In examining the site of the last train robbery in Canada by
Billy Miner, Kamloops author Peter Grauer has taken his love
of local historical writing to a new level.
Grauer recently completed the latest and most up-to-date
account on the "Gentleman Bandit" Billy Miner and has dug more
deeply than any other writer on the subject.
"As I spent more time in Kamloops, I started to get more of an
appreciation for B.C. history," says Grauer.
During the six years of sleuthing out the real Billy Miner
(a.k.a. George Edwards), Grauer was able to unearth
information no other author has been privy to in the past by
accessing unpublished and, until now, inaccessible, historical
accounts about this colourful bandit.
"Mission City plays a large role in the beginning of the
book," Grauer said. "The book has several photos from
Mission at the time, including one of Front Street and the
bridge across the Fraser."
The author also tipped his hat to the Mission Museum for their
aid.
"The people there were just so helpful in my research," he
noted.
Along with the notorious likes of "Shorty" Dunn, Jack Budd,
Lewis Colquhoun, George Aldous and a cast of many other
unsavory characters, Kentucky born Miner decided that working
for a meager wage was not in his best interests, so began his
robbing spree at an early age.
As
the law got wind of Miner's new hobby, he headed north to
evade conviction, living the life of a gypsy.
He spent much time in the Similkameen Valley, doing odd jobs
and planning ways to rob the local railway.
Even though this book covers only the four years of Miner's
questionable life as an outlaw in the Lower Mainland and
Okanagan-Similkameen, it is chock-full of adventurous
anecdotes, quotes and historic photographs.
This publication is crammed with new and fascinating
information on the charming larcenist.
"I didn't depend on secondary sources, which are articles and
books that have been written in the past," says Grauer of his
information. "I went to the original source material."
On Sept. 10, 1904, three men boarded a westbound CPR passenger
train at Mission, and when the train neared Silverdale, they
entered the steam engine's cab and covered the engineer and
fireman with guns. One of the three was well-known
stagecoach and train robber Billy Miner, who had served most
of his adult life in jail but was once again anxious to have
his pockets bulging with cash.
It was Canada's first train robbery, and it was a sensation.
While Miner was suspected almost immediately, it took two
years and another unsuccessful train robbery near Kamloops
before the Northwest Mounted Police and the B.C. Provincial
Police tracked him down.
He was convicted and sent to the B.C. Penitentiary in New
Westminster. He escaped a year later and returned to the
United States - continuing to rob trains, even though hew was
60 years old by this time.
Miner died Sept. 2, 1913 in prison at Milledgeville, Georgia
at the age of 71.
Miner still remains very much alive in the annals of British
Columbia history and is still to this day a folk hero in many
people's minds.
"When you read the book from front to back, you will get a
little different picture of Bill Miner," says Grauer.
"None of the good stuff has been destroyed. He wasn't a
Robin Hood, but he was generous to a fault and he loved the
attention money brought to him."
Interred With Their Bones - Billy Miner in Canada 1903-1907
is currently available through Grauer's website. For
more information on Grauer's book, visit www.billminer.ca
- With Mission Record files
