Black Bart, widely regarded today as the best-behaved stage robber of the Old West, held up at least twenty-nine stagecoaches in California and Oregon with mild, polite commands, never robbing a passenger. His real name was Charles E. Boles, and his true calling as America’s greatest stage robber was never suspected. Legends and rumors trailed his name until his 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 stage robber who doubled as a rich, genteel socialite in the golden era of the Wild West.