Black Bart: Boulevardier Bandit: The Saga of California's Most Mysterious Stagecoach Robber and the Men Who Sought to Capture Him [Paperback]

George Hoeper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1995

California Gold Country historian George Hoeper reveals what promises to be the final piece to the 100-year-old puzzle of the infamous stagecoach robber Black Bart. For over eight years the mysterious and very polite Charles Boles (alias Black Bart) plagued Wells Fargo & Co. with a string of at least 28 stagecoach robberies. During theis time, Bart, who operated on foot with an unloaded shotgun and never robbed stagecoach passengers or drivers, soon became something of a folk legend. Between robberies Bart would live the life of a boulevardier in San Francisco, hobnobbing with the city's best. In 1888 he disappeared from the Palace Hotel in Visalia, CA, never to be heard from again. Speculation has placed Bart in many places, including the Eastern Seaboard, Mexico and Japan, but according to information Hoeper has uncovered, it is more likely the legendary Black Bart met his demise in the dry Nevada wasteland and today rests in a sandy, unmarked grave.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Gold Country historian Hoeper reveals the final piece to the 100-year-old puzzle of stagecoach robber Black Bart, who disappeared in Visalia after building a reputation as a notorious bandit. Hoeper here gathers evidence to explain Bart's disappearance, providing an overall biography of the man which is a strong, lively presentation. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Word Dancer Press; 1ST edition (June 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884995055
• ISBN-13: 978-1884995057
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,231,402 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great read, but a little flat at the end., February 17, 2002

By 

A. Cantu "Uncle Al" (Rancho Cordova, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Bart: Boulevardier Bandit: The Saga of California's Most Mysterious Stagecoach Robber and the Men Who Sought to Capture Him (Paperback)

A fascinating book, which neither idolized Black Bart, or demonizes him either. Hoeper has really done his research. I never knew the full story about Black Bart before. This story fills in lots of the gaps that people don't know.

The only complaint I had was that at the end, Hoeper's "new evidence" that Black Bart died in Nevada is nothing more than a mild... "It might have been him." I expected some evidence. To this day, nobody REALLY knows what happened to Bart after he got out of prison.

Other than a mild letdown at the end, I still HIGHLY reccommend this book. A fascinating story of one of the Old West's most "larger than life" characters.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good fast read., October 11, 2010

By 

Steve Bartholomew "Bart" (Lakeport, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Black Bart: Boulevardier Bandit: The Saga of California's Most Mysterious Stagecoach Robber and the Men Who Sought to Capture Him (Paperback)

This biography is well written, good bedtime reading. It answered many of my questions about Black Bart. My only reservation is that it left out a few details, such as the gold he was supposed to have stashed in an oak tree in Petaluma, or how he developed such a hatred of Wells Fargo in the first place. Not mentioned is the report in the Alta California that he was later arrested in Kansas for stage robbing, under another name. Was it really him, or not? The mysteries remain after more than a hundred years. Readers looking for a more scholarly approach should seek elsewhere.

5.0 out of 5 stars "It's Wells Fargo I am robbing,not the passengers of this stage.", June 9, 2009

By 

J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Black Bart: Boulevardier Bandit: The Saga of California's Most Mysterious Stagecoach Robber and the Men Who Sought to Capture Him (Paperback)

"Lawmen of the gold rush days,like the outlaws they pursued were tough hombres.They were advocates of "justice,swift and sure."
This is an excellent account of a period during the Old West,but described in quite a different way from what fans of "westerns" have
become accustomed to reading. I am a big fan of the Longarm ,Trailsman ,Gunsmith,Slocum,Lone Star,Stagecoach and other series;but this book is much more of a real history written about a real character and his exploits of robbing stages in California during the period of July 26,1875 and November 3,1883.
It gives the account of one person ,"Black Bart" and his ,at least 28 stagecoach robbings.It does not have all the fast action,shootouts,trackdowns by a possee or super Lawman that is typical of the novels that Ned Buntline has been given credit for with his "dime Novels"written at the time ,or even the "western" series I mentioned before.
This is a well researched history by a writer who spent his career writing for newspapers and historical publications and retired in 1995.He has set out to research a widely known character of whom much has been written;but abounds in fiction ,legend,embellishments ,and all sorts of stories. He has set the record straight;at least as far as he has been able to.
In "westerns", we see some greater than life characters;but with "Black Bart" we have a character that is really and truly greater than life and needs no embellishment.
The fact that he carried out all these holdouts,alone,without ever firing a shot,in fact his weapons were not even loaded,nobody was ever able to figure out even who he was,never hurt or robbed a passenger,is simply a story which fits the description of "truth being stranger than fiction".In fact, in the final analysis,very little was really ever known for sure about this amazing character.
Along with Black Bart and his stage robbings;we get a wonderful true insight into the everyday life of running stage lines,life on the roads in gold rush days, and how the law worked at the time .We see the real way things worked with the Wells Fargo company,how they treated their employees,how they looked at the law,and how they really dealt with crimes against them.We also get a pretty fair appreciation of how the public looked upon Wells Fargo and particularly how other owners and drivers looked upon them.
One thing that comes through during all these robberies is how adept Black Bart was at travelling around the state,camping out and basically without any equipment or food,and covering great distances,mostly on foot and in remarkably short times. I have read most of Johm Muir's works and for anyone interested,he travelled around the state ,several weeks at a time,dressed in ordinary clothes,no "camping gear",little food except some bread and a pocket full of tea,and lived off the land;much as did Black Bart".The big difference is that Muir did it solely to study nature and the landscape.
This book was first published in 1995,a year after the author published "Bacon and Beans from a Gold Pan" in 1994,about gold panning during the depression.I have not read it ,but plan to as ,and if it is as well researched as "Black Bart " was;it should be very interesting.
It is hard to imagine any other "outlaw" giving the establishment so much consternation over so little in the way of actual losses;and one can only imagine that robbing Wells Fargo stages was more of an obsession that drove Black Bart, than any riches he ever received from his exploits. This is the kind of thing that creates "folk heros" and drive the law and establishment mad.