Morning Devotional

July 26, 2004

"Black Bart"

by Don Emmitte

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You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles. A healthy tree produces good fruit, and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced. (Matthew 7:16-20 NLT).

Sometimes history is entertaining as well as educational. On this day in 1878, Black Bart robs a Wells Fargo stagecoach in California. Wearing a flour sack over his head, the armed robber stole the small safe box with $400 and a passenger's diamond ring and watch. When the empty box was recovered, a taunting poem signed "Black Bart" was found inside:

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.

This wasn't the first time that Black Bart had robbed a stagecoach and left a poem for the police; however, it was the last time he got away with it. His next stagecoach robbery secured a lot more cash, $4,800, but he accidentally left behind a handkerchief at the scene. Through a laundry mark, Pinkerton detectives traced the handkerchief back to Charles Bolton, an elderly man in San Francisco.

Bolton later confessed to being Black Bart but bitterly disputed his reputation as an outlaw. "I am a gentleman," he told detectives with great dignity. How Bolton became Black Bart is unclear. What is known is that Bolton had tried to hit it big in the Gold Rush, but had ended up with a lifestyle beyond his means. Due to his advanced age, Black Bart served only a short stretch in prison and spent the rest of his days in Nevada.

Bolton may have asserted that he was a “gentleman,” but his actions certainly denied his honesty. Our reading this morning is a part of the teaching of Jesus cautioning us to examine our actions, not merely our words. It is easy to talk about being godly. The real test is in how we act. Take a little time today and reexamine your daily activities, attitudes, and actions. Measure them against Jesus’ example. That will tell you what kind of “tree” you really are!