James B. Hume (January 23, 1827â€"May 18, 1904) was one of the
American West's premier lawmen.Born in Stamford Township, Delaware
County, New York, he left home in 1850 headed for the gold fields of
California with his brother John. Hume panned gold and mined for a
number of years in addition to operating a trade store off and on. In
1860 he began his career as a peace officer serving as deputy tax
collector for El Dorado County, California. In 1864 he was elected
City Marshal of Placerville, California, and in 1864 hired as
Undersheriff of El Dorado County. He ran for Sheriff in 1865 and
remained in office until 1870. In 1871 Wells, Fargo & Company hired
him as a detective, but gave him a year's leave in 1872 to serve as
deputy warden of the Nevada State Prison. He became one of the most
prominent detectives of the times. He married Lida Munson on April 28,
1884, and had a son, Samuel James Hume. He never retired from the
company, but after an illness in 1897 he slowed down and began working
fewer road trips. He died at his home in Berkeley, California.One of
Hume's most famous cases was that of Black Bart. Black Bart may have
been a cunning and intelligent stage coach robber, but detective Hume
was an equally skilled lawman who eventually brought Bart to justice.
James B. Hume had an impressive record as a California and Nevada
lawman before he joined the Wells Fargo freight company in 1873. In
both appearances and actions he had all the characteristics of a model
western lawman: he was tall, handsome, modest, reticent, quietly
efficient, and resourceful in his use of modern detection methods,
including the science of ballistics.Hume had been trailing Black Bart
almost from the beginning of the thief’s career. He visited the
sites of all the robberies and patiently put together a valuable list
of information. Witnesses in settlements near the scenes of the
robberies described seeing a polite, friendly man in his fifties,
about five foot eight or ten in height with brownish gray hair, a
fierce gray mustache and matching goatee, carrying a bedroll (which
Hume correctly inferred carried his duster, sack disguise, shotgun and
loot), passing through on foot and quickly disappearing. Hume made
special note of the reports by several witnesses that the man’s
boots were neatly slit at the toes as if to relieve corns â€" small
wonder, given the territory Bart covered on foot (he never traveled by
horse). Hume was well aware that this figure the locals had reported
was likely to be the culprit. James B. Hume Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter