New-York tribune., 1922-01-08
A Story to Pr0ue That
the New York Type of
H0ldup Man Has Much
to Learn Before He
Can Rank Professions
ally With Black Bart

Tt money for my purse
BLACK BART. o
And thus Black Bart, stage robber. wa
ushered into fame
The description Of him furnished by tho
driver of the Russian River stage tailed with
the description of the robber of the Oroville
stage, including the note about hollow voice
BY the last robbery he obtained a sum Of money
marked considerable" in the report Of the
express company given for publication. This
meant, decoded, about $4,000
Black Bart had now robbed the United
States mail, and his second exploit drew forth
an offer Of $500 from the Federal government
for his arrest 5000 from the postal authori
ties and $500 from the Wells Fargo Company
AS robbery succeeded to robbery, each drew
duplication of these offers, until the sum total
reached $4,000, where it was left as stand
ing offer. Twenty-Five successful robberie-
followed The twenty-eighth. attempted
November 3, 1883, proved his undoing. He
had gone once too often to the we'll. Cor
slant success had made Black Bart careless.
An odd popularity was his seeming deter
mination to earn the second title he had be
slowed upon himself, that of O g. This was
little private joke over which he chuckled
poet. After nearly every robbery a bit OF
doggerel was found in the shattered treasure
box, in which he made some humorous allusion
to the attempts to capture him and defed the
owners Of the express company, saying he was
trying to get a slice Of the riches of "you
white-haired, Bonanza Kings In those day
the expression "whte-hared' was the euuya
lent of our "sk- -stockinged"
The disastrous twenty-eighth robbery wa
committed the road near Copperopolis
Calaveras County, the Sonora to Milton stage
being held up 1t contained no passengers
After obeying the order to throw out the
treasure box the driver was told to descend
from his seat. He did so, and for nearly half
an hour watched Black Barts efforts to open
the box, which heavily bound in iron. At
last he opened it and quickly threw amalgam,
gold dust and coin into sack
AS he was making up his load an italian
boy carrying a gun approached, unperceived
by Black Bart. The driver beckoned him to
approach, wigwaggng caution. The boy
obeyed the driver took the gun and blazed
away at the robber as he was disappearing
in the bushes He rapidly out of sight,
but his hat was brushed off by the overhane-
ing bushes, and he lost silk handkerchief
The sack, the contents of which we're valued at
$4,000, he hid under log. In this sack was
the wayblll, certifying the contents of the box.
and this bill bore blood stains. Black Bart
had been wounded
Here let me insert, out Of its sequence the
unknown popularity Of Black Bart's robberies
The gun with which he held up stages was
never loaded For seven years he had worked
bluff with an empty gun. The gun he car
ried when he held up the Sonora stage was
not loaded. Think Of the nerve of the man.
There are things more powerful than guns
One of them is clew. The handkerchief that
Black Bart dropped in his flight bore the
laundry mark FOX7. Hume employed Harry
N. Morse, former Sheriff of Alameda County.
but now head of large detective agency in
San Francisco, to find the owner of the laundry
mark FOX7.
Capture and Confession
ssEOX7?" repeated the clerk at the laundry
Office on Bush Street between Kearney and
Montgomery, to which place Black Bart's laun-
dry had been traced by Morse. "That is the
mark Of Charles E. Bolton. know him quite
we'll" To Morse's further inquiries the clerk
responded: "He's a mining man who alter
mates between San Francisco and his mines
He left this morning for his mines"
Morse explained that he wished to consult
Bolton expert on the value Of some orr,
in his possession, giving fictitious name
Charles Richmond He found that Bolton kept
room in small hotel and going there, made
a minute search. He found nothing more sus-
picious than small, worn Bible, on the hyleaf
Of which was written Mary Boles' inscription
to her husband.
This revealed to Morse two strong prob
abilities, to wit: l, that Black Bart was Boil
ton; and, 2, that Bottoms real name was BoIes.
Therefore, when the owner of the laundry
mark FOX7 showed up at the laundry Morse
beguiled him by the expert trick into
Hume's Office. II knew he was Black Bart, !"
(Conttnusd on page tsps)