Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-11-05
CALIFORNIA; PEERLESS BANDIT.
"BIack Bart, the Pos" Played Part of
Whole Gang and Wrote Verses to His
NUMEROUS Victims.

I or several gangs Of stage bandits VIII
| vanished into thin air. One thing tina
was not the least part Of the myster!
was that the gang operated only a
long and irregular intervals, oftel
| months apart, and never in the SAM
part Of the state, but that severa
coaches were always robbed within {
few days, often in the same day; thel
all was quiet for long time.
Success in every line, even in robbint
stage coaches, always brings imitation
and several times 1t was gloriously an
nounced by stage and express com
panies, by officials, and newspapers
that Black Bart had been either killed
or captured. But suddenly, sometime!
before the ink of the announcement.
was hardly dry, sometimes months af.
terward, came several hold-ups in the
same old fashion.
He had been shot at several times
but had escaped unharmed. On the
other hand, he had never shed blood
himself. The suddenness Of the attack
and especially those leveled guns pro-
truding from the shadows Of the tim.
Der, with the steady masks and hats
behind them, had usually been enough
to awe not only the passengers, but
the messenger on the seat beside the
driver.
Stage drivers in the west in the ear.
ly days were not molested by stage
robbers. It was an understood rule
both with the stage companies and rob.
bers, that the driver was paid to drive
horses and not to fight bandits. He
did as he was ordered, and that was
the end of his duties. The messenger
was paid to fight
One day, after some months of peace
Black Bart suddenly stepped from be-
hind a tree in a patch of thick timber
leveled his shotgun, and ordered
hands up!"
The messenger answered instantly
with load of buckshot from his saw
ed-off shotgun. Black Bart darted
back into the timber, the driver lashe6
the leaders into run and the coach
tore down the mountain road for the
station some ten miles away. Severa
times Black Bart had failed to stoI
the coach.
When the usual posse reached the
scene Of the attempted robbery there
was nothing, as usual, to be found and
no signs of trail.
There were footprints in the timber
along the road, but nothing else except
"a shirt cuff
It lay in some bushes, apparently
torn off or dropped by a man in hasty
fight. It was an ordinary linen cuff
clean and Of excellent quality. 1t had
been purchased in San Francisco and
bore a lone laundry mark in Chinese
That was all, but it was the only trace
Black Bart had ever left behind him
This time he did not leave any verses
The best detectives in California
took that cuff-they treasured it high
er than any bank note ever seen in the
west-and for weeks went from laun-
dry to laundry hunting for its mate
At last in little Chinese laundry they
found a slant-eyed laundryman, who
said:
"All lghtee. Him mine."
From then on the trail was easy. II
led straight to the quiet little hotel in
Oakland, and in that hotel the detec-
tives found the mate to the cuff. 1t was
on the wrist of the quiet little man who
was interested in mines in Mexico, ano
was bored with accounts Of stage coach
robberies. He surrendered quietly. He
was Black Bart, the Pos.
He was too intelligent to deny his
guilt and was plainly amused as he tol6
how he had carried out his numerous
hold-ups.
81 had no gang" he explained. %
always worked alone. never took any
thing but money and gold jewelry. The
jewelry always melted into bullion ir
the woods and sold to the mint here ir
San Francisco. have no mines ir
Mexico and have never been in thai
country.
II had no confederates, I did moi
drink and I had no woman to whom
might unwisely tell things. That IL
why they had such hard time tc
catch me. I always travelled alone or
foot, and in the night, and I can cover
as much rough mountain country OF
foot in a night or a day as any man II
California.
THAT is how I held up stages so fal
apart but measuring along the Travelled
roads. l simply took cross-cuts ovel
the mountains, often crossing from
one valley to another in half a day
There being no telegraph lines in sucf
places, I was safe enough, as I wa:
ahead of the news that Black Bart wal
loose again. You see how easy it was.
But how about those men back il
the timber and who was the man IL
the yellow hair? Some say it was {
woman who was the leader"
"Pshaw!" laughed Bart. Il wor'
that long yellow wig myself, and m!
gang as you call them, were onl!
some old hats and red handkerchiefs
could easily carry in my pocket, ant
| their guns were only sticks I picked VI
| in the timber The dimness Of tn
forest and the imagination of the pas
sengers did the rest especially when
told some of my fake assistants to Gov
er some weakened chap
improbable as his story was, inves
tigation proved it to be true. Blacl
Bart, the POS, had always operatet
alone.
He had always been such quie
little man, so kind-hearted that n
would not shoot back even when sho
at, that one sheriff was deemed plent!
to convey him to the penitentiary. Tn
officer led his prisoner on board tn
train, and as is usual to save him from
the curious stares of the other pas
sengers, they two took seats at the eX
treme front of the car. This put tn
| other passengers behind the two.
| n ,,oottar Of ,raoanfion moro n