By Carol Powell
In the early 1880s, the wagon trains provided the means for a whole family to move in exchange for the labor of the head of the house. The Louis and Clara Miller family were just such a family. Clara had been married before and had children already. In the course of her marriage to Louis, she produced eight more children. Four of the boys grew up to become railroad men. The oldest of the six boys, Louis Clair Miller, who eventually served as a constable in Prescott for a while, is the focus of this story.
The Millers left Texas in 1884 to settle in the Arizona territory. The father of the family, Louis Sr., never made it past Fort Huachuca, where he was killed by marauding Apaches. The rest of the family continued on to Prescott.
For Clara, raising her brood alone could not have been an easy task, but for the most part she did well. Otto, Baldwin (Tobe), William, and Charles all had successful careers with the railroads. The oldest daughter, Minnie, married Frederick J. Haas, who moved them to Douglas, Arizona where he became the proprietor of the German Beer Hall and the Windsor Hotel. Florence, the youngest girl, was still living with her mother in 1900 when the census was taken, but no additional information is available.
The younger Miller boys did not go down in Prescott history like their older brother, Louis. Their mother's obituary from the May 30, 1906 Phoenix newspaper listed the next of kin as such: "sons Will and Charles, both of whom were engineers in the employment of the S.F.P.& P. Railroad: B.O ( Baldwin) of Douglas, an engineer on the E.P. & S.W. Railroad: Mrs. Haas of Douglas and Otto V. Miller of this city." There was no mention of the youngest son Tobe, who was a train engineer in the state of Washington or the oldest son, Louis C. Miller who was in prison at the time.
In 1897, Louis was out of work and out of money, so he forged a check for $50 and tried to head for Mexico. However, Sheriff George Ruffner of Yavapai County caught up with him and locked him up in the Prescott jail. It was in jail that fate linked him to one of the most sensational crimes remembered in Yavapai County.
Louis was placed in the same jail cell with James Fleming Parker. Parker had attempted to rob a train as it approached Peach Springs on February 8, 1897. The robbery was mostly a failure and a posse was formed to track down the participants. Coconino County Deputy Sheriff, John Fletcher Fairchild, who happened to be on another train arriving from Kingman, formed a posse and was soon on the hunt for Parker. Parker was caught and brought to the jail in Prescott.
While Louis and Parker were in jail, they planed and carried out a jailbreak. The jailer, R. W. Meador, was able to get three shots off at the prisoners during the escape and shouted for help. Attorney Lee Norris heard the noise and came down the stairs where he met Parker and Miller coming up where Parker shot and killed him. Both men escaped into Northern Arizona.
The account of what happened over the next five days can be followed in the Prescott newspapers. The headline in the Wednesday, May 12 Prescott newspaper read "Pursuit of the Outlaws". By Saturday, Deputy Fairchild had captured Miller in Jerome. It was through the efforts of Miller's sister, Minnie Haas, that Miller was induced to give himself up (Frederick Haas tried, unsuccessfully, to collect the bounty). Louis was in pitiful condition. Weak from wounds received while on the lam, he could scarcely muster strength to reach the place where he has been cared for since his escape only a few days before.
Louis' brother Otto was also arrested in connection with the case, but was released a few days later since there was no evidence to connect him. It is believed that the escape was planned entirely by Parker and Miller without the knowledge of anyone on the outside.
Miller had no wish to see Prescott after his re-arrest in Jerome. At the time, it was deemed advisable not to take him there for fear of lynching. A team of officers was secured right away and Fairchild took Miller in a private conveyance to Flagstaff. Meanwhile in Prescott, an angry mob waited 17 days for Jim Parker to return. The lawmen snuck him into town where he was eventually tried and hanged for the murder of assistant district attorney, Lee Norris.
Fairchild collected the reward for his work. The twist? He was Miller's brother-in-law. He had married Louis' older half-sister, Pearl Howard, in Texas before coming to Arizona with the Miller family. Pearl died only a few years after moving to Prescott and Fairchild eventually remarried, but he was still apparently very loyal to the Millers.
Fairchild got the reward for the capture of Miller. But both he and Minnie Haas took the witness stand in Miller's defense. Although his life was spared, Miller did serve prison time. He later realized that the jailbreak was a piece of foolhardiness on his part since his sentence would not have been very severe for forging of such a small amount.
(Carol A. Powell finds each chapter of the lives of the Millers and Fairchilds to be just as exciting as the last. One of her stories, "Just a Railroadin' Family " was published in the Genealogical Society's Copper State Journal in July 2003.)
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(Fairchild and Miller - courtesy of author) Reuse only by permission.
John Fletcher Fairchild (left) was instrumental in the initial capture of train robber, James Fleming Parker, and he also captured Parker's jailbreak accomplice in Jerome. The twist was how family relations played a role between Fairchild and the other escapee, Louis Clair Miller, his brother-in-law.