A summation of Black Bart's career. Note the second to last entry - Jackson to Ione - June 23, 1883

Born in Illinois as Charles E. Boles, he was an intelligent, well-educated citizen. After serving in the Civil War, he immigrated to California in search of gold. Unable to find any legally, he decided to try his hand as a highwayman. After clerking for a time in several stage offices to study shipments and schedules, he transformed himself into Black Bart in 1877 and made his first holdup.

With success came prosperity. He took the name of Bolton and quickly built a reputation in the San Francisco community as a non-smoking, non- drinking, God-fearing man with big business interests in the mines. When more cash was needed to support his lifestyle, he would come to the foothills and knock over a convenient stage.

Black Bart was credited with 28 stagecoach robberies between 1877 and 1883, and stagecoach drivers lived in dread of the day when Bart, dressed in a long linen duster with a flour sack over his head exposing only his eyes, would step out and call politely, “Will you please throw down your treasure box, sir?” No harm came to drivers or passengers. In fact, he never owned a single shell for his shotgun and could not have fired it even in self-defense.

Wounded escaping from a holdup near Copperopolis, he accidentally dropped a handkerchief with a San Francisco laundry mark that was traced back to Charles E. Bolton. Much to everyone’s surprise, Bolton and Black Bart were one and the same. Bolton confessed to the crimes and told a strange tale of his life as a westernized Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He was convicted and sentenced to six years at San Quentin prison.

After his release, he headed to San Joaquin Valley in 1888. The last verified report found him in Visalia and still moving. There was a persistent rumor that Wells Fargo pensioned off the old man and sent him away after he agreed not to rob any more stages. No one will ever know for sure just what finally happened to Charles E. Boles, the most famous stage robber of Gold Rush history.