
Bart's poems:
Fourth Robbery:
"I've labored long and hard for bread,
For honor and for riches
But on my corns too long you've tread,
You fine-haired sons-of----------.
Black Bart, the Po8"
Fifth Robbery:
"Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow,
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat
And everlasting sorrow.
Yet come what will, I'll try it once,
My conditions can't be worse,
And if there's money in that box,
'Tis money in my purse.
Black Bart, the Po8"
Learn
what Wells Fargo has to say about Black Bart
Read
the life history of Charles E. Boles ("Black Bart")
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