Tales Mark Twain Would Have Loved to Steal

Humorous accounts of tales of California's Motherlode. The author occasionally becomes so engrossed in the local lore of the gold rush area that he transforms himself into California's most notorious outlaw, Black Bart. For many years, his frequent melodramatic performances of the Legends of the Motherlode have amused tour bus visitors, frightened elementary school children and challenged the credulity of finicky historians. Despite opposition by literary purists, his criminal career continues, polluting the printed page with dastardly doggerel and other wretched attempts at light verse. The author's role model, Black Bart, established himself as the Bandit Poet by leaving scraps of verse after his holdups of the Wells Fargo stagecoaches. Examples are quoted on the Back Cover.