He robbed more than 30 stagecoaches while Jesse James robbed maybe six. So why isn't Black Bart more famous in the annals of the Old West? Let's take a closer look. The reasons just might astound you.
Bob Boze Bell is known as America's Western Storyteller. He is an artist, author, writer and serves as executive editor of True West magazine. Bell is a popular, sought-after figure in television documentaries about the Old West, appearing as an expert in dozens of Wild West history shows. Bell won an Emmy Award as Executive Producer of the PBS special, Outrageous Arizona, a zany look at the state's centennial, that he also wrote and helped direct. As an author, Bell has brought to life Billy the Kid, Geronimo, Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok in his best-selling Illustrated Life and Times series. His books Classic Gunfights I, II and III are must-reads about the most important Old West gunfights. Bell’s Bad Men is now in its fourth printing, while his illustrated autobiography, The 66 Kid: Raised on the Mother Road, gives personal insight into the passions that have driven him on his lifelong quest to interpret the history of the American West for audiences around the world.
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I am an Englishman and when I was a child in the 1970s I watched all the old Western Movies with my Grand Father and have since become fascinated by the Old Wild west history. I must say that I find your passion, easy going delivery and knowledge on the subject the most enjoyable on social media and I only wish my Grand Dad was here to watch along with me now. Thank You Sir and I have subscribed to Your channel.
Rob, thanks for those kind words. I too wish your Grand Dad was here so we could swap lies. Ha.
Black Bart was my favorite outlaw. He only robbed Wells Fargo, because they did him wrong and he vowed to get even. I think he did. He was all over, and even robbed a stage near my hometown in California. He really was a nice man, apparently.
I didn't know there were three more stagecoach robberies after he got out of prison. Another great story Bob. Thank you!!
Really?! Never heard that before!
Loved the video. But the story I heard is after Bart got out of prison the robbery's started up again and one of the head honchos at Wells Fargo called him in and offered Bart a " penchen" as he called it to leave their coaches alone. And because Bart was getting older he agreed and retired. Now that's the story I heard. Or at least the one I like best.
I like it too.
Remember the name from The Christmas Story. Ralphie defeated Black Bart in the snow with his trusty Red Ryder beebee gun “Old Blue” by his side!
After prison Black Bart went straight alright. Straight back to stage robbing!😂
Death Valley Days has a full episode on Black Bart.
23 hours later, i just made that same statement myself, were showing our age mark....................
Outstanding 👍👍. There's many a good law man and outlaw forgotten and over looked by popular culture.
About 30 years ago, I was at Knott’s Berry Farm, in Buena Park, California. In front of the Jersey Lilly (another story in it’s self) they had on display a very old Stage Coach , that had a plaque that stated the stage had been robbed by ‘Black Bart’ 100 years before. I don’t know if it’s still on display, but it was very interesting to me, as I knew about Black Bart. Wish I had a camera! This about 1989, before cell phone cameras.
Ah, knotty Berry Farm. Great childhood memories for me.
Dear God not the derby😭 You’re right Bob, this guy should be WAY more famous.
It is kind of funny that people don't generally think of California when they talk about the old West, especially when so many westerns were filmed in Ca. It is also not thought of as a farm state, even though it has the highest agricultural production of any of the US states.
@@j3i2i2yl7 You are so correct. thanks for that.
Thank you for the fascinating story! Well told.
As a history buff I love these YT videos Mr. Bell!!
Great story on Black Bart, Bob! Being from/living in Wichita, Kansas...I sure wish that you would do a story on Rowdy Joe Lowe. He maintained a bar/brothel in Newton, Kansas (up the rode about 25 miles), but frequently "visited" Wichita to the Delano District where, he would start trouble and need to escape by the backdoor of a saloon. It is suggested that he, and Wyatt Earp crossed paths while Earp was an Assistant Marshal here?
Here in Butte County " Bart" is far from forgotten, we have a monument and a street named after him. He is very much alive still and spoken of fondly
Butte county - - - I grew up in chico. We all like black bart in those parts.
I grew up in the city of Concord Calif. and when I was young we celebrated Black Bart Days. We had a big parade and carnival. I'm not sure of the accuracy of this, but I remember being told that in our city he helped build the first school. So to us he was a local hero.
Well, you have to credit Bart for being clever enough to outsmart the law for so long.
I enjoyed this very much. Thanks!
I wrote a screenplay about Black Bart the PO8 with an effort to tell the true story of his life.. He was a 49er* and Union soldier. Awesome story to work on. I live in Jackson, Ca near the National Hotel, BART robbed a stagecoach 4 miles west in 1883 (robbery #28) Great video!
The 0l' West the Best of the times there ever was in y book. Thank You for this amazing story Bob. I Enjoyed.
I’ve always wondered about Black Bart since hearing his name in Michael Martin Murphy’s Rhymes of the Renegades. Great song. Great story. The more you know.
😅 When I was a kid, I bought a reproduction wanted poster for "Black Bart" that included that "doggerel!" Must have read those lines hundreds of times! Thanks, Bob! 🤠
My hometown is Redding and I'm very familiar with Black Bart. One line he wrote has always stuck in my head," but on my corns too long you've tred, you fine haired sons of bitches." Bart was definitely an original.
use to live in Redding. hotter than hell!!!
@@jacquelinemarie1078 Yes it is. A lot of 110+ days every summer.
3 more possible ends to Black Bart. !- The Cemetery Commissioner in Marysville, Ca. claims he spent his last months working as a pharmacist there and is buried in the city cemetery. 2- There is a local legend he's buried in an unmarked grave in Knight's Ferry. 3- One of the Wells Fargo detective on his case claimed he knew for a fact that he'd moved to Japan. 2 more points: he never rode a horse because he was afraid of them and he was born in England.
Say what?!
That was a great story about Black Bart, Thank you!! Anytime I hear about him my ears perk up, like you said not much is written about him, what a interesting crook he was, all the stages he held up & never shot anybody. Thanks Again!!
Very fascinating information about this stage robber! I enjoyed learning about Black Bart. Thanks for sharing this.
Another good one. Always thought B.B. was one of the most clever of all the legendary characters of the old west.
European here. I've known about Black Bart since childhood because he briefly appears in the Lucky Luke comic 'Stagecoach'. (Yeah, zero points for guessing what part he plays in the story.) The comic also featured a brief write-up about the real Black Bart - including a slightly censored version of that exact poem! Really cool to hear a more detailed version, though.
Awe I loved this! I was surprised to hear the name of Lotta Crabtree, who was one of the top paid entertainers of the west. My great great grandpa was John Springer who was the warden at Idaho state penitentiary and sold her a racehorse that was winning left and right. He told her specifically not to ever whip this horse and be gentle. Her trainer whipped it and it never won another race. When she died, she left most of her money to scholarships for women and humane treatment of animals, something I sometimes think might have had some part to do with what happened to the horse because of some amazing letters she sent to my great great grandfather after the horse lost his “spirit”.
There were a LOT of "Black Barts" including pirate Bartholomew Roberts. Charles Boles' story was told on "Death Valley Days" but it's good to hear it here.
I grew up knowing the name Black Bart because we had a cat named Black Bart, and my father, being a historian that specializes in San Francisco history, always told me that he named him after the stagecoach robber. I personally am not that big on the subject of history, but when this video popped up in my recommended feed, because my Bart kitty was so important in my life, and that fact stuck with me, I just had to hear you out.
This made me smile, because I named the black kitten I adopted Nov. 2022 "Black Bart." He is quite the rogue, too.
Thanks Bob, I enjoyed it.
Having spent a fair amount of time in the "Mother Lode" country, Black Bart was one of my favorites to read about when I was a kid (more than 50 years ago). Thanks for sharing this story.
This is fantastic! Thank you. Subscribed 😀
Just found your channel tonight. I love it and I am subscribing too! I love finding out info about the Old West. I am curious if you ever listen to the music of Pop Wagner and Bob Bovee? They sing the songs of the Old Western Cowboys and prit ne'r got it down right perfect!
Well done, sir. Enjoyed that all quite a bit, you have a knack for this sort of thing!
all your videos are so interesting , many thanks
A learning man. Thx for the info.
The anecdote just killed me! "Right as rain, Roy."
Love these video’s, what an amazing storyteller, thank you mr. Bell
I always enjoy these Señor Bob!
Great videos…keeping the old west tales alive…!!
Thank you !!!! Love your videos
I just found your channel. Love it. I've always thought I was born 150 yrs too late. Anyway, what really amazes me is that someone could retire comfortably on $5000. Well,let's get back to history.
Very interesting story , I have read a book or two about him . Very good video , keep them coming .
I was a former subscriber to True West magazine and have had a lifelong fascination with the old west. My favorite period is from the 1860's through about the 1880's. To me, anything after the late 1880's is too "settled". I sure love these videos!!
i clicked this thinking it was gonna be about the original title of blazing saddles, but the video was still cool
Such a nice story. No killings, that's pretty spectacular. Your storytelling is great.
Very enjoyable video. Thank you and thank your wife.
Black Bart is my relative. My Great Grandma was Hazel Boles who married Jesse Gatlin. I am still in NorCal. Thanks for this! I feel honored to be related.
No wonder my mom named our yellow canary Bartholomew.
I’m surprised the old Dale Robinson series “Tales of Wells Fargo” didn’t do an episode on him. That would fit their story line.
I know Black Bart's story so well. He's California 's Jesse James. I hope you can do a life and times of Black Bart book. Like you did for Wyatt And Doc. Besides it's still a mystery of what happened to him after he was released from San Quentin.
Black bart didn't kill people because they were not rebels. He didn't kill anyone. Jesse James killed indiscriminately. Black bart was actually a gentle man.
@@jacquelinemarie1078 that's true. BUT what I mean by calling him California's Jesse James was because he rob Wells Fargo stagecoaches and the money he stole went to himself. Not the poor. Like Jesse James who along with his brother Frank in their robberies, the money they stole went to themselves and their cousins family, not one cent went to the poor. And to add, like Jesse James who left press release to John Newman Edwards on his robberies, Black Bart also wanted to have publicity by taunting Wells Fargo's detective James Hume by doing a lot of the Black Bart poetry.
I suspect his army life was a big part of it. He was with Sherman during his march to the sea, so was used to walking long distances. I live in Gold Country so many of his robberies weren't too far from here - it's pretty rough country. It would be easy to get away from a horse. Perhaps he never shot anyone because the war had soured him on killing.
Just finished Bossenecker''s book. It was very well researched and entertaining. I am going to San Andreas CA to visit the Calaveras county museum in the next week to see the cell where Black Bart was held and the courtroom where he was sentenced to San Quentin prison
Love your channel and videos. Could you please do a piece on ' Nat Love'
Well done.
Howdy from East Texas--The most interesting thing to me is he was born in 1829 in Norfolk, England 🏴, sounds to me like the last of what Ole Blighty would call highwaymen...I thought I had read where the highwaymen of the post English Civil War era 👉🏻1660 onward were all wrapped up by the time Charley was born
For some reason, personally, the most astonishing nugget in the narrative at 9:23. The sci-fi newspaper story, The Case of Summerfield describes how the guy takes over the world after he discovers how to set water on fire 💀 “How did this even get printed” must have been the thought of some folks back then. Yet 75 years after the newspaper published that crazy sci-fi story from 1871, the hydrogen bomb is used in world war 💀😳😳 The sci-fi track record on predicting the future is really impressive.
I grew up in Oakland and learned about him in elementary school, at museums, and from my parents. We knew more about him than we did about Billy the kid.
Black bart was far more interesting than billy the kid.
Is there a physical True West Magazine, digital versions online or is it just for your KZhead Channel? This is top stuff my friend; amazing knowledge and presentation!
Sitting in the sun in Cave Creek This guy iBOB BOZE BELL was my reason for going to Arizona so many times Great story Too bad that they caught Vart
Thanks for posting this. I always liked the story of Black Bart the Po8. I think he's the only old west rogue worth remembering. Death Valley Days did one episode about him, but that's the only reference on film I'm familiar with.
Thanks for sharing the video. Didn't realize he made the last three after being caught. I like to think he lived out his life and was comfortable.
Black Bart was a local bandit - there’s the “ Black Bart rock” at the crest of the Willits Grade - supposedly he frequently held up stages by hiding behind that rock . There’s also the Black Bart bar - originally from the Palace Hotel in Ukiah , now relocated a couple of block away in the Ukiah Brewery restaurant . He staged at least 4 stage robberies in the area Ukiah is about 120 miles North of San Francisco
Thank you
The Grey Fox, about Bill Miner is a pretty good flick, starring Richard Farnsworth.
Good video.
awesome!!
I grew up on the Foresthill Devide Ca. Robers Roost across our canyon where Black Bart did a few holdups.
that is an amazing story sir!... done in by a laundry mark on his hat!.... that you could even dig up these details is awesome. he got 6 years for multiple armed robberies!...
This is so awesome and funny, because Black Bart is a name that is always used in cartoons and such. If you want to check out a clever stage coach robber Dick Fellows is pretty cool. The guy couldn't ride a horse lol 😊😊😊😊❤
Yes I found a story about fellows robbing stagecoaches funny stories like to hear Bob's version
i'm back, just watched the death valley days- black bart episode, almost a comedy, it sure takes dramatic and poetic license while sticking somewhere near the truth..............a thoussand grins...................................
Maiden name is Bolton, and I heard of him and when I heard of his Bolton "name" I was hooked Couldn't find anything about him after his time in prison.
I loved the poem.....Blacl Bart was so good at his trade..he never had to shoot anyone that were aware....and yes..iv herd of him..but not the details..thanks for the storys..
Great story!
I seen a short documentary about Black Bart somewhere.
I grew up in both Sonoma and Next door Mendocino counties where Black Bart actually called his home as well as several stagecoach robberies. Outside of Ukiah California (Mendocino county) is a rock called Black Rock named after him because he hid behind it waiting for passing stagecoaches. 🎩♠♠♠
He appears in the Lucky Luke comic, 'The Stagecoach'. Mild mannered teacher attacked by his feral students, who takes it out on stage coaches, from memory, as per his poem about being tired of being trod on. I'm sure you Americans weren't exposed to the Lucky Luke comics' brilliant European concept of the Wild West. Remain in my mind from my childhood as fresh as a daisy.
I thoroughly recomend the film The Grey Fox. Based on the life of train robber, Bill Miner. Miner was from a different time and place than Bart and didn't strictly work solo. But Black Bart and Bill Miner were cut from the same cloth in terms of their intelligence, planning, skills and abilities, and overall demeanor. The a commitment to maintain a certain standard of decency while stealing. A lot of similarities in thier path thier lives followed too. Great writing, locations and cast, with Richard Farnsworth in the lead role. the Grey Fox was up on KZhead last time I checked.
thank you
I always wondered what happened to him after he got out of prison?
So interesting. There should be a movie for sure. And he WAS a good poet!
Great Cowboy poetry!!!
Very interesting i love this history
A band called Volbeat from Denmark has a song called 'Black Bart' about the very man himself, *"They call him Black Bart P-0-8, the highway bandit poetry man, leaving his poem disappeared like a ghost on his own, all on his own, the road he owned."* The bridge use the words of his poem referenced in this video at 10:33 as well.
There is a Black Bart steakhouse and RV park in Flagstaff Arizona….
I would guess that since he did not shoot or kill anyone, people forgot him fairly quickly. Even with the doggerel!
It all has to do with the historians. Billy the kid was nothing but a hot headed little jerk, but the historians made him a hero for some ungodly reason. (oh yeah, to make money)
Cool story! For future reference the pronunciation of archetype is not "arch-type", it's "ark-i-type". Keep the stories comin'. The world needs good storytellers!
Black Bart was born in Norfolk, England. I was intrigued to see that one of his aliases was Charlie Bolton. I'd love to know who he adopted that surname from!
His undoing and clues left was nothing to sneeze at😉
Bob, I agree with you that is a great storyline and that would make a really good movie. I also have to ask you, when you were doing the video there's a picture that looks like by a fireplace, a sketch of an old west person's head, and I have to ask you who that is? When I looked at it, it looks like me. So I am dying of curiosity of who that is. So if you look at these comments I would really like to know who is that in the picture. What are the odds?
P. S. The picture is over your right shoulder in the video.
Amazing❗remember Black Bart in Blazing Saddles😁
Probably one reason he isn’t more famous is because he never killed anyone or, for that matter he never even caused anyone physical harm.
My dealings with criminal element is that they do return to the scene of the crime. Counting Coup.
Not necessarily, something they are psychologically compelled to do, if that sounds right. I think.
Black Bart can be used as a tool for language skills. Black Bart belched a bucket of bubbling barf.
around 13:23, if i remember right, i think "death valley days" did a bio episode on black bart........................
Have you ever done a video on Jesse Evans? Curious to know your opinion on what you think happened to him.
Mel Brooks made Black Bart famous in the documentary Blazing Saddles!!
It's hard to make a movie about Black Bart because there wouldn't be any gunfights or gorgeous women in it.
Not enough violence to interest Hollywood.
Another awesome video. Look up a KZhead channel names History Hunters. They do History about California. They did 2 on Black Bart. The second one was interesting. Where they believe they found where he lived out his life and is buried in California.
I know him, he was in Lucky Luke ( comics)