The Civil War News & Views Open Discussion Forum

On BB from a web expert.

Here are some thoughts from the BB Master. His arguments are debatable.

David,

I read the story you sent me and let me tell you what I see. Similar: shotguns used, did not rob the passengers, was going to use an axe on the strongbox, leader was polite. Different: Bart was never a member of gang, he worked alone, he did not carry a pistol only a shotgun and sometimes he had a Henry rifle hidden out of sight, he always wore a duster with a flour sack for a mask, he never rode a horse in his robberies, Bart always took the mail sacks in the robbery.

They kept mentioning the name Charley but that means they knew the stage messenger whose name was Charley. This suggests to me that they were probably a semi-local gang that had spent time in the area and were familiar with Wells Fargo employees. Messengers were actually guards and always carried a 10 gauge shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot in addition to a pistol. There were actually many semi-gentlemanly robbers in that era like Bill Miner, although I would not suspect him because at the time of this robbery he was only 13 years old. Not all bad guys were vicious killers like John Wesley Harden, Joanquin Murrieta, Tiburcio Vasquez and Procopio.

I can see why you might connect some of the circumstance of the 1860 robbery and think of Bart. However, there are too many differences. The biggest is that in August 1860 Bart was at home in Illinois with his family, getting ready for the harvest on his farm. It is hard to believe at that time he would go to California, join a gang, rob a stage and then head home to Illinois and go back to work on his farm.

BB Webmaster

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I cannot find BB "Charles E. Boyles or Boles or his wife Mary Elizabeth on the 1860 census in Illinois (somebody please correct me). On the 1870 census Charles E. Boles, Miner, born in England in 1830 or 33 is found both in Montana and Iowa in the summer of that year on the Federal Census. In Iowa, his wife is listed as being born in N.Y. Daughter Eda born in Iowa in 1857, Daughter Eva born in New York in 1859, Son Gillian born in 1861 in Illinois, and son Arian born in Minnesota in 1865. In Montana he has no family.

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:O
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Look for Charles E Bolton
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