The Gentleman Was the ROBBER: The True Story of Black Bart

In November 1883, on a lonely hill in the California gold country, a stagecoach driver fired a rifle at a man running off with a Wells Fargo box. For eight years that man had robbed twenty-eight stagecoaches, and he never fired a shot. When detectives found him, he was living as a gentleman in San Francisco. His name was Charles E. Boles. The newspapers called him Black Bart. This is the true story: the farm boy from New York, the Union soldier, the letter to his wife, the "gang" made of sticks, the poems signed "the Po8", the laundry mark F.X.O.7 that gave him away, San Quentin, and the day he walked out of history. Chapters 0:00 Funk Hill, November 1883 0:53 A Farm Boy and the Gold Rush 2:14 The Soldier 3:24 The Letter 4:19 The Gang Made of Sticks 6:21 Black Bart, the Po8 8:10 The Man on Foot 9:41 The Man Who Never Forgets 10:54 Back to Funk Hill 12:46 F.X.O.7 15:28 Guilty 16:29 Through With Crime 17:55 The Last Poem 19:32 The Gentleman Sources Wikipedia, "Black Bart (outlaw)" (with its notes) Calaveras County Historical Society, "Black Bart" HistoryNet and True West Magazine articles on Charles E. Boles Library of Congress, Chronicling America topic guide "Black Bart" Wells Fargo wanted circular and Wells Fargo history pages Note: this video uses real 19th-century photographs and documents, our own document cards with quotes from the record, and some AI-generated illustrations where no photograph exists (roads, hillsides, rooms, figures seen from far away or from behind). No AI image shows the face of a real person. The detective James B. Hume is never shown with a face, because no portrait of him could be verified. Photo credits (all via Wikimedia Commons, most from the Library of Congress; cropped, toned and animated by us) Charles E. Boles, 'Black Bart', unknown photographer, Public domain Wells Fargo wanted circular for the stage robber, Wells Fargo, Public domain Sonora, general view, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Road between Sonora and Columbia, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Keystone Copper Mine, Copperopolis, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain The siege of Vicksburg, Logan's division (lithograph, 1863), Middleton, Strobridge & Co, Public domain Washington Street, Sonora, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Siege of Vicksburg, Assault on Fort Hill (Thulstrup, 1888), Thure de Thulstrup, Public domain A full team on the Sierras, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Pioneer Stage leaving Wells, Fargo & Co., Virginia City, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Wells, Fargo & Co.'s Express Office, Virginia City, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Main Street, Copperopolis, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Wells Fargo advertisement, 1867, Wells, Fargo & Company, Public domain Stages leaving the International Hotel, Virginia City, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Feeding the teams on the Placerville route, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Oroville-Marysville stagecoach (John H. Hogan, c. 1900), John H. Hogan, Public domain Stagecoach, San Mateo County (c. 1900), unknown photographer, Public domain Wells Fargo & Co.'s Express Office, Carson City, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain View in Copperopolis, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain The stage from Carson arriving at Strawberry Valley, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Original Concord coach no. 251, Wells Fargo History Museum, Captain-tucker, CC BY-SA 3.0 Panorama of San Francisco from California Street Hill, 1877, Eadweard Muybridge, Public domain Montgomery Street, San Francisco, c. 1870, SMU Central University Libraries, No restrictions State Prison, San Quentin (Carleton Watkins, c. 1865-1872), Carleton E. Watkins, Public domain Copperopolis, general view, 1866, Lawrence & Houseworth, publisher, Public domain Steamer Landing, San Quentin (Carleton Watkins), Carleton Watkins, Public domain #BlackBart #WildWest #TrueStory