Black Bart Po8

Acrylic on Canvas, 36" x 48" Unframed and 37" x 49" Framed.

California's most notorious stage robber, Charles Boles, was born in England (circa 1829).  When he was 2 years old his family migrated to New York.  Between 1875 and 1883 he was credited with the hold-up of 28 Wells-Fargo stagecoaches before he was finally caught.  He is better known as Black Bart and at the site of two of his robberies he left bits of poetry which he signed "Black Bart, Po8" (poet).  He was afraid of horses so he just walked all over the Mother Lode robbing stages and when he wasn't holding up coaches he lived in San Francisco where he played himself off as an owner of mines.  For his robberies he wore a flour sack over his head and topped that off with a Stetson hat.  He carried a shotgun and never robbed a passenger, only taking the shipments of Wells-Fargo against whom he had his own vendetta.  What no one knew was that his shotgun was never loaded.  He served time in San Quentin and when asked if he was going to write any more poetry he answered, "didn't I tell you I have given up my life of crime!"  After doing his time he was released from prison and disappeared from the pages of history.  Because he lived in San Francisco I gave him lace-up shoes rather than the cowboy boots we usually associate with stagecoach robbers of the West.