The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-03-30
CAUGHT AT LAST
.tOld Bill lIiner Had Been Bandit For
Nearly Forty Years.
RECKLESS DESPERATE

ESCAPES From a Life Sentence and
at Sixty.fiye Years Of Age Holds
Up Railroad Train as Fearlessly
as in His Earlier Days He Robbed
Stages in the Lonely Mountain.
Old Bill Miner, the notorious train
robber, is again in prison. IN all
probability he will spend the rest OF
his life there, but he has shown him.
self so ;nimble in escaping that 1t
would be unwise to make any conn-
dent predictions. Once before, he re-
ceived a life sentence, but he was
soon free. However,, he is now six
ty-five yes.rs old and cannot be SO
adroit as ne was when he began his
career of crime fortv-two wears ago,
although what ne has lost In agility
he has made up in the cunning that
comes of experience.
Miners most recent crime. fof
which he 1s now in iail at GAINESVILLE.
Ga, was the hold-uD Of train NO. so
on the Southern Railroad near Whlte
Sulphur, Hall County. Ca. earlV on
February is. It is forty-two years
since Miners frst prison exnerienee'
which was IN the San Quentin Jan
in California. and that. like all those
that followed. was for the same OF
fense. He began with stage coaches.
he ends with railway trains.
Inst when cold Bill Miner hegan
TO break the law no one but he HIM
self knows. Far back in the hU 5
drivers Of stage coaches making trips
back and forth across the State OF
California began to come In from
their lonely mountain journeys with
cash boxes rifled of their contents,
sometimes a horse short, and IN eV-
cry case with the same story.
A lonely spot on the road. some
times in the day time. sometimes at
night, single highwayman and the
magic words. Hands up" The tale
never varied. For want OF a better
name the lone highwayman came 10
be known faT and wide as California
Billy
The exploits OF California Billy
continued for several years. All Ell
forts at his capture were In vain.
Many posses hunted the lone outlaw,
tempted by offers OF generous re-
wards. But he seemed to bear a
charmed life.
It was not until 1859 that he was
caught. The driver Of stage that
ran In from the hills back Of Sacra-
mentc jumped from his seat in front
of the Office early one morning In
the spring of that year and breath
lessly told HON he had been held up
but a few hours before. The strong
box of the stage had been heavy with
gold dust sent in by miners. Never
before had "California Bill dared
to attack a coach so close to town.
Always before he had chosen q stage
further up in the mountains. where
many hours mus: elapse before q
posse could even start after him.
In twenty minutes from the time
the driver told his story a heavily
armed posse was riding hard back
over the trail. 1T was not difficult
70 pick up traces of the bandit; be-
fore. nightfall his hunters were close
ucon him, and as the sun sank be-
hind the hills they surrounded him
The posse expected a fight. 10
their surprise the outlaw offered no
resistance, but surrendered at their
command. Miner could fight when a
tight would do any good, but like a
good poker player who knows when
to Law down his cards, he knew when
fighting would be folly. The same
craft he showed in picking out the
time and place to hold up a stage he
displayed in picking out the time and
place to fight. This was neither.
In triumph the posse took their
captive into Sacramento. His trial
was speedy and less than week
after his capture he began serving a
term in San Quentin prison. While
Miner, or California Billy as he
was still called, was in prison not a
single stage coach was held up IN
that part of California.
When Miner was released he left
California as rapidly as possible. He
had become too we'll known In that
State. The wider country of Colora-
do offered greater attractions. In
this new field of operations his meth
ods were the same as In the old.
Time after time did lone bandit,
masked and heavily armed, stop the
stage coaches that ran through the
mountains. For more than ten years
Miner had been pursuing his profess
sion az highwayman, and only once
In al! those years had be been caught.
In 1878 Miner, single-handed, held
up the Del Norte coach and compeli-
ed the driver and several passengers
to stand to one side while he rifled
the money box of $4,000 in currency.
1t was such haul as Miner had been
coveting for some time. Although
almost a thousand men sought him,
he escaped with his booty and got
quickly out of the State. He had
long cherished a desire to see some
thing of the country, so he went
straight to Chicago, where he bought