Outlaw Black Bart Was Terrified of Horses - Committed Stagecoach Robberies on Foot

Charles Earl Bowles, known as Black Bart, was an English-born outlaw noted for the poetic messages he left behind after two of his robberies. 

Considered a gentleman bandit with a reputation for style and sophistication, he was one of the most notorious stagecoach robbers to operate in and around Northern California and southern Oregon during the 1870s and 1880s.

Bowles, as Black Bart, perpetrated 28 robberies of Wells Fargo stagecoaches across northern California between 1875 and 1883, including a number of robberies along the historic Siskiyou Trail between California and Oregon. 

Bowles was terrified of horses and committed all of his robberies on foot. This, together with his poems, earned him notoriety. Additionally, throughout his years as a highwayman, he never fired a gun.

Bowles was always courteous and used no foul language in speech, although this aversion to profanity is not evident in his poems. He wore a long linen duster coat and a bowler hat, covered his head using a flour sack with holes cut for the eyes, and brandished a shotgun.

Nutty News Flipboard Magazine

NUTTY NEWS APPs: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch – Android

Nutty News Today – Nutty Videos – Pinterest Nutty News - Nutty News Magazine - Facebook - Nutty News on Twitter - Nutty Videos on Twitter - Strange Facts – Strange Crimes - Politics USA Today –Today’s Nutty Joke - Technology News - True Crime Stories Updated 24 Hours A Day – Your Local News - Submit Nutty News