For many Americans, the Old West was a time where the line between good and bad was clearly defined. An outlaw was always an outlaw - a life on the dodge until incarceration or a violent execution brought about their demise. Where money is concerned, that line can become blurred. A man who appears to have an upstanding, normal, and rewarding life with a wife and child can actually be a cold, calculating killer for a price. Such was the case with James Brown Miller.
With his suit, hat and long, black overcoat, Jim Miller could easily be mistaken for a Wall Street business tycoon. He never smoked nor drank while often attending church. Born in Van Buren, Arkansas, young Jim moved to Evant, Texas with his mother and siblings after his father died. They moved in with the mother’s parents, whom Jim apparently didn’t like. A short time after, they were both found murdered. At the age of eight, Jim was arrested, but was never prosecuted. With an astonishing knack for getting out of trouble, it wouldn’t be his last arrest.
Miller next moved in with his sister and husband near Gatesville. Like his grandparents, he developed a dislike for his brother-in –law, dispatching him with a shotgun blast while he was asleep on the front porch. This time Miller was sent to prison, but the conviction was overturned on a technicality. He moved on and became a ranch-hand at the ranch of Mannen Clements in McCulloch County where he met and later married his daughter, Sallie. During that time, Clements was killed by Ballinger City Marshal Joe Townsend. Miller responded by almost shooting off Townsend’s arm with a shotgun. Forced again to move on, he headed for the Texas-Mexico border region; a region rife with violence and corruption held only in check by the Texas Rangers. He became a bartender in San Saba County, a deputy sheriff in Reeves County and a town marshal in Pecos where he gained a reputation for killing Mexicans by claiming they were trying to escape after arresting them. To bolster his corrupt authority, he surrounded himself with known gunfighters who killed anyone that threatened Miller’s growing criminal empire. Otherwise, Miller was a popular resident and a member of the Methodist Church. The folks in town fondly referred to him as “Deacon Jim.”
Unfortunately, Miller gained the enmity of Pecos County Sheriff George A. “Bud” Frazier, who accused him of murdering cattleman Con Gibson, who was witness to a conspiracy involving Miller to kill Frazier. What followed was a blood feud that could only have been scripted in Hollywood. On two occasions, Frazier opened fire on Miller while he was out in public. Miller cleverly wore an iron vest, secured under his long coat that protected his chest from Frazier’s bullets. He ended the feud on September 13, 1896 by blowing Frazier’s head off with a shotgun while resting it on a saloon door in Toyah, Texas. Frontier justice in those days was often not blind but corrupted in full sight, especially by friends and cohorts who sat on the jury - Miller was acquitted.
Killing was becoming second nature to Miller by the time he moved to Ft. Worth in 1900. He and Sallie opened up a boarding house where Miller hired himself out as a professional assassin for $150 on up depending on the victim’s stature. His clients were usually ranchers who wanted neighboring farmers killed for fencing in their properties or sheep herders competing with them for grazing space. Victims were killed in Miller’s signature style – a shotgun blast to the head or upper body. In Orr, Oklahoma, Miller killed U.S. Deputy Marshal Ben Collins with a shotgun blast to the face. Miller was hired by a man named Port Pruitt who Collins had shot and partially paralyzed. Although he was arrested, Miller took the precaution of killing the witnesses, forcing his acquittal.
His gun for hire practice came to a head when Miller was hired to kill popular U.S. Marshal Gus Bobbit. Ada, Oklahoma was an often lawless town where disputes were often solved with a gun. Ada saloon owners Jesse West and Joe Allen were involved in scamming Indians into selling their land; a practice known as “Indian Skinning.” In exchange for their reservation land, Indians were given 160 acre plots by the Federal Government. With the help of corrupt officials, the Indians were plied with liquor to persuade them to sell their lands for ridiculous prices, sometimes as low as $50. Bobbit publicized the corrupt practice and urged residents to vote out corrupt officials. Those who profited from “Indian Skinning” couldn’t afford such publicity and notoriety; they hired Miller to assassinate Bobbit. On February 27, 1909, Bobbit was shot while driving his wagon home from Ada. He died an hour later, but not before instructing his wife to offer a $1,000 reward for his assassin. That following April, Miller and the men who hired him: Jesse West, Joe Allen, and Berry Burrell were arrested. Bobbit was a popular, upstanding figure in Ada and the locals were afraid his murderers would get off scot-free. On April 9, 1909, a lynch mob stormed the Ada jailhouse and dragged the four to a livery stable where ropes were thrown over the rafters. Asked to confess his crimes, Miller told the mob he had killed 51 men. He asked that his long, black coat be draped over his shoulders. Miller was hanged after telling his executioners, “Let her rip!” All four were photographed in macabre fashion, swinging from the rafters among the stalled horses. Miller’s body was shipped back to Fort Worth before being buried at Oakwood Cemetery.
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