25 July 1878
In California, the poet and American West outlaw calling himself "Black Bart" makes his last clean getaway when he steals a safe box from a Wells Fargo stagecoach. The empty box will be found later with a taunting poem inside. Although he only left two poems, at the fourth and fifth robbery sites, it became his signature and his biggest claim to fame. Black Bart was very successful and made off with thousands of dollars a year.
The first verse was left at the scene of the August 3, 1877, holdup on a stage traveling from Point Arena to Duncan's Mills:
"I've labored long and hard for bread,
For honor, and for riches,
But on my corns too long you've tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches."
- Black Bart, 1877
Charles Earl Boles, alias Black Bart, was known as a gentleman bandit gentleman bandit, Black Bart was one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s. The fame he received for his numerous daring thefts is rivaled only by his reputation for style and sophistication. Black Bart, committed numerous robberies of Wells Fargo stagecoaches across northern California between 1875 and 1883, including a number of robberies along the historic Siskiyou Trail between California and Oregon.
Black Bart was terrified of horses and committed all of his robberies on foot. This, together with his poems, earned him notoriety. Through all his years as highwayman, he never fired a gun shot.
"These days bandits wear tie and suit,
And the box is not on the coach,
But they will surly take the loot,
And we'll still have the notes.
To them we say,
One day you'll dread,
Give back all the riches,
On me, don't tread,
You fine-haired sons of bitches."
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//rb