Jim Miller (outlaw)
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James B. "Killer" Miller, (October 25, 1861 - April 19, 1909) was also known as Deacon Jim because he regularly attended the Methodist Church and because he did not smoke or drink. He was an outlaw and assassin of the American Old West who was lynched by a mob of angry citizens over his assassination of former Deputy U.S. Marshall Allen Augustus Bobbitt of Ada, Oklahoma.
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[edit] Early life
Miller was born in 1861 in Van Buren, Arkansas. Miller's father, Jacob Miller, was born in Pennsylvania in 1801, was a stone mason, and helped build the first capitol building in Austin, Texas. Miller's mother, Cynthia Basham, was born in Tennessee in 1827. Frequently circulated stories that both of Miller's parents died when he was very young, and that he killed both his grandparents when he was eight years old are untrue. The 1880 census finds him at age nineteen, living in Coryell County, Texas with his siblings and widowed mother. In 1884, at age twenty-three, Miller was arrested for the murder of his sister's husband John Coop, who had been killed by a shotgun blast while he was sleeping. Miller was convicted and sentenced to life in prison; however, the conviction was appealed, and he was 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 $2,000). 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 this number is likely exaggerated. He had a reputation for getting the job done quickly and efficiently, usually by means of a shotgun ambush at night, and for always wearing a large, black frock coat.
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 shotgun, and he shot the assassin five times. Miller sustained only a small injury to his right arm. While Miller was attempting to fire his gun with his left hand, 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 steel plate that Miller wore under his clothes, which resisted most of the bullets from Frazer's gun, saving the assassin's life.
In 1896, Miller killed Frazer, who was no longer a sheriff and was working as a stablehand in Toyah, Texas, with a shotgun blast to the face.
On August 1, 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 he was never convicted and was eventually released.
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 since Jesse Wayne Brazel later confessed to the crime. Brazel was tried and released on the grounds of self defense. Carl Adamson, who was married to a cousin of Miller's wife, 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 without Miller's involvement. Despite this, Carl Adamson reportedly told a family member that it was Jim Miller who murdered Pat Garrett. Carl's widow confirmed this again years later.[citation needed]
[edit] Lynching
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) 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 $1,700. On February 27, 1909, 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 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 mob--reported by The Daily Ardmoreite as 200, and by Associated Press as "estimated from 30 to 40 in number"-- broke into the jail "between two and three o'clock" on the morning of April 19, 1909. The mob 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. Ironically two prisoners who had killed an Allen, Oklahoma Town Marshall were not lynched.
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.
[edit] References
James, Bill (1989). Jim Miller, The Untold Story of a Texas Badman. Henington Publishing Company.
Nash, Robert (1994). Encyclopedia of Western Lawmen & Outlaws. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80591-X.
