Black Bart

In a jail cell, Jersey Brady begins recounting the story of his former partner Charles E. Boles, known as Black Bart, and their days on the outlaw trail. The framing sets up the flashback that follows. He hints at Lola Montez and the others as the narrative unfolds.

Years earlier, Charles, Lance, and Jersey are mounted on the outlaw path and pull off daring heists. Charles decides to leave the gang and move to California to pull off one last job and then go straight. He secretly considers a double-cross of Lance to secure his own share.

Moments after his decision, Charles secretly double-crosses Lance and steals all the money. The betrayal poisons their partnership and foreshadows future conflicts among the trio. Charles's plan to go straight starts with securing the loot he can retire on.

Months later in Sacramento, Charles reunites with Clark, a former partner who now uses his position as a lawyer to commit crimes. The two plot to destroy Wells Fargo and replace it with their own bank to profit from the gold rush. Their alliance blends public power and private crime.

Clark supplies Charles with inside information on Wells Fargo money shipments. Over the next two months, Charles, as Black Bart, robs each stage, eroding public confidence in the bank. The steady thefts weaken Wells Fargo’s hold on the region and set the stage for a larger scheme.

On a day of high tension, Lance and Jersey are posted as guard for a stage, while Lola Montez watches from the crowd. A masked Charles, as Black Bart, stops the coach but is thwarted when Lance recognizes his voice and helps save the coach. Lance then brings the coach to the Wells Fargo relay station, where he impresses Lola by saving the driver's broken leg.

Soon after, Charles, in disguise as Black Bart, infiltrates the station, returns Lola's diamond bracelet, and shares an embrace with her before fleeing. The gesture deepens Lola’s conflicted feelings about him and his crime. The two characters’ romance intensifies amid the looming danger.

Next day in Sacramento, Wells Fargo manager Mark Lorimer and Sheriff Gordon hire Lance and Jersey to guard another coach, viewing them as new heroes. Charles greets them in town as a respected rancher by day, hiding his true identity. He also tries to win Lola over by pressing for a life together.

Charles tells Lola that he intends to go straight, but she pleads for him to give up crime entirely. She asks him to abandon the plan for one last score and to stay with her instead. He agrees to consider a last job, keeping their future precarious.

Sheriff Gordon lays out a plan where Lance will act as lookout for deputies guarding a key coach and its payroll. The conspirators intend to steal the stage and pin it on Black Bart, while Clark warns Charles that if the stage gets through, their overall scheme collapses. Tension builds as the timing approaches.

Black Bart meets the outbound stage, orders Jersey to drop the money box, and vanishes. When he checks the box, he finds it empty—the money remains at the relay station. The thwarted robbery reveals the stage was not carrying the expected loot after all.

That night, Charles contemplates retrieving the money himself, but Lola persuades him to avoid the risk. He then tells Lance that he could steal and keep all the money himself, yet Lance insists they go to the relay station together. The plan to recover the loot is still in motion.

Lance and Black Bart are trapped by a waiting posse and retreat into a barn. The posse sets the barn on fire, forcing them to flee. In the chaos, both Charles and Lance are shot and fall to their fates.

Jersey wraps up his story from his current home, a jail cell, stating that Charles's death convinced him to go straight. He notes that Lola’s fate after the incident remains unknown. The closing lines echo the price of crime and the legend of Black Bart.