Charles "Black Bart" Boles (1829-after 1888) robbed his first stagecoach in Calaveras County, California (about 70 miles from Sacramento), on 26 Jul 1875; he netted $160, equivalent to about $3500 in 2018. He was a miner, a Union soldier, and a farmer, but not a teacher. He had a grudge against Wells Fargo because the company forced him to abandon his mine when it wanted the land. He did not rob the passengers, and was noted for being polite and never using profanity. He was afraid of horses, and walked to all of his robberies. He robbed at least 28 stagecoaches between 1875 and 1883, making off with about $18,000, equal to around $400,000 in 2018. He took his nickname from a character in the dime novel "The Case of Summerfield." The laundry mark, FX07, was on a handkerchief he left behind at his last stage holdup on 3 Nov 1883.
In 1854, he married Mary Elizabeth Johnson and had four children. He served four years of a six year sentence for his last robbery, and was seen on 28 Feb 1888. He apparently did not return to his family, as Mary listed herself in the city directory as his widow in 1892.
5th robbery poem, 25 Jul 1878:
Here I lay me down to sleep
To wait the coming morrow,
Perhaps success, perhaps defeat,
And everlasting sorrow.
Let come what will, I'll try it on,
My condition can't be worse;
And if there's money in that box
'Tis munny [sic] in my purse.
The poem read in the show combined both of his actual poems, although the last line of the first poem was changed to "you folks in fancy britches." He left poems at only two robberies; the writers made up the others.
4th robbery poem, 2 Aug 1877: "I've labored long and hard for bread, For honor, and for riches, But on my corns too long you've tread, You fine-haired sons of (rhymes with britches)."