had expired on those robberies. When booked, he gave his name as T. Z. Spalding, but police found a Bible, a gift from his wife, inscribed with his real name. The police report said that Boles was "a person of great endurance. Exhibited genuine wit under most trying circumstances, and was extremely proper and polite in behavior. Eschews profanity." Conviction and imprisonment Wells Fargo only pressed charges on the final robbery. Boles was convicted and sentenced to six years in San Quentin Prison, but he was released after four years for good behavior, in January 1888. His health had clearly deteriorated due to his time in prison; he had visibly aged, his eyesight was failing, and he had gone deaf in one ear. Reporters swarmed around him when he was released and asked if he was going to rob any more stagecoaches. "No, gentlemen," he replied, smiling, "I'm through with crime." Final days Boles never returned to his wife after his release from prison, though he did write to her. In one of the letters he said he was tired of being shadowed by Wells Fargo, felt demoralized, and wanted to get away from everybody. In February 1888, Boles left the Nevada House and vanished. Hume said Wells Fargo tracked him to the Visalia House hotel in Visalia. The hotel owner said a man answering the description of Boles had checked in and then disappeared. The last known sighting of Black Bart was on February 28, 1888. Copycat robber On November 14, 1888, another Wells Fargo stage was robbed by a masked highwayman. The lone bandit left a verse that read: So here I've stood while wind and rain Have set the trees a-sobbin, And risked my life for that box, That wasn't worth the robbin. Detective Hume was called to examine the note. After comparing it with the handwriting of genuine Black Bart poetry, he declared the new holdup was the work of a copycat criminal. Rumors and theories Victoria Tudor, the Marysville Cemetery Commissioner has said Boles had lived in Marysville, California in late life, working as a pharmacist. It is believed his grave is located in the Marysville Cemetery in Marysville. Black Bart is also rumored to have been buried in an unmarked grave in the Knights Landing Cemetery in Knights Landing, California. Johnny Thacker, a Wells Fargo detective who had participated in Boles's arrest, said in