The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1913-07-09
BY Frank Parker Stockbridge
Copyright, 1918, by the Newspa-


dozen other slouch-hatted, jute-
legged figures, crouching.
"Hands up!"
The driver throws his weight
on the brake, heaves his horses to
their launches and OBEYS. The
gaunt man by the roadside speaks
first to the group in the chapar-
raj:
Don't shoot, boys, unless
someone fires first"
Then, to the driver:
Throw out the box and the
mail, please, and line up the pas
sengers."
Down tumbles the "box"-the
Wells-Fargo treasure chest-and
the registered mail pouches. The
passengers scramble out. The
bandit apologies profusely, solicit
tous especially lest the ladies may
be alarmed.
DRIVE on" he orders their
money safe in his pockets-"and
don't stop till you pass the bend.
And" he adds, as the driver gath
ers the reins, eff anyone asks who
held you up, here's my card"
He slips a bit of paper in to the
drivers hand. The heavy Concord
coach rattles and creaks down the
hillside as the gaunt figure
plunges into the chaparral, treas
ure chest on shoulder, mail
pouches dragging behind.
Around the bend driver and
passengers scan the bandits
card" Only a bit of doggerel
verse, written in firm, cultivat-
ed hand, properly spelled and
punctuated. And signed
"BLACK BART, THE POS"
That was the scene and the ac-
ton late in 1877, of the first of
the most daring series of single
handed hold-ups in the whole his
tory of the wild west"
I write "single-handed" adj
visedly-for express detectives
and postoffice inspectors, seeking
clews, discovered that the figures
in the chaparral-the" boys" who
were ordered not to shoot-were
just sticks draped with jute bag
ging and topped with SLOUGH hats.
Perfectly good bandits, though,
in the mountain twilight!
"All criminals are towards" is
a police maxim. Rare is the thief
who dares to rob alone-rarer
yet one who robs unarmed - and
only towards go armed. But
there was a thief who robbed
alone-whose only weapon was a
pair of field glassesi
Twenty-three times in the next
six years BLACK Bart" lined up
his dummy boys in the chapar-
rain the Siskiyou mountains,
on the Oregon trail, back in his
earlier haunts in the Sierras. AL
ways scrupulously polite to the
ladies, not once offering violence,
always leaving his card = a
scrap of doggerel signed BLACK
Bart, the pos"
His express robberies netted
him tens of thousands-nobody
knows what treasure he got from
the mails. Rewards for his cap
ture went unclaimed. Here was
a bandit more cunning than the
thief-takers. Once only was a
driver able to describe him - an
American, about SO years old,
with long gray hair, thin face,
deep-set eyes, prominent teeth and
dignified bearing. His language
indicated education and good
breeding.
Caution and courage go hand
in-hand-and "Black Bart" was
caution personified. With his
field glass he would watch a stage
for hours-no difficult task in a
mountain country-Hntil certaiS
none of the passengers were arm
ed. Then the quick ambush, the
rifled box" and always the dis
appearance without a trace-al-
ways until the last time.
ACCIDENT CATCHES MORE
CROOKS THAN ALL THE DE-
TECTIvESi
On Nov. 3, 1888, 1t was acct
dent that boy of the neighbor-
hood rode on the box with McCon-
nell, driver of the Yosemite mail
stage, between Milton and Sonora.
An accident, too, that the boy had
a gun.
Near Sonora the boy dropped
of. A few minutes later BLACK
Bart" cried Hands up,"
where is the fellow with the
gum he asked Mcconnell. The
driver explained as BLACK Bart
started off with his booty-S440O
gold in the express and mail
sacks. $3.50 In coin from the pas
sengers.
But - accident again - THE
BOY CAME BACK
Mcconnell grabbed the rifle and
Tired -FOUR sApts at the retreating
'nndif- &ext d2k detectives found
'eside cxzn fire. a blood
tai9od eur ane' t0N THE CUFF
FERE LAIl<bRX NARKsl
here vae ne fifsf meal cfew.
hey searched the Ia0nfrien Of |