Jim Miller

Jim Miller (born April 11th, 1862) was an American business magnate turned outlaw of the Mao Gang.
== Early Life and Career ==
Miller was born in Louisiana in 1862. His father was Bob Miller, a prominent Confederate general in the American Civil War, who would found the Louisiana Raiders bandit gang after the war. He received little attention from his father, though he respected him for his military and outlaw career. 
In 1883, Miller started his company, Miller Oil, which employed his brother Dave. The company becomes successful for a while despite having to compete with John Cornwall, eventually an agreement was negotiated between the businesses that would allow them both to operate in their own areas. Miller married a woman in 1886 and had four children. A son, Phil, in 1888 and three daughters after that. Miller's business would not last forever as in the 1890s an economic crisis would occur and Miller Oil would fail. Miller blamed this on the fact that the Republican government was willing to support Cornwall's business in this time, but not his own. Because of all the debt he had acquired, all of Miller's assets had to be sold and he found himself in a very difficult situation. His wife left him and he had no income, so he got what little savings he had left and decided to move West to start a new life. Although it would probably be better for him to stay where he was and find a job there, he had become sick of the city and felt as though he needed to escape, and the West seemed like the best place to do that.
== The Mao Gang ==
In 1898, Miller found himself in Tumbleweed, New Mexico. When he arrived here, all he had was enough cash to survive a few days, an aging horse and a pistol belt with a Colt Single Action Army and some ammo, which he had kept because he believed the West to still be an untamed violent place. He struggled to get a job, but eventually found one as a ranch hand. He spent a lot of time in the saloon during this period, drinking away his sorrows, and in this time he watched Barry Bandit from a distance as he and the gang were in the area at the time. Miller observed Barry get what he wanted through strength, intimidating patrons and gaining respect. Miller hated his job as it was hard, paid very little, and was terribly unexciting. However, one day, while Miller was escorting cattle, he was robbed by the Mao Gang. Though he had a mask on, Miller recognised Barry from his stature, voice and clothing. He said nothing though and cooperated, so was let go. His employer did not meet the same fate as he resisted. Miller was now out of the job, but later that evening he was in the saloon and saw some members of the gang playing poker, including Lee Mao and Barry Bandit. He approached them and offered to play, to which they accepted. While playing, Miller told them that he knew that they were outlaws, but that instead of turning them in, he wanted to join their gang. Barry was reluctant to accept as he thought that Jim looked unintimidating, could secretly be working for the law or be a bounty hunter and that he had very little to offer the gang. However, Miller offered his ability to manage finances and the fact that he was good with a rifle from hunting. Lee felt that they could benefit from new members and felt it would be wrong to turn Jim away, so he accepted as he ultimately had the final say. 
Miller would go on to be a very significant member of the gang, playing a prominent role in the gang's hunting business especially. Miller would also engage in bounty hunting, and then assassination missions when this was not an option (which he would come to regret later, and he even killed a man who had given him multiple of these missions despite not standing to benefit from it). Miller would create a reputation of being a vicious killer who was quick on the draw and never afraid to use violence to achieve what he wanted, because of the men he had killed and how the stories of these killings were published and eventually attributed to him but this reputation was only partially justified as though Miller was a mercenary, he was not quite a brute. He regretted his actions and even attempted to be honourable at times, sparing his foes and helping those in need. 
At some point in their travels, the Mao Gang would encounter the Louisiana Raiders. The gang would attempt to negotiate with them for some modern military weapons, but this would not work out and Miller would draw his gun on the Raiders and a shootout would ensue. This would be the beginning of a rivalry with the Raiders which would end with the death of Lindsey Wofford, the leader and man who killed Jim's father. 
At another time, during a robbery at John Cornwall's house, Miller would be face to face with Cornwall. He was encouraged by Barry Bandit to kill him, as Jim had claimed that he wanted to before, but he could not bring himself to do it, as he was filled with self-doubt. However, Cornwall pulled a pistol and was shot anyway, possibly because he had been threatened by Barry Bandit, or perhaps he was going to do it anyway. 
== Endings ==
Miller has two different endings. 
=== Ending A (The Bad/preferred Ending) ===
Miller confronts Barry during the fall of the gang, but is injured in a gunfight, being shot in the stomach He manages to escape on his trusty steed Clint in the blizzard that was raging on in this time, but encounters a posse that had been hunting the Mao Gang. It consisted mainly of US Army cavalry, but also included some Pinkertons and lawmen. After failing to evade them, a gunfight ensued. Miller killed several of them, but after Clint was killed from underneath him, the soldiers surrounded him, and killed him.
=== Ending B (The Good Ending) ===
Miller manages to escape from the mountains of Colorado uninjured with some gold that he had managed to recover. It was a significant amount, but no where near as much in value as what Barry Bandit had. He managed to evade any posses that were hunting him and the Mao Gang and makes his way back to New Orleans. He had still known some influential figures there like the Police Chief, a lawyer and a judge. They didn't care for Miller when his business failed, but with the gold he had recovered, Miller managed to bribe his way to freedom, gaining himself an official pardon for any crimes he had been accused of. He had very little money left afterwards though, so ended up working as a shop assistant and living in a small apartment for a while.
After a couple of months living like this, Miller became deeply saddened and spent much of his time at a local two-bit saloon. One day however, he met the owner of a traveling theatre company. He told Miller that he had become quite famous because of his exploits in the West and asked if he would join his company as an actor, portraying himself. As he was sick of living in relative squalor, he accepted the offer.
Miller would act in many successful 'Wild West' shows over the years and actually become something of a national celebrity. He received a letter in 1901 telling him that his estranged wife had committed suicide and informed him that he had received custody of his children again. Miller reunited with his family as soon as he could. In 1908, Miller would remarry with a young Mexican barmaid he met in California while on one of his shows, he would then have three more children with her. 
In 1912, Miller would retire as an actor to set up a new business. It was a producer of canned foods, and specialised in baked beans which had a unique recipe of tomato sauce. The business was not very successful outside of Louisiana where he set up the business at first, but when the Great War broke out in Europe in 1914, he managed to grow the business significantly by exporting to both sides. The business expanded to include factories all over America and new cigarette and tobacco factories as well. 
In 1918, his second wife would die of the Spanish Flu and he would never remarry. At this time, Miller would start writing a book about his time in the Mao Gang, which wouldn't be released until 1929. In 1928, Miller retired from running the business. He left ownership to a son that was born to his second wife in 1910, Jim Jr. He would die in 1933 of old age.
== Personality ==
Miller is notable for being an incredibly cynical, but honest and intelligent man. He had very few friends and no close ones before joining the Mao Gang. He felt betrayed by the government and John Cornwall as he once trusted him. The failure of the Confederates in the Civil War and tragic life of his father still weighs on his mind. Despite his contempt for humanity and his reputation as a dangerous killer, he did not take pleasure in being an outlaw. He did feel that he could trust the gang more and he enjoyed being away from cities, but this was still not the life he wanted to live as he felt like a villain. To make up for this, Miller would never lie, break promises or try to cause unnecessary pain. He tried to think of himself as a Robin Hood character, who only became an outlaw because of the tyranny he was living under, but he could never really believe it and regretted his actions. Miller never really recovered from the effect his failed business and family had on him as he could not bring himself to open up to people ever again, making him a quieter member of the gang, but he did find that he was able to open up to Lee and John Kelly, as they were also humble men who didn't take the fact that they were outlaws lightly. In fact, Jim would could to feel the same way about John he would about his sons, and talked to him about getting out of the gang. He is known to smoke and drink more than is healthy and is seen by those around him as a depressed shell of a man, but a reliable one.
When it comes to Barry Bandit, early on, Jim really admired him as he seemed like a tough man who got what he wanted. He seemed like what a man should be because of how he didn't take things seriously, he took what he wanted, and he didn't take abuse from anybody. During Jim's vulnerable period, this had a significant influence on him and drove him to joining the gang. However, as time would go by, it would become evident that Barry was a vile man, who killed when it didn't matter and was entirely selfish. Jim wondered why Lee ever trusted him, until he remembered how he felt about him at first. The two would but heads as Barry stopped respecting Jim's intelligence, and saw him as soft, while Jim stopped respecting Barry's strength and saw him as evil. Overall, Jim would come to regret his outlaw lifestyle more and more as the time went on. He desperately sought a way out and would try to become more and more honourable despite the circumstances.
== Politics ==
Like his father, Miller was known to be a staunch supporter of the South's desire for secession as he considers the federal government to have abused its powers and caused nothing but pain for his homeland. He claims that it was wrong for the government to abolish slavery when it did, though he did not support the practice. He mostly kept these views to himself until his business failed however, despite encountering many like-minded individuals. However, Miller was strongly opposed to the Louisiana Raiders because of what they had done to his father and brother's family. Though he understood why they continued fighting once the war was over, he believed that they were the worst kind of outlaws because of how they claimed to have a noble cause, but used violence to hurt innocent people and further themselves. He believed it was best for Southerners to move on and try to figure out how to live in the current system, despite not doing this himself. This is why he hated them so much, because they represented his own failures. They were dishonourable outlaws like him, and it pained him to see a reflection of his own sins, so he tried to redeem himself by destroying them, and by attempting to leave the outlaw life.
Miller was a strong supporter of free-market economics as he considers it to be the most efficient and morally justifiable system, though he does not consider the United States to be a country that has true capitalism because of all of the regulation the government enforces. He was very resentful of the Federal government for its treatment of him, and blamed it and Cornwall for his fall from grace. He dreamed of a different version of America, which made him fit in with the gang, but secretly he doubted his own beliefs and feared that his problems actually had arisen from his own failures rather than any external matters. He supported Grover Cleveland of the Democratic Party in his bid to become President.
Because of his time spent in the city, he had experience with different ethnic groups. He could never relate to them much until meeting Lee Mao because of his different lifestyle, and though he had interacted with them on several occasions, he never took the time to learn about them (which is evident by the fact that he mistook Lee Mao for a Chinese man when he first met him). He didn't harbour any hate towards them, but would not concern himself with their lives too much either. He learned to respect them more after spending time in the gang however.
File:Jim Funeral.png|Jim going to his Sister-in-law's funeral
File:Millermao.jpg|Jim Miller and Lee Mao
File:Millersmoking.jpg|Jim Miller Smoking
File:Millerbrown.jpg|Jim Miller in New Hannover
File:Bobmaomiller.jpg|Lee Mao, Bill Bobson and Jim Miller
File:Jim Portrait.png|Portrait of Jim Miller (1905)
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Category:Wild West