Notorious, Remarkable 'Black Bart'

During many years of service with Wells Fargo & Company and intimate contact with various types of humanity, one of the most interesting personalities with which I became familiar was that of Black Bart, the accomplished road agent of most original methods. Though the courtesy of Sheriff Riecks of Stockton, I have succeeded in obtaining a photograph of Black Bart and a resume of his career. This partyâ??s real name is said to C.E. Bolton and he was a resident of [37 Second St. room 40] San Francisco. His practice was to leave his home in the bay city and take the evening boat for Stockton, arriving in the river town the following morning. Being a wonderful pedestrian, he would usually walk forty miles into the mountains by night time. The next day he would rob a stage and the only evidence he would leave would be a â??poemâ? in which there was some humor and occasionally a vulgar line. He was therefore known as the poetic robber. In the period from 1875 to 1883, when he was finally captured, he robbed many stages, particularly in the mountainous part of California, and Sheriff Tom Cunningham of San Joaquin County was always at the scene of the robbery as soon as possible in an endeavor to locate evidence.

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