Black Bart  "The  Po8",  also  known  as Barlow, and as Spaulding,  was actually Charles E. Bowles/Boles born in Norfolk Co England in 1829.  At  the age of  two he migrated with  his parents to  Alexandria Township, Jefferson County, in upstate New York.  His father was John Bowles and his mother, Maria Leggett.   In Decatur Illinois, 1852, he met and married Mary Elizabeth Johnson, and by 1861, they were the parents of two daughters.

The Civil War began, and Charles enlisted for three years with the 116th Reg't Illinois Infantry
on August 13th, 1862 at Decatur and was mustered out in Washington D.C. June 7th, 1865.
Upon returning home, he began farming near New Oregon, Iowa, but apparently was not happy with that.  In 1867, he left for the silver mines of Idaho and Montana, and in August of 1871, his wife received a letter saying that he was headed for the gold fields of California.  Soon afterwards, he quit writing, and she assumed he had died.

Black Bart began operating in 1875.  Before a robbery he usually appeared in the vicinity as
a quiet, gentlemanly stranger.  Until he was identified by the laundry mark in San Francisco he had been above suspicion.  He had lived there as a well-to-do mining man with interests up country that required his absences from time to time.

On 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. The stage driver, John Shine, said he carried a double barreled shotgun and wore a long linen duster and sacks on his boots as well, to hide his garb. His voice was resonnant and deep and he only said, "Please throw down the box!" He was polite and used no foul language.  These became his trademarks.

Note:  He carried a shotgun, but it was said the gun never was loaded.  He never shot at a stage or those on it, although he was shot at many times.

Twenty-one or more holdups of stagecoaches were attributed to him.

Stage Robberies:

December 28, 1875
North San Juan to Marysville in Yuba County
A newspaper says it the stage was held-up by four men.  This too has a discription 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 posse arrive at the scene they find the "rifles" used: sticks.

June 02, 1876
Roseburg to Yreka stage in Siskiyou County

August 03, 1877
Point Arena to Duncan's Mill in Sonoma County
Robbed of $300 in coin and a check for $305.52 from the Grangers Bank of San Francsico.
The check was not cashed.  The posse go back to the sight to look for clues and find the first poem written on a waybill, under a stone atop a tree stump:
 

July 25, 1878
Black Bart leaves another signed poem after stealing $379 and a diamond ring worth $200:
 

An $800 reward was issued for the capture of the stage robber Black Bart.
Wells Fargo detective, James Humes is now on the case.

On July 30, 1878
La Porte to Oroville in Plumas County
The express box contained $500 in Gold and a silver watch.  D.E. Berry was the driver.
It is here that Black Bart tells a woman passenger:
"No, don't get out. I never bother the passengers."
Another quote is also attributed to him here:
"No ma'am, I don't rob the passengers. I'm only after Wells Fargo."

October 02, 1878
Cahto to Ukiah, Mendocino County.
Bart is seen picnicing along the roadside before the robbery.

October 03, 1878
Covelo to Ukiah, Medocino County.
Bart walks to the McCreary farm and pays for dinner. 14 year old Donna McCreary provides first detailed description of Bart: Greying 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 August 03, 1877.

September 01, 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, Jackson County, Oregon.
Farthest north Bart is known to have robbed.

September 23, 1880
Yreka to Roseburg, Jackson County, Oregon.

On October 1rst,  a person 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 08, 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."

December 15, 1881
Downieville to 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 loose him after Kelseyville.

June 14, 1882
Little Lake to Ukiah, Mendocino County.
Hiram Willits, Postmaster of Willitsville 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 looses his derby.   The  same stage is  again heldup in Forbestown 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 08, 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 City, Amador County.

November 03, 1883
Sonora to Milton, Calaveras County.
Black Bart returned to Calaveras County and the site of his first hold-up.  As Black Bart fled, he dropped his derby and a handkerchief with the laundry mark FXO7.

Wells Fargo detective James Hume and his agents traced the mark through 91 San Francisco laundries to find that the handkerchief  belonged to Charles E. Bolton,  a respectable mine engineer  who was staying at 37 2nd Street, San Fran- cisco, room 40.  When booked he signed his name  "T.Z. Spaulding."  He entered his place of birth as New York in 1832.

Hume had him arrested and in his report recorded that Black Bart was,
"A person of great endurance. Exhibited genuine wit under most trying circumstances.  Extremely proper and polite in
 behaviour, eschews profanity."

He was sentenced to San Quentin Prison for six years but it was shortened to four years for good behavior.

Black Bart was released January 22, 1888, having been a good prisoner, getting the benefits of credits, which reduced his time four years and two months.

The last time Bart was seen was in San Francisco on February 28, 1888 at the Nevada House.

Some legends have him teaching school.

For more about Black Bart, read the following books:

Black Bart: Boulevardier Bandit
by George Hoeper

Black Bart: The True Story of the West's Most Famous Stagecoach Robber
by William Collins, Bruce Levene

Bad Company
by Joseph Henry Jackson

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