Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1911-09-20
j. IL j. !. !. !. !. j. i. Il 4. !.
!. "oLD BILL MINER" ALL IN, j.
i. SENT TO STATE FARM. i.
!. !. !. i. !. !. j. !. !. i. y. i.

"Old Bill" Miner, highwayman,
train robber and celebrated jailer,
Is about all in.
For many years "Old Bill's" name
has been a by-word in police circles
from Maine to California, and from
the Great Lakes to the Gulf, yea, and
then some. "Old Bill" broke Jail lit
tie more than year ago in Canada
for a crime he had committed on
British soil.
And If there is any spot in Amer
lea four feet square where Bill
Miner, under that name, or some
other, has not been known with more
or less favor, 1t has not been heard
from up to date. Bill has paid His
respects to many sections Of the
country and they have always had
good cause to remember him wher-
ever he has seen fit to hesitate.
Name to Conjure With.
In fact, "Old Bill' had reputa-
ton many years before some Of the
present generation began to be scar
ed to bed at night with stories of
Tom Dalton, Jesse James and other
celebrities who lived and moved in
that select icrcle of society which
maintains its standing with the aid
OF "forty-four," and for years
past, when any of this gentry came
up for discussion "Old Bill" Miner
always had a box seat
But the prospects are now that
"Old Bill" one of the last Of the most
noted bold bad men," has reached
the end Of the tether, and that the
places that once knew him will know
him no more
Bill's last escapade was to flash a
red light in front Of fast Southern
passenger train near Gainesville a
few months ago for the purpose of
annexing several thousand dollars
which was aboard. Bill and his pals
got the money, or a part Of 1t, but
Bill also got hooked for twenty
years in the Georgia pen.
ocho INC IhSle IL you "duL 10,
said Bill "but I won't stay. I'd be
pecking rock on judgment day II
served out all the time that's been
marked up against me. Yet a little
while and III bid farewell to Geor-
gia."
And there were few who heard him
but who were struck with the contic-
tion that "Old Bill" would follow his
bent and would never stay put.
Years Prove Hard'cep
But 'C'd Bill" saw throuGh glass
darkly, lie failed f. reckon with . g
weight of his siXty-n!na years. D;
.alIed TO more tAat somet hinr ,2rmud
Oi lac ~ ~.ou4 tho siinllns sight
along the barrel of his "forty-four",
and that the barrel wobbled strange
ly when he tried to draw bead.
Old age was telling on the famous
outlaw, but he knew it not.
So it came to pass that cold Bill"
Miner journeyed to the convict camps
Of Newton county to eXpiate his
crime Of holding-up passenger
train, buoyant in the thought that
his craft at jail-breaking would carry
him through.
But in q few short months the
alarming fact burst upon "Old Bill's"
mind that he had lost his skill.
Time passed and he made none Of his
70 kc
couldn't. 1t wasn't in him. His back
was bent and his shoulders dropped
listleSsly and his steps were faltering
and slow. No more did his eyes
flash and his spine stiffen when the
guard turned his back for a moment.
"Old Bill" was all in.
A few days ago the prison commits
sion decided that "Old Bill" was unfit
for manual labor on the roads and
that the place for him was the State
farm the place where the old and
decrepit go--the place which "Old
BIZ Miner in his early days would
have laughed at and scorned.
And so Bill was transferred to the
farm, and that transfer, perhaps,
marked the passing for all time of
one OF the most daring, rcsolute and
successful hold-up men this country
ever knew.
Miner will never escape from the
state farm. He is watched too close
ly in the first place and in the second
he isn't able to get away with it if
he tried. He claims he Is 60 years
old, and GO is pretty old for a man
OF regular habits. 1t is much Older
for "Old Bill" He still has nearly