This Day…

1878-California- Black Bart held up another Wells Fargo stage, one traveling between Quincy and Oroville, Calif. Again, he wore the same weird outfit, the long flowing duster and the flour sack, and again, his voice, described as “hollow and deep,” ordered the driver to “throw down the box!” This time Bart made off with $379. He also helped himself to a passenger’s $200 diamond ring and a gold watch worth $25. Once more, pursuing lawmen found the empty strongbox with another note which stated: “Here I lay me down to sleep, To wait the coming morrow, Perhaps success, perhaps defeat, And everlasting sorrow. Yet come what will, I’ll try it once, My conditions can’t be worse, And if there’s money in that box, ‘Tis money in my purse.”