Black Bart
The Poetic Stage Coach Robber ca. 1883
From 1874 to 1883 Charles Bolten (alias Black Bart) made his living by robbing the stage coaches that traveled the trails of Northern California. He hated horses and would always stop his victims while on foot wearing a long duster and a flour sack over his head. Standing in the middle of the road and aiming his shotgun (usually unloaded) at the driver, he would shout: “Throw down your box or die!”
He committed 27 hold-ups and became known for the signed poem he always left behind. One example:
"I’ve labored long and hard for bread,
For honor and for riches,
But on my corns too long you’ve tred,
You fine-haired sons-of-bitches…"
Black Bart’s undoing came the day he was surprised by a passer-by in the middle of a hold-up. Panicked, he hastily fled, leaving his handkerchief with a tell-tale laundry mark behind. This led authorities to a laundry in San Francisco and from there to Black Bart himself.
Newspaper accounts of his trial described him as "a distinguished looking gentleman who walked erect as a soldier and carried a gold-knobbed cane." He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but had five of these years taking off for good behavior. He was released on January 21, 1888 never to be heard from again.
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