Charles Bolles

Charles Earl Bolles (1829–1917?), alias Black Bart, was a poet and 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 Lake County, California during the late 1880s. The fame he received for his numerous daring thefts is rivaled only by his reputation for style and sophistication.

Early life

It is believed that Black Bart was born Charles Earl Boles in Norfolk, England in 1829. At the age of two he migrated with his parents to Jefferson County in upstate New York where his father farmed their homestead of nearly 100 acres (0.4 km²). In 1850 he began mining the North Fork of the American River in California. In the following years he would bounce around the nation, moving from one town to another in a search for gold. Burned out by prospecting, he returned to New York. He then married and had two daughters by 1862.

When the Civil War was declared, Charles again had an impulse for adventure, and enlisted with the 116th Regiment on August 13, 1862. He was well suited for the job, and engaged in a number of battles and accumulated awards, promotions, and injuries. In 1865 he was relieved of his duties and left for Iowa to begin a new life as a farmer.

The farming life did not interest Charles though, and he yearned for the excitement of gold hunting yet again. Little is known about Charles between the years 1871–75. His wife assumed him dead when he stopped writing, and there are some accounts of him teaching in Northern California during these years. What is apparent nonetheless, is that something changed his outlook on life and work. He reemerged in official documents in July of 1875, when he robbed his first stagecoach in Calaveras County. What made the robbery so unusual was the politeness and manners presented by the assailant. He spoke with a deep and resonant tone, and asked the stage driver to "Please throw down the box." He was courteous and used no foul language. He covered his body in sacks and linens to hide his clothing and appearance. These distinguished features became his trademarks.

Charles, 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 attack Wells Fargo stagecoaches and brought great fear into those who were unlucky enough to cross him. The character's name was Black Bart, and Charles decided to build on this individual's legend.

A notorious bandit

Charles, or Black Bart, robbed numerous Wells Fargo stagecoaches across northern California between 1875 and 1883. He eventually began to leave poems at the sites of his crimes as a signature for each theft. Black Bart was very successful at the stage heist trade, and made off with thousands of dollars a year. During his last heist in 1883, Black Bart was shot and forced to flee the scene of the crime. He left behind several personal items at the scene including a pair of eyeglasses, food, and a handkerchief with a laundry mark.

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. Bolton who lived in a modest boarding house. Bolton described himself as a "mining engineer" and made frequent "business trips" which coincided with the Wells Fargo robberies. After initially denying that he was Black Bart, he eventually broke down and 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 that came about 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."

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?"

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.

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 genuine Black Bart bits of poetry from the past, he declared the new holdup was the work of a copycat criminal.

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 has always denied these rumors. Although some stories reported he lived quietly in New York City and died there in 1917, others preferred to believe that the poet bandit had gone to the wilds of Montana, or perhaps Nevada, for another try at making a fortune.

Verses

"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

List of crimes

July 26, 1875: the Sonora to Milton stage in 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 to Marysville in Yuba County 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: Ukiah, Mendocino County. Bart is seen picnicking along the roadside before the robbery.
October 3, 1878: Covelo to Ukiah, Mendocino County. 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: La Porte to Oroville, Butte County. Bart says to driver, "Sure hope you have a lot of gold in that strongbox, I'm nearly out of money."
October 25, 1879: Roseburg to Redding, Shasta County. Robs US mail pouches on this Saturday night.
October 27, 1879: Alturas to Redding, Shasta County. Jim Hume is sure that Bart is the one-eyed ex-Ohioan Frank Fox.
July 22, 1880: Point Arena to Duncan's Mills, Sonoma County (Same location as on Aug. 3, 1877. Wells Fargo adds it to the list when he is captured.)
September 1, 1880: Weaverville to Redding, Shasta County. Near French Gulch, Bart says, "Hurry up the hounds; it gets lonesome in the mountains."
September 16, 1880: Roseburg to Yreka, California, Jackson County, Oregon. Farthest north Bart is known to have robbed.
September 23, 1880: Yreka to Roseburg, Jackson County, Oregon. (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: Redding to Roseburg, Siskiyou County. This robbery fails by either noise of approaching stage or hatchet in drivers hand.
August 31, 1881: Roseburg to Yreka, Siskiyou County. Mail sacks are cut like a "T" shape, another Bart trademark.
October 8, 1881: Yreka to Redding, Shasta County. Stage driver Horace Williams asked Bart, "How much did you make?" Bart answers, "Not very much for the chances I take."
October 11, 1881: Lakeview to Redding, Shasta County. Hume keeps losing Bart's trail.
December 15, 1881: Marysville, Yuba County. Takes mail bags and evades capture due to his swiftness afoot.
December 27, 1881: North San Juan to Smartsville, Nevada County. Nothing much taken, but Bart is wrongly blamed for another stage robbery in Smartsville.
January 26, 1882: Ukiah to Cloverdale, Mendocino County. Again the posse is on his tracks within the hour and again they lose him after Kelseyville.
June 14, 1882: Little Lake to Ukiah, Mendocino County. Hiram Willits, Postmaster of Willitsville (Willits today) is on the stage.
July 13, 1882: La Porte to Oroville, Plumas County. 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: Yreka to Redding, Shasta County. A repeat of October 8, 1881 (Same stage, same place & driver), but Bart gets barely a few dollars.
November 24, 1882: Lakeport to Cloverdale, Sonoma County. "The longest 30 miles in the World."
April 12, 1883: Lakeport to Cloverdale, Sonoma County. Another repeat of the last robbery.
June 23, 1883: Jackson to Ione, Amador County.
November 3, 1883 Sonora to Milton, Calaveras County.

References

External links

From Full Books "The Case of Summerfield" by William Henry Rhodes
From Project Gutenberg "The Case of Summerfield" by William Henry Rhodes
Lake County Courthouse Museum Exhibit.

American outlaws | Historic California people | Disappeared people | 1829 births | 1917 deaths