Ledger-Dispatch

- By Larry Cenotto, Special to the Ledger = Dispatch=20

<= IMG=20 height=3D112=20 = src=3D"http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/content/img/f245056/SZ200_6_10map.j= pg"=20 width=3D200 border=3D0>

The 1866 county map shows the = Jackson-Ione Toll=20 Road or Turnpike from Mountain Springs to Jackson. Note its = junction with=20 the Sutter Creek Road at or near Morrow's Grade.

Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger=20 Dispatch
In was probably mid-June = 1883, when=20 Charles E. Boles, part-time "mining mogul," part-time Knight of the = Road, left=20 lodgings in downtown San Francisco and headed for his next payday. Since = his=20 last Sonoma heist in April netted him a paltry $32.60, he surely needed=20 money.

Why did he pick Amador and its Jackson-Ione stage? As = Boles as=20 Black Bart did nothing impulsively, he had reasons. Of 27 previous = holdups, only=20 his first robbery in 1875 in Calaveras had been in this area. Wells = Fargo chief=20 detective James Bunyard Hume probably had sheriffs and constables = further north=20 alerted.

Regrettably, this writer has no source which details = Black=20 Bart's careful approach for this holdup and how he selected a site on = the=20 12-mile toll road. After his capture later that November, he debriefed = Hume on=20 most or all of his holdups. We're not privy to that confession and can = only=20 infer his preparations here.

Black Bart, in holdup mode, wore a = hood or=20 mask. Thus, he had no identity to stage drivers, guards and passengers. = They=20 only knew him by height - about 5 feet, 8 inches - perhaps by voice or, = after=20 the fact, his distinctive holdup methods. That's why in traveling to and = from=20 holdups, Charles Boles needed no disguise for his 50ish age, light = complexion,=20 blue eyes, gray mustache and Imperial goatee.

Amador and its = toll road=20 were easy to reach. He could take a ferry to Oakland, and board the = Central=20 Pacific to Lathrop and climb into a foothills stage. Or, take passage on = a=20 steamer to Sacramento or Stockton. He selected the safest rather than = quickest=20 conveyance. He certainly nixed taking the Amador Branch Railroad from = Galt to=20 Ione, or a stage into Ione, or Jackson. He always approached his = destination=20 obliquely, and maybe hiked the last 10 to 20 miles cross-country away = from most=20 habitation. He wanted no witnesses identifying him near the = crime.

We=20 know he knew the county and Wells Fargo's published stage routes. In his = prospecting days before his criminal career he visited mining districts = in=20 several counties. But if he had never ridden in the Jackson-Ione stage, = or=20 walked the toll road, he couldn't know the optimum site for a holdup. In = the=20 days before June 23, surely, that's what he had to learn.

The=20 Ione-Jackson turnpike or toll road was developed in the early 1860s, = close to or=20 obliterating the existing county's rough, poorly maintained road. Since = counties=20 could not afford to create and barely afford to improve or maintain = their stage=20 roads, the legislature enabled turnpike companies to do so and = supervisors to=20 set tolls the companies could charge.

A toll-road remnant, no = doubt in=20 its original 1860s alignment, is Vogan Toll Road in Jackson between = Highway=20 49/88 and Sutter Street. The toll road's namesake and turnpike backer = was=20 Sheriff John Vogan, who had died that February. Matthew Murray succeeded = him.=20 The road as fashioned by the contractors in the 1860s, starting at the = Jackson=20 end, followed Vogan Toll Road, then climbed right through the Kennedy = and=20 Argonaut mining ground, on through Kennedy Flat, and around Humbug Ridge = to the=20 crossing of the Jackson Gate and Sutter Creek Roads. At the northwestern = corner=20 of that junction was Halfway House, an inn and stage stop, or half-way = to Sutter=20 Creek from Jackson.

But the toll road turned south and westerly = at that=20 junction, and generally followed today's highway before meeting, 4 miles = from=20 Jackson, the stage road from Sutter Creek. At the junction, Rocky Ridge = (later,=20 Cyclone Hill) rose steeply. The toll road, to lessen the grade for = freighters,=20 cut into the hills' northerly flank for about a mile. That cut was = Morrow's=20 grade, named after the George and Rufus Morrow families, whose land lay = on both=20 sides of the road. Maybe 3 miles beyond was a stage stop at Mountain = Springs,=20 near today's Sunnybrook.

When constructing the road, the turnpike = company=20 also had to by-pass the steep ridge beyond Mountain Springs. A less = steep grade=20 was cut in the southerly flank beyond the stage stop. Between the cuts, = the toll=20 road was atop the ridge.

From Halfway House - it wasn't Martell = yet - and=20 the Vogan's Mt. Springs, all land on both sides was owned by only a few=20 families. Big farms, ranches or ranges from west to east were owned or = lived on=20 by Fullen, Froelich, Maher, Brown, Stowers, Allen and Morrow families. = Thus,=20 along about 4 miles of toll road from Halfway House there were few = houses and=20 out-buildings. Stowers' and maybe others lived south nearer Stony Creek = Road.=20

If he followed his usual plan, Bart moved in at night, setting = up a=20 well-hidden camp a mile or so from the toll road. Then, he made a second = camp,=20 much closer to the road and by the holdup site. In daylight, from near = high=20 ground northerly of the road, for a day or two, with binoculars, he = watched=20 stages, wagons and other traffic both ways and activity around = farms.

It=20 is unlikely that Bart risked entering Jackson, or renting a room in the = National=20 Hotel or on Main to overlook Wells Fargo's local office and glean = information=20 about stage shipments. Did he learn Saturday's stage would have = considerable=20 coin or bullion? Did he also confirm this stage had no guard assigned? = We don't=20 know. As mountain stages were often without guards or messengers, = however, any=20 clue that a guard would be assigned would be significant.

More = likely,=20 however, as a stranger Bart didn't want to risk being seen downtown just = before=20 a stage robbery took place. Hence, he camped away from town unseen, = watched the=20 toll road, noted that widow Vogan and children hadn't returned to = Mountain=20 Springs after the sheriff's death, and also learned he had to watch the = Morrow=20 ranch, north of the grade.

The night of June 22, Bart surveyed = most of=20 the Rocky Ridge section of the toll road, silently stalking and entering = any=20 vacant buildings. He stole an axe from the Morrow's, and found some old = or=20 cast-off clothing in Barney's cabin at Mountain Springs to improvise a = mask and=20 holdup ensemble. After the robbery, Bart discarded the borrowed clothes = at the=20 scene. Sometimes he even left the treasure behind, too, but well-hidden. = Sooner=20 or later, he skedaddled cross-country to out-distance the inevitable = sheriff's=20 search. Lucky for him, fingerprinting and bloodhounds were techniques = yet to=20 come to Amador.

Thus, early Saturday morning, June 23, 1883, Bart = waited=20 in the brush beside a small, bridgeless brook cutting the toll road, not = far=20 from the Sutter Creek junction and Morrow's grade. In his grip, a=20 double-barreled shotgun. Was it loaded? Black Bart, they said later, = never=20 brandished a loaded shotgun. That myth might be proved wrong on the=20 morrow.

In the concluding part next week is the robbery, not far = from the=20 foot of Morrow's grade and Bart's take. His haul was vastly better than = his last=20 in Sonoma.

Larry Cenotto is a long-time Amador historian. He = will=20 revisit Black Bart and his infamous 29 or more holdups in a four-part = series=20 appearing Tuesdays in the Ledger Dispatch.