Jim Miller (outlaw)

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'Killer' Jim Miller, far left, wearing black hat, hangs from a livery stable rafter after lynching in Ada, Oklahoma, 1909

James B. "Killer" Miller, (b. Van Buren, Arkansas, 1866, d. Oklahoma, 1909) was also known as Deacon Jim due to his habit of preaching when drunk, was an outlaw and assassin who was lynched on April 19th, 1909. [1]

1 Early Life
2 Criminal Career
3 Final murder arrest, lynching
4 Trivia
5 External Links
6 Further reading
7 Sources

[edit] Early Life

Miller's parents died while he was still a toddler in Franklin, Texas, and he was sent to live with his grandparents in Coryell County, Texas. At the age of eight, Miller was arrested for the murders of both grandparents. Because of his young age, however, he suffered no legal penalties. The courts remanded him into the custody of his older sister, who had married and moved away. In 1884, at age seventeen, Miller was arrested again, this time for the murder of his sister's husband John Coop, who had been killed by a shotgun blast while he was sleeping. This time Miller was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, although the conviction was appealed and he was eventually acquitted for lack of evidence.

[edit] Criminal Career

After his release Miller traveled to San Saba County and embarked on a career as a hired gun, loudly proclaiming that he would murder anyone for money (accounts of his price vary between $150 and $2000). Between the late-1880s and early-1890s until his death Miller was alleged to have been involved in at least eight murders for hire, and another six killings as a result of saloon altercations or gambling disputes. Legend spread that he killed more than fifty men in his lifetime; though he was no doubt a dangerous man, this number is likely exagerated. He had a reputation for getting the job done quickly and efficiently, usually by means of a shotgun ambush in the dead of night, and for wearing a large, black frock coat that he never took off, no matter the weather.

On April 12, 1894, in Pecos, Texas Miller was confronted by Sheriff Bud Frazer about his involvement in the murder of cattleman Con Gibson. Frazer did not wait for Miller to go for his famous shotgun and shot the assassin five times. Astonishingly, the bullets seemed to bounce off Miller, who sustained only a small injury to his right arm. While Miller was attempting to fire his gun with his left hand, hitting only an innocent bystander, Frazer fired again, hitting Miller in the side, which finally put him down. After Miller's friends had rushed him to a doctor, his frock coat was removed to reveal the large--now very dented--steel plate that Miller wore under his clothes, which resisted most of the bullets from Frazer's gun, saving the assassin's life.

Eventually, in 1896, Miller killed Frazer, who was no longer a sheriff and had since taken a post as a stablehand, in Toyah, Texas, with a shotgun blast to the face.

On August 1st, 1906, Miller killed the Bureau of Indian Affairs Lawman Ben C. Collins in Oklahoma, as retribution from the friends of an outlaw shot and killed by Collins that same year. Miller was reportedly paid $2,000 to do so by unknown persons for that murder, which he carried out in front of Collins's home in front of Collins's wife. Miller was arrested for the murder, but was never convicted, and was eventually released. [2]

On February 28, 1908, ex-lawman and killer of Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett, was killed near Las Cruces, New Mexico, ostensibly because of a land dispute. Miller was alleged to have committed the murder, and had been paid to do so, but this is unlikely as Jesse Wayne Brazel later confessed to the crime. Brazel was tried and released on the grounds of self defense. Carl Adamson, Jim Miller's cousin, was also with Garrett when he was killed, which most likely led to the rumors that Miller was involved. Historians still disagree over the ultimate facts of Garrett's murder, but the consensus is that it happened as Brazel said it did, without Miller's involvement.

[edit] Final murder arrest, lynching

In April 1909 Miller was contracted by local ranchers Jesse West and Joe Allen through middleman Berry B. Burell (though there is controversy over the spelling of the man's name[3]) for the murder of Oklahoma cattle rancher and ex-sheriff A.A. "Gus" Bobbitt, either to acquire his land after his death or because of a personal grudge against the man (accounts vary). The fee was $1700. Miller shot Bobbitt with his shotgun, though the man reportedly survived long enough to return home to identify his killer to his wife. The murder was also witnessed by Oscar Peeler, the 19-year-old cowhand Miller who accepted $50 to lead Miller to Bobbitt. Miller was arrested in Texas by a Texas Ranger and extradited to Oklahoma to stand trial alongside Jesse West, Joe Allen and Berry Burrell.

The evidence against the four suspects, however, was not considered strong, leaving open the chance for an acquittal. Only weeks earlier a man named Stephenson, a suspect in the November 3, 1907 murder of Pauls Valley, Oklahoma town Marshal Rudolph Cathey, had been acquitted on murder charges, which possibly led citizens to carry out the events that followed.

A lynch mob of approximately 150 to 200 friends and neighbors of Bobbitt broke into the jail at around 3am on April 19, 1909. The mob overpowered deputies Walter Goyne and Bud Nestor, and dragged the four men outside to an abandoned livery stable behind the jail. Miller remained stoic while the other three reportedly begged for their lives. Miller made two final requests: that his diamond ring be given to his wife, and that he be permitted to wear his black hat while being hanged. Both requests were granted. Miller is reported to have shouted "Let 'er rip!" and stepped voluntarily off his box.

The bodies of all four men were left hanging for several hours while a photographer could be brought in to immortalize the moment. These photos were sold to tourists in Ada for many years.

[edit] Trivia

Miller was married to the cousin of another famous old west outlaw, John Wesley Hardin.
The iron plate that Miller frequently wore under his frock coat was very likely the inspiration for Clint Eastwood to do the same in the 1964 spaghetti western A Fistful of Dollars.