Charles Bowles was born in England in 1829 and his parents immigrated to American and settled down in New York when he was two years old. He changed the spelling of his name and would be known under several different alias during his life including, Charles E. Boles, Charles E. Bolton, and T.Z. Spalding.
CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH:
Charles had a relatively normal childhood and loved to read dime novels about adventure and adventurous men and in 1849 seeking excitement and riches he and his cousin David set out west to explore the goldfields of California. He returned home after a year having very little success but returned again along with brother Robert who tragically fell ill and died in California.
He learned every trail, road, pass, and highway in the San Francisco and Sacramento area during his years as a prospector, and would use this detailed information to terrorize the State of California and become the first and most successful stagecoach robber in California history.
He remained in California for two more years before returning east where he married Mary Johnson in 1854 and stared a family. The boredom of family life took it toll and in 1861 when the civil war broke out he joined the Union Army.
THE U.S. CIVIL WAR:
Charles fought with the 116th Regiment Illinois Infantry for three years. He participated in the bloody Battle of Vicksburg in 1863 where he was promoted to First Sergeant, then the siege of Jackson, and the battle of Resaca in 1864.
He continued his service and advanced through Dallas, and Georgia, and was seriously wounded in action. He recovered and returned to duty and help in the siege on Atlanta and joined with General Sherman on his brutal "March to the Sea" and then marched with Sherman during his campaign against the resistance in the Carolinas.
He was discharged in 1865 in Washington D.C. and returned to resume his family life and take up farming in Iowa. He once again became disenchanted with family life and in 1867 set out alone to try his hand at silver mining in Idaho and Montana, but eventually abandoned his family for good.
WELLS FARGO & CO:
In 1871 in Montana a dispute between Wells Fargo employees and Charles would forever change the lives of Charles, his family, and the State of California. Wells Fargo wanted the land upon which Charles' silver mine was located, so they forced him out by cutting off his water supply, thus making his mining efforts useless.
In a letter written to his wife he vowed to get even with Wells Fargo and left Montana for California once again and never returned to his family or honest work. In 1875 drawing upon a character in one of his favorite dime novels "The Case of Summerfield" he took on the persona of the evil highwayman "Black Bart" and started robbing Wells Fargo Stages.
From 1875 to November of 1883 "Black Bart" held up twenty-eight Wells Fargo stages and never once in all that time fired even one singe shot during his thefts. Bart was fired upon and wounded twice during his eight year crime spree but never fired his double-barreled shotgun at anyone.
DETECTIVE JAMES HUME:
Wells Fargo put their top detective in charge of stopping "Black Bart's" reign of terror. James Hume worked with numerous law enforcement agencies and detectives to track down the hood wearing, shotgun totting bandit that politely robbed stages and left poems to taunt law officials.
In 1883 a foiled robbery attempt left detectives with the clue that would bring down the gentleman poet and gold pilferer forever. A handkerchief with distinctive laundry marks on it were left at the scene of the crime and traced to a laundramat in San Francisco and identified as belonging to Charles.
After intense interrogation and eye-witness identifications, the man using the name Charles Bolton was positively identified as the bandit "Black Bart." Charles was convicted and sentenced to six years at San Quentin Prison. Upon his release in 1888 after serving a little over four years in confinement "Black Bart" disappeared and was never seen or heard from again.
For more details view SPTDDOG.COM
and check out BLACKBART.COM
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