Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Biographies and reportage
  3. Biographies

Read and listen for free for 14 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
4.5(2)

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

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.


Author:

  • John Boessenecker

Narrator:

  • Stephen Graybill

Format:

  • Audiobook

Duration:

  • 10 h 21 min

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Biographies and reportage
  • Biographies
  • True stories
  • True crime
  • Society and Social Sciences
  • Society
  • Warfare
  • Social science

More by John Boessenecker

Skip the list
  1. Wildcat : The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West's Most Notorious Woman Bandit

    John Boessenecker

    audiobook
  2. Texas Ranger

    John Boessenecker

    audiobook

Others have also read

Skip the list
  1. A Company of Tanks

    William Henry Lowe Watson

    audiobook
  2. Batman and the Joker

    Chris Richardson

    audiobook
  3. Lita : A less Travelled R.O.A.D.--The Reality of Amy Dumas

    Amy Dumas, Michael Krugman

    audiobook
  4. The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture

    Glen Weldon

    audiobook
  5. The Measure of a Man

    Sidney Poitier

    audiobook
  6. In the Arena : A Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal

    Richard Nixon

    audiobook
  7. Houdini

    Adam Begley

    audiobook
  8. The Rifle

    Andrew Biggio

    audiobook
  9. Butch Cassidy : The True Story of an American Outlaw

    Charles Leerhsen

    audiobookbook
  10. Ten Caesars : Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine

    Barry Strauss

    audiobookbook
  11. The Stone Cold Truth

    Steve Austin, J.R. Ross, Dennis Brent

    audiobook
  12. No Cunning Plan : My Unexpected Life, from Baldrick to Time Team and Beyond

    Sir Tony Robinson

    audiobook

  • 4 books

    John Boessenecker

    John Boessenecker is the author of twelve books, including New York Times bestseller Texas Ranger. He has received the Spur award from Western Writers of America, the Best Book award from Westerners International, and in 2011, 2013 and 2019 True West named him Best Nonfiction Writer. He has appeared frequently as a historical commentator on PBS, The History Channel, A&E, and other media. He lives near San Francisco, California.

    Read more

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5