It took several days, but Morse found the right one, belonging to Thomas C. Ware on Bush Street. After checking his records Ware identified the owner of the handkerchief as belonging to a C.E. Bolton, known as a mining man, who came to town frequently on business. He even knew that Bolton was in town at that moment, staying at the Webb House on 2nd Street. Morse asked Ware to accompany him there to identify Bolton. Morse pretended he was a mining man and that he had a friend that wanted to discuss business. He took him to the Wells Fargo office, where at first Hume went along with the ruse. When he started to question Bolton more closely, he clammed up.
Hume called the police and they escorted Bolton back to his hotel. When police searched his belongings, Morse found another handkerchief with the same laundry mark. They arrested him on the spot, but he continued to plead innocence. They took him to San Andreas, near the scene of his last job. There they questioned him for several hours before he finally admitted he was Black Bart. He gave a full confession of each of his robberies and how he had planned them. He told them he took the name of Black Bart from a book called "The Case of Summerfield."
The next day he pled guilty to Judge P. H. Kean in San Andreas. The next morning, he waived his right to a jury trial and Judge C. V. Gottschalk sentenced him to six years at San Quentin. He arrived there on November 21, 1883. He was released on January 4, 1888, for good behavior. After his release he disappeared from sight. Some rumors persist that Wells Fargo paid him off so that he would forever leave their stages alone. Wells Fargo vigorously denied it.
