Gentleman Bandit: The True Story of Black Bart, the Old West's Most Infamous Stagecoach Robber

by John Boessenecker Narrated by Stephen Graybill

Overview

New York Times*bestselling author and award-winning historian*John Boessenecker*separates fact from fiction in the first new biography in decades of Black Bart, the Wild West's most mysterious gentleman bandit.

Black Bart is widely regarded today as not only the most notorious stage robber of the Old West but also the best behaved. Over his lifetime, Black Bart*held up*at least twenty-nine stagecoaches in California and Oregon*with mild, polite commands,*stealing from Wells Fargo and the US mail but never robbing a passenger.*Such behavior earned him the title of a true “gentleman bandit.”

His real name was Charles E. Boles, and in the public eye, Charles*lived quietly as a boulevardier in*San Francisco, the wealthiest and most exciting city in the American West.*Boles was an educated man who traveled among respectable crowds. Because he did not drink, fight or consort with prostitutes, his true calling as America's greatest stage robber was never suspected*until his final capture in 1883. Sheriffs searched and struggled for years to find him, and newspaper editors had a field day reporting his exploits. Legends and rumors trailed his name until his mysterious death, and his ultimate fate*remains one of the greatest mysteries of the Old West.

Now historian*John Boessenecker*sheds new light on Black Bart's beginnings,*reputation*and exploits, bringing to life the glittering story of the mysterious stage robber who doubled as a rich, genteel*socialite in the golden era of*the Wild West.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Pure literary gold: Boessenecker delivers the most in-depth and thought-provoking biography of the iconic and over-fictionalized Western character ever published. He has now set the standard on Black Bart research, which may never be equaled again.”—True West

"New York Times bestselling author and award-winning historian John Boessenecker separates fact from fiction in the first new biography in decades of the Wild West’s most mysterious gentleman bandit: Black Bart."–Ledger Dispatch

"From John Boessenecker’s research and the outstanding book resulting from it we finally understand the factors that made Boles/Bart so successful... Gentleman Bandit sets the bar very high for Old West Law and Order biographies. It deserves a place of honor on every Westerner’s bookshelf."—Branding Iron

"This book arcs across the country and will appeal to Civil War buffs as well as to Old West fans."—Daily Jefferson County Union

"An entertaining, well-researched foray into the life of a well-known but legend-layered outlaw. A writer with a fascination for the storied crimes of the Wild West turns to the stagecoach robber of history and lore."–Kirkus

“[A] candid biography of a nineteenth-century desperado who flustered law enforcement and mystified the public with his politeness. The Wild West comes to life in vivid detail as Boessenecker describes each theft Boles committed, making for a fascinating account of an enigmatic criminal.”–Booklist

"Scrupulously researched and smoothly written, this is an entertaining slice of Americana."—Publishers Weekly

New York Times Book Review

[A] true-life adventure saga about the female outlaw who robbed a stagecoach at gunpoint in Arizona in 1899.”

Kirkus Reviews

2022-12-24
A writer with a fascination for the storied crimes of the Wild West turns to the stagecoach robber of history and lore.

English-born Charles Boles had gone west seeking fortune, failed, returned to the Midwest in time to serve with distinction in the Battle of Vicksburg and Sherman’s March to the Sea, and then gone west again. Somewhere along the way, he decided it was less strenuous work to hold up stages, and so he did. As Boessenecker recounts, an early exploit was a robbery of a stagecoach on the twisty seaside road near Mendocino, California, where, according to some passengers, he told the driver, politely, “Please throw out the box and the mail bags.” Boles later left a taunting poem directed at Wells Fargo, the owner of the loot. The politeness and witty literacy—he had excelled in childhood in “reading, writing, and penmanship” as well as Bible study—of the unknown robber offered the local press a field day in recounting tales of the “gentleman bandit,” aka Black Bart. The outline of Boles’ career is well known. However, as Boessenecker observes, it’s so shot through with legend, courtesy of inventive journalists, that much of it is just plain wrong. The author helpfully corrects many of the myths—e.g., that a supposed run-in with a nefarious Wells Fargo agent had sent Boles careening off into a life of vengeful crime, when there’s no evidence to support the assertion. While serving up a lively account of Black Bart’s career, Boessenecker does the math to conclude that Boles committed 32 holdups—three, daringly, after he’d done time in San Quentin for the previous 29. Following that last blast, Boles disappeared in the late 1880s, never to be seen again, conjectured to be working mine claims in Mexico or ranching in Arizona. As Boessenecker concludes, “the fate of Black Bart, the poet highwayman, remains one of the great mysteries of the Wild West.”

An entertaining, well-researched foray into the life of a well-known but legend-layered outlaw.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175714778
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/14/2023
Edition description:	Unabridged

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