JAMES HUME

James Hume was a New York native who became a legendary lawman known as the “Sherlock Holmes of the West.” 

He is best known as the man who captured notorious outlaw Black Bart. 

Hume came to California during the Gold Rush, and after years of prospecting he went into law enforcement. 

He was elected Sheriff of El Dorado County in 1868, and then became a detective for Wells Fargo. At the time, the company was being victimized by many stagecoach robberies. 

Hume modernized Wells Fargo’s investigative unit by using ballistics to match buckshot and bullets to guns. He also took footprints to match against the boots worn by suspects.

Hume had been chasing Black Bart throughout most of the outlaw’s career. In 1883, while Bart was robbing a stagecoach near Sonora, he dropped a handkerchief imprinted with a laundry mark. Hume send a detective to every laundry in San Francisco who eventually matched the mark. 

The owner of the laundry was C.E. Bolton, an alias used by Black Bart. The outlaw was arrested and served several years in San Quentin. 

To assist law enforcement officers, Hume co-wrote a detailed book about every Wells Fargo train and stagecoach robbery between 1870 and 1884, with detailed descriptions of all the robbers. 

Hume continued to work for Wells Fargo until he died in 1904.