Miner, Bill

MINER, Bill, outlaw (b 1846, Vevay Township, Mich; d 2 Sept 1913, Millidgeville, GA). He left home at age 16, went west and began robbing stagecoaches. Before he was 20 he was doing time in the notorious San Quentin Penitentiary. He spent most of the next 30 years in prison, where he worked at hard labour and suffered abusive maltreatment in the penal system. His final term was for 20 years; undaunted, he turned to robbing trains after his release. Once again on the run, he crossed into Canada in 1903 and settled in the NICOLA Valley south of KAMLOOPS, posing as George Edwards, gentleman rancher. On 10 Sept 1904 he held up a CPR train at MISSION, then on 8 May 1906 he struck the CPR again, east of Kamloops. A massive search followed and Miner and his gang were captured near Douglas Lake. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the NEW WESTMINSTER Penitentiary, he escaped in Aug 1907, fled across the border and was not seen in Canada again. He was arrested in 1911 in Georgia, where he died in prison. Miner became a folk hero in BC for his gentlemanly ways and the fact that he targeted the unpopular CPR. It is said that he originated the phrase "Hands up!" An award-winning 1982 film by Philip BORSOS, The Grey Fox, dramatized his career.