Black Bart
1830?-1917
A gang of outlaws led by Rattlesnake Dick waylaid a Wells Fargo mule train in 1855 and got away with $80,000 in gold dust. This was the costliest robbery, but the next 15 year, more than 300 holdups occurred, with losses totaling $415, 00.
The most infamous of the California highwaymen was a solitary bandit know as Black Bart, who was born Charles E. Boles, in New York.
On July 26, 1875, he robbed a Wells Fargo stagecoach of $300. Wearing a linen duster and a derby hat perched atop a flour sack with eye holes, he intercepted the stage near Copperopolis, California.
Encouraged by his success, the stagecoach robber executed at least 28 holdups during the next seven year. He always hit Wells Fargo vehicles: he always wore the duster, flour sack mask, and derby: and he always worked on foot. Sometimes he left behind short, light-hearted verses, which he signed "Black Bart, the Po-8." (Gee that rings a bell)
Wounded in 1882, during a robbery, Black Bart was captured, tried, and sentenced to 6 years in San Quentin. Pardoned after four years and two months, he was rumored to have moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Other rumors held that Wells Fargo paid him not to return to robbery.
During His career, Black Bart never shot anyone ad never robbed a passenger, and his Wells Fargo loot totaled only $18,00. But his one-man campaign of banditry against the West's most prestigious express company assured him a special place in the history of American outlawry.
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