“Deacon Jim” Miller, Outlaw

James Brown “Jim” Miller was an outlaw who lived from 1861 to 1909. He was suspected of killing twelve to fifty people during his lifetime. He was born in Van Buren, Arkansas but his parents moved to Franklin, Texas in Robertson County when he was young. Miller’s father Jacob died in 1869 while Miller was still a youth and his mother moved with the family to Evant, Texas.

While living in central Texas, some accounts associate Miller with the deaths of two of his grandparents. It is not likely, since genealogy records usually show all four of the grandparents to have different dates (and years) in which they died. The next incident in which Miller is associated is the murder of his brother in law, John Coop, in the summer of 1884. Coop was murdered in his sleep after receiving two blasts from a shotgun. Three individuals, Bill Miller (a brother), John Gould and Jim Miller were suspected of the killing. Jim Miller, then in his twenties, was convicted of the murder, but the case was overturned, it is said, on a ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. However no newspaper accounts can be found of the appeal or the result.

He was next accused of the attempted murder of the sheriff of Pecos, Texas, Bud Frazer. He and Frazer had a number of run ins over the years. While serving as town marshal, Miller was accused of firing two shotgun blasts at Frazer. Miller was tried but acquitted of the attempted murder. Soon afterward in 1894, Miller was shot at by Frazer, but as Miller had been wearing a crude metal plate under his frock coat, Miller avoided a fatal wound, though he received other gunshot wounds from which he recovered. Miller left town for a time and relocated for a brief period to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Miller returned a while later to Pecos and the two met on the street. In the ensuing gun battle Miller was wounded despite being saved once again by a metal plate covering his torso. He accused Frazer of attempted murder, but the El Paso trial resulted in a hung jury. Two years later, the feud ended when Frazer was fatally wounded by Miller while the Frazer was in a saloon in Toyah, Texas. Miller was once again acquitted of murder. A witness against Miller in the case, Joe Earp, was killed by a shotgun blast delivered a few days later by an unknown assailant.

Miller’s public persona was that of a church going man who was married and the father of a number of children. In 1891 he had married the former Sallie Clements, said to be a cousin of the John Wesley Hardin family. Miller was not a drinker or a smoker and was said to be modest and polite which led to him being called “Deacon” Jim Miller.

Despite his mild public image, Miller was suspected of committing numerous murders for hire in the early 1900s. There were various others, but the following three are usually listed. One was a Lubbock attorney named James Jarrott. Another was a Fort Worth resident named Frank Fore, followed by the 1906 killing of a United States Marshal named Ben Collins in Oklahoma. In addition to these three, Miller was also suspected in the killing of former New Mexico sheriff Pat Garrett, credited for killing Billy the Kid. However, another individual named Wayne Brazel confessed to the killing, was tried and acquitted. Brazel later disappeared and his whereabouts were never discovered.

On February 27, 1909, a rancher named Augustus Allen “Gus” Bobbitt was killed near Ada, Oklahoma. Bobbitt, a former United States Marshal, had a long standing conflict with two of his neighbors, Jesse West and Joe Allen. The attack on Bobbitt was said to have been set up by another man named Berry Burrell. Miller was accused of having set up an ambush and having shot Bobbitt with two rounds from his shotgun. Bobbitt fell from his wagon. The incident was witnessed by Bob Ferguson, an employee of Bobbitt.

Miller was identified by the victim to his wife before he died and an investigation began into the incident. The local newspapers carried news of the incident as the investigation unfolded. On March 3, 1909 The Evening News out of Ada, Oklahoma carried an article under the headline “Is it the Mare That Miller Rode That Night” concerning a horse that the alleged assailant Miller had used to flee the area. It was found at the home of a brother in law of Miller. The mare’s tracks had been traced from the scene of the crime to a location near Francis, Oklahoma, about three miles northeast of Ada and just south of the Canadian River. The owner of the mare was a nephew of Miller who was not considered to have been involved in the crime, but the mare had recently had its horseshoes removed. The mare was described as being about fifteen hands high, of rough jaded appearance, with sides saddle shaved and having a white spot on its forehead.

On March 20, 1909, The Evening News carried an update out of Guthrie, Oklahoma dated the previous day. The article stated that B. B. Burwell had been returned to Oklahoma from Tarrant County, Texas and that the expected charges were that Burwell had been involved in the crime, perhaps by encouraging Miller to commit the assassination by ambush. It also stated that rewards totaling $1,250 had been offered for the apprehension of the guilty party.

The Daily Oklahoman, out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma carried a report of Miller’s arrest in its issue of April 3, 1909. This article stated that Miller had been arrested in Fort Worth by George Culver, Ada Chief of Police. Miller was to be returned to Ada to face charges for Bobbitt’s death. The Ada Weekly Democrat reported the preliminary hearing of Miller’s case in its issue of April 16, 1909. Judge Brown, the presiding magistrate, forbid the release of any of the evidence.

West, Allen and Burrell were also taken into custody. The trial was set to begin around April 20, 1909, other articles noted. Three days after the preliminary hearing, an article again out of Ada in The Evening News reported that at about 2:30 that morning, April 19, 1909, the four suspects were removed by “a disguised mob,” then taken to the old Frisco barn north of the jail and hanged. No one would ever know what the result of a trial might have been.

Miller’s remains were returned to Fort Worth and he is buried in Oakwood Cemtery as was his widow, who survived him another nineteen years.

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