Charles Bolles

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Charles E. Bolles, also known as Black Bart
Charles E. Bolles, also known as Black Bart

Charles Earl Bolles (1829–1917?), alias Black Bart, was a poet and an American Old West outlaw. He was also known as Charles E. Boles and C.E. Bolton. Black Bart was one of the more notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s. The fame he received for his numerous daring thefts is rivaled only by his reputation for style and sophistication.

Contents

[edit] Early life

[edit] Born in England

It is believed that Black Bart was born Charles Earl Bolles at Great Yarmouth, in the county of Norfolk, England in 1829. At the age of two, he moved with his parents to Jefferson County in upstate New York, where his father farmed their homestead of nearly 100 acres (0.4 km²).

[edit] Participation in California Gold Rush

In late 1849 Charles Bolles and a cousin took part in the California Gold Rush. They began mining in the North Fork of the American River in California. His brother Robert joined them in 1852, but died in San Francisco. Bolles then returned east and married Mary Elizabeth Johnson in 1854. By 1860, they made their home in Decatur, Illinois. In 1862, however, Bolles decided to go to war.

[edit] Civil War veteran

The Civil War was then in progress, and Bolles enlisted at Decatur as a private in Company B, 116th Illinois Regiment on August 13, 1862. He proved to be a good soldier, rising to the rank of first sergeant within a year. He took part in numerous battles and campaigns, including Vicksburg (where he was seriously wounded) and Sherman's March to the Sea. On June 7, 1865 he was discharged at Washington, D. C. and returned home to Illinois. He had received brevet (honorary) commissions as both 2nd Lieutenant and 1st Lieutenant.

[edit] Criminal career

[edit] The Wells Fargo incident in Montana

After the long years of war, however, a quiet life of farming held little appeal to Bolles and he yearned for adventure. By 1867, he was prospecting again in Idaho and Montana. Little is known of him during this time, but in an August 1871 letter to his wife he mentioned an unpleasant incident with some Wells, Fargo & Company employees and vowed to pay them back. He then stopped writing, and after a time his wife assumed he was dead.

[edit] First stagecoach robbery

Whatever it was that happened in Montana, it clearly changed Bolles' outlook on life. He re-emerged in official documents in July 1875, when he robbed his first stagecoach in Calaveras County. What made the crime unusual was the politeness and good manners of the outlaw. He spoke with a deep and resonant tone, and told the stage driver, "Please throw down the box." Bolles was always courteous and used no foul language. He covered his body in sacks and linen to hide his clothing and appearance. These distinguished features became his trademarks.

[edit] The "Black Bart" fictional character

Bolles, 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 such a serial called The Case of Summerfield, by Caxton (a pseudonym of William Henry Rhodes). In the story, the villain dressed in black, had long unruly black hair, a large black beard and wild grey eyes. The villain would rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches and brought great fear into those who were unlucky enough to cross him. The character's name was Black Bart, and Bolles decided to adopt this individual's identity.

[edit] A notorious bandit

Bolles, as Black Bart, robbed numerous Wells Fargo stagecoaches across northern California between 1875 and 1883, including a number of robberies along the historic Siskiyou Trail between California and Oregon. He eventually began to leave poems at the sites of his crimes as his signature. Black Bart was very successful and made off with thousands of dollars a year. During his last robbery in 1883, Black Bart was shot and forced to flee the scene. He left behind several personal items, including a pair of eyeglasses, food, and a handkerchief with a laundry mark.

[edit] The last stagecoach robbery

The last hold up took place at the site, ironically, of his first hold up on Funk Hill, just southeast of the present town of Copperopolis. The stage had just come across the Reynolds Ferry on the old stage road from Sonora to Milton. The stage driver was Reason McConnell. At the ferry crossing the driver picked up Jimmy Rolleri the 19 year old son of the ferry owner.

The stage had to travel on the steep road on the east side of Funk Hill. Jimmy Rolleri, who had brought his rifle, got off at the bottom of the hill, intending to hunt along the creek that ran around the southern base of the hill, and then meet the stage at the bottom of the western grade of the hill. However, upon arriving at the western side of the hill he was surprised that the stage was not there. Rolleri began to walk up the western grade of the stage road. Upon nearing the summit he encountered the stage driver and his team of horses on the western side of the summit of the hill.

As the stage had approached the summit of the hill, Bart had stepped out from behind a rock and stopped the stage with his shotgun. He had McConnell unhitch the team, and return with them over the crest again to the west side of the hill where Rolleri encountered McConnel and the team. Bart then tried to get the strongbox out of the stage. Wells Fargo, due to stage robberies, had bolted the strongbox inside of the stage (which had no other passengers) to the floor. Bart had taken quite a while to unbolt the box from the floor.

McConnell signaled to Rolleri that a hold up was in progress and Rolleri quietly came up to where McConnel and the horses were standing. At that moment Bolles was backing out of the stage with the box. McConnell took the rifle from Rolleri and fired at Bolles and missed. Rolleri then took the rifle and fired one or two shots. Bolles stumbled and dropped the items he had taken from the box and fled. If he was wounded, it was not serious.

[edit] Last robbery investigation

[edit] The handkerchief

Later, Wells Fargo Detective J. B. Hume (who looked enough like Bolles to be a twin brother, moustache included) found several personal items at the scene, including one of Bolles' handkerchiefs bearing the laundry mark F.X.O.7.

[edit] Finding "mining engineer" T.Z. Spalding

Wells Fargo detectives James Hume and Henry Nicholson Morse began searching every laundry in San Francisco for the one that used the mark. After questioning nearly 90 laundry operators, they finally traced the mark to the Ferguson & Bigg's California Laundry on Bush Street. From there they were able to trace the handkerchief to a man going by the name of C.E. Bolles who lived in a modest boarding house. Bolles described himself as a "mining engineer" and made frequent "business trips" which happened to coincide with the Wells Fargo robberies. After initially denying he was Black Bart, he eventually admitted that he had robbed several Wells Fargo stages, but confessed only to the crimes committed before 1879. It is widely believed that Bolles mistakenly believed that the statute of limitations had expired on these robberies. When booked, he gave his name as T.Z. Spalding. When the police examined his possessions they found a Bible, a gift from his wife, inscribed with his real name.

In the police report after his capture, it stated that Black Bart was "a person of great endurance. Exhibited genuine wit under most trying circumstances, and was extremely proper and polite in behavior. Eschews profanity."

[edit] Charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced

Wells Fargo pressed charges only on the final robbery. He was convicted and sentenced to six years in San Quentin Prison, but his stay was shortened to four years for good behavior. When Bolles was released in January 1888, his health had clearly deteriorated due to his time in prison. He had visibly aged, his eyesight was failing and he had gone deaf in one ear. Reporters swarmed around him when he was released. They asked if he were going to rob anymore stagecoaches. "No gentlemen," he smilingly replied, "I'm through with crime." Another reporter asked if he would write more poetry. He laughed, "Now didn't you hear me say that I am through with crime?"

[edit] Disappearance

[edit] Vacated room

Black Bart's end is more in keeping with the way the romantics of his day would have had it. He disappeared without a trace shortly after his release from prison. His San Francisco boarding house room was found vacated in February 1888 and the outlaw was never seen again.

[edit] Copycat robber

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

So here I've stood while wind and rain
Have set the trees a-sobbin'
And risked my life for that damned box,
That wasn't worth the robbin'

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

[edit] Rumors and theories

Rumors began to swirl that Wells Fargo had paid off the aging bandit and sent him away to keep him from robbing their stages. Wells Fargo always denied these rumors.

Although some theorized that he had moved and had decided to live quietly in New York City for the rest of his life (and died there in 1917), this was also never confirmed. Others prefer to believe the unlikely tale that the aging poet bandit had gone to the wilds of Montana or perhaps Nevada for another try at making a fortune.

[edit] Verses

Charles Bolles only left two authenticated verses. The first verse was left at the scene of the August 3, 1877 hold up on a state traveling from Point Arenas to Duncan Mills:

"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, 1877

The second verse was left at the site of his July 25, 1878 hold up of a stage traveling from Quincy to Oroville. It read:

"Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow,
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what will I'll try it on,
My condition can't be worse;
And if there's money in that box
'Tis munny in my purse."

Black Bart
PO8

[edit] List of crimes

[edit] 1870s

  • July 26, 1875: In Calaveras County, the Sonora to Milton stage was robbed by a man wearing a flour sack over his head with two holes cut out for the eyes.
  • December 28, 1875: In Yuba County, the stage from North San Juan to Marysville is robbed. A newspaper says it was held up by four men. This too has 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 arrive at the scene they find the "rifles" used in the heist were nothing more than sticks wedged in the brush.
  • October 2, 1878: In Mendocino County, near Ukiah. Bart is seen picnicking along the roadside before the robbery.
  • October 3, 1878: In Mendocino County, the stage from Covelo to Ukiah. Bart walks to the McCreary farm and pays for dinner. Fourteen-year-old Donna McCreary provides first detailed description of Bart: Graying brown hair, missing two of his front teeth, deep set piercing blue eyes under heavy eyebrows. Slender hands & intellectual in conversation, well flavored with polite jokes.
  • June 21, 1879: In Butte County, the stage from La Porte to Oroville. Bart says to driver, "Sure hope you have a lot of gold in that strongbox, I'm nearly out of money."
  • October 25, 1879: In Shasta County, the stage from Roseburg, Oregon to Redding. Robs U.S. mail pouches on this Saturday night.
  • October 27, 1879: In Shasta County, the stage from Alturas to Redding. Jim Hume is sure that Bart is the one-eyed ex-Ohioan Frank Fox.

[edit] 1880s

  • July 22, 1880: In Sonoma County, the stage from Point Arena to Duncan's Mills. (Same location as on Aug. 3, 1877. Wells Fargo adds it to the list when he is captured.)
  • September 1, 1880: In Shasta County, the stage from Weaverville to Redding. Near French Gulch, Bart says, "Hurry up the hounds; it gets lonesome in the mountains."
  • September 16, 1880: In Jackson County, Oregon, the stage from Roseburg to Yreka, California. Farthest north Bart is known to have robbed.
  • September 23, 1880: In Jackson County, Oregon, the stage from Yreka to Roseburg,. (Three days later President Rutherford B. Hayes & Gen. William T. Sherman are on this stage.) On October 1st a person (Frank Fox?) who closely matches the description of Bart is arrested at Elk Creek Station and later released.
  • November 20, 1880: In Siskiyou County, the stage from Redding to Roseburg. This robbery fails because of the noise of an approaching stage or because of a hatchet in driver's hand.
  • August 31, 1881: In Siskiyou County, the stage from Roseburg to Yreka. Mail sacks are cut like 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 answers, "Not very much for the chances I take."
  • October 11, 1881: In Shasta County, the stage from Lakeview to Redding. Hume keeps losing Bart's trail.
  • December 15, 1881: In Yuba County, near Marysville. Takes mail bags and evades capture due to his swiftness afoot.
  • December 27, 1881: In Nevada County, the stage from North San Juan to Smartsville. Nothing much taken, but Bart is wrongly blamed for another stage robbery in Smartsville.
  • January 26, 1882: In Mendocino County, the stage from Ukiah to Cloverdale. Again the posse is on his tracks within the hour and again they lose him after Kelseyville.
  • June 14, 1882: In Mendocino County, the stage from Little Lake to Ukiah. Hiram Willits, Postmaster of Willitsville (Willits today) is on the stage.
  • July 13, 1882: In Plumas County, the stage from La Porte to Oroville,This stage is loaded with gold and George Hackett is also loaded with a shotgun that foils the robbery and Bart loses his derby. The same stage is again held-up in Forbes town and Hackett blasts the would-be robber into the bushes and this is also mistakenly blamed on Bart.
  • September 17, 1882: In Shasta County, the stage from Yreka to Redding. A repeat of October 8, 1881 (Same stage, same place & driver), but Bart gets barely 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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