Black Bart (Charles Earl Boles)
(b. 1829; d. after February 28, 1888)

Authorities almost catch the California bandit and infamous
stagecoach robber called Black Bart; he manages to make
a quick getaway, but drops an incriminating clue that eventually
sends him to prison.

Black Bart was born probably in the state of New York around
1830. As a young man, he abandoned his family for the gold
fields of California, but he failed to strike it rich as a miner and
turned to a life of crime.

By the mid-1850s, stagecoaches and Wells Fargo wagons transported
much of the huge output of gold from California. Often traveling in
isolated areas, the Wells Fargo wagons and stagecoaches quickly
became favorite targets for bandits; over the course of about 15
years, the company lost more than $415,000 in gold to outlaw
robbers.

It is believed that Boles committed his first stagecoach robbery in
July 1875.