The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-11-05
BLACK BART, POET.
Incidentally He Was Bold and Re-
markabiy Clever Stage RObber.
New York Herald.


New York Herald.
Talking about train robbers" put in the
man from San Francisco, reminds me or
the slickest one in the business. He wasn't
a train robber, exactly; he was a stage
hold-up, and he was a thoroughbred, but he
fell at last, and I've not heard of him
since he was in San Quentin. His name was
Black Bart-that is to say, his nickname.
He christened himself, you know. But his
right name was Charles Barlow. He made
himself famous by writing what he called
poetry, and the posse which used to go
out after him would always find few lines
of doggerel written on collar or a cuff, or
the back of an express way bill. His favor
lite jingle ran like this:
Now 1 lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow,
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what WILL I'll try IL on,
My condition can't be worse,
And if there's money in that box
IT'S money in my purse.
BLACK BART, the Poe-S'
"He always wore a long linen buster; he
had a white flour sack over his head and
face, with holes cut in it for the eyes; his
hat was like those eomical affairs the
clowns wear in the circus, and the lower
parts OF his legs were covered with jute
bags.
1--WE first heard of him on the old Oregon
trail which runs over the SiSkiyou noun
tains The next time he did business was
in the summer of 1887 1 think. One of the
best drivers on the Pacific coast was taking
a
river. He had to pass big bluff, where
there was a sharp curve. AS soon as he
struck the corner he saw Bart, as large as
life, with a double-barreled shotgun in his
hand. He was a polite devil, and never
shouted out. He always said, as he did
this first time:
please throw out the box and mail
''Of course they had to oblige, and then
he let the stage go. He worked around the
lonely places for six years, off and on, and
a man with a head for figures said he
must have pulled off about $1,000 a year
He seemed to like the Wells-Fargo ship
ments the best, for he touched them up
four times year, regular as clockwork.
After the first hold-up the rewards be-
gan. The first one was $500 for the capture,
dead or alive. and 1T grew like SNOWFALL
rolling down hill until in 1885 there was
$500 waiting for the man who could get
Black Bart He had more than one trade
mark; he always used to cut the mail bags
below the lock in the shape of a 7, and he
always left the ak with which he smashed
the express box.
The last man he touched was old man
Mcconnell, who was going from Wilton to
Sonora, in Tuolumne county. He held him
up about three miles from Copperopolis, on
the old mail road from the Yosemite. He
got the box and took out about 5000 in
gold.
him through the brush, but ii was no use.
But there was enough FOUND there to trace
him. Among other things there was cuff
with laundry mark on II. They followed
that clew like grease and 1t led to a re-
spectacle man about fifty years old, VINO
lived in Frisco under the name of Charles
u. Bodies. He was an old soldier, had lots
OF friends and knew half the police force.
"Wel, talk about a sensation! We had
il then TWo-thir1S of the town believed
il was q case of mistaken identity until he
confessed to the last robbery, but he swore
he knew nothing about the other twenty
two"
What became of him?" asked one of the
listeners.
He got off with six years in San Cuen-
tin He was put in the drug department
and became an eXDert chemist