By Parker Anderson
A few months ago, in this column, this author related the near-legendary story of James Parker, alias Fleming Parker, convicted train-robber, jail-breaker, and murderer. On the fateful day in May 1897, when Parker broke out of the Yavapai County Jail, two other convicts went with him, a Mexican named Cornelia Sarata, and an accused forger named Louis C. Miller.
Little has been written or said about Miller. In most after-the-fact accounts of the Parker case, Miller is simply dismissed as a forger. But in reality, he was a well-known notorious citizen in old Prescott. Louis C. Miller, usually referred to as "L.C." in his lifetime, was a young man with a fiery temper and astoundingly poor judgment. These qualities kept him in trouble all his life, and caused him to spiral down from respectable citizen to murder accomplice.
Miller's origins are unknown, but in 1893, he was appointed Constable for the City of Prescott. The ARIZONA JOURNAL MINER recorded a few minor arrests he made in those days, but his life would start to deteriorate in January of l894. At that time, the impetuous young Constable was ordered to arrest a man known only as "Red" for battery upon a woman. Red, however, had already been arrested by Prescott Chief of Police Miles Archibald, who had taken Red to the hospital for treatment for an injury. Undaunted, Miller went to the hospital and took custody of Red and hauled him off to jail. Chief Archibald was not pleased by his underling superseding his authority.
Later that evening, the two lawmen confronted each other outside of a Prescott saloon. They argued over who had the proper custody of Red, and the argument ended with Constable Miller shooting two bullets into Chief of Police Archibald.
The shooting was the talk of Prescott. Archibald, who survived but lost the use of his right arm, claimed that Miller had fired on him unprovoked. Miller, in turn, claimed that Archibald had drawn his gun on him, and that he shot in self-defense. The young Constable was arrested for attempted murder, but an understandably confused Grand Jury refused to indict him. Miles Archibald resigned as Chief of Police and went to San Francisco to seek treatment for his arm. His fate is unknown to me.
Within weeks of the Archibald shooting, L.C. Miller was back in hot water when he shot a drunk named John Wallace who was disturbing the peace. Again, Miller claimed self-defense, alleging that Wallace had grabbed him by the throat and was choking him. This incident resulted in a nasty war of words between Prescott's two newspapers, the ARIZONA DAILY MINER and the PRESCOTT COURIER. The Courier publicly sided with Miller, describing Wallace as "full of whiskey and in a maniacal frame of mind!" The Journal Miner came down against Miller, depicting Wallace as a man so intoxicated that he could hardly stand up, let alone attack someone like Miller.
The two newspapers then started to publicly accuse each other of fabricating the details, facts, and figures of the story. It was not Prescott journalism's finest hour. Miller was again arrested for attempted for murder. Wallace survived, but a trial jury accepted his self-defense claims and acquitted him. Buoyed by his victories over the law, Louis C. Miller announced his candidacy for Sheriff, but the Yavapai County Republican Party refused to go near him.
Three years later, in 1897, Miller was out of a job and apparently in need of money. In a saloon one night, he attempted to cash a $50.00 check under the forged name of his friend Ralph Dillon, and then fled the city. Yavapai Sheriff George Ruffner caught up with him in Tucson, brought him back to Prescott, and lodged him in jail where, by happenstance, train robber, Jim Parker was also incarcerated.
It was May of 1897. Responding to cries for water from the prisoners, Jailor Robert Meador opened the cell door when he was bushwhacked by a prisoner named Cornelia Sarata. While the struggle was going on, Miller joined Parker in escaping to a storeroom, securing rifles, and fleeing the jail. Alerted by the commotion, Deputy District Attorney, Lee Norris rushed down to the jail to investigate, and was promptly gunned down by Parker. For participating in the jailbreak, L.C. Miller was now an accessory to murder.
Parker, Miller and Sarata rushed across the street to a livery stable and secured horses, with Parker inexplicably making off with Sheriff Ruffner's favorite white gelding, Sure-Shot. The three escapees galloped out of town at full speed. Sarata left the party early on, and was never seen again. A posse, however, caught up with Parker and Miller at Lynx Creek where a gunfight erupted, in which Miller was wounded. Showing an uncharacteristic sense of honor, Parker pulled Miller onto his horse, and they rode off again, escaping the posse.
Parker and Miller apparently agreed to go in different directions, and they parted company shortly after. Somehow, the wounded Miller managed to crawl over Mingus Mountain to the home of his sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Haas, where he surrendered to authorities. Mr. Haas tried unsuccessfully to claim the reward on his brother-in-law, while another Jerome resident, Thomas Woody, was arrested for giving aid to Miller. The case was later dropped, and it is not known what sort of aid Woody was suspected of giving.
Back in Prescott, Miller was tried, along with the recaptured Parker, for the murder of Lee Norris, and convicted. One stubborn juror saved Miller from the hangman. Parker would later be hanged, but in sentencing Miller to life in Yuma Territorial Prison, Judge John J. Hawkins told the convict that "It is to be hoped that Arizona may never be cursed with an executive who will show you an clemency!"
Proving once again that he was incapable of learning from his mistakes, Louis C. Miller attempted to escape from Yuma prison twice, but was recaptured both times in short order. In spite of this, Arizona was indeed "cursed" with an executive who looked favorably on Miller's case. The Territorial Governor commuted his sentence to 20 years in 1902. Five years later, in 1907, Governor Kibby ordered his parole. Contrary to popular belief, prison sentences weren't any more solid then than they are today.
Louis C. Miller, the ex-Prescott Constable who just couldn't stay out of trouble, was back in Yuma Territorial Prison in 1909, from Cochise County, on a charge of "obtaining money under false pretenses." His sentence was commuted in 1912, and he was freed.
The trail of Louis Miller stops there. I have no further information about the rest of his life, or when and where he died. Unlike today's media-saturated cases, notorious citizens in those days were often able to drift back into anonymity if they so desired. Louise C. Miller may be buried somewhere under his own name, but so far records have not been located. If he left Arizona, he could have gone anywhere. If anyone reading this has further data on Louis C. Miller, please contact either myself, or the Sharlot Hall Museum Archives.
Perhaps trouble runs in families. L.C. Miller had a brother, Otto, who once worked as a printer on a Phoenix newspaper. Otto Miller also had a string of arrests in his lifetime, often for various sex crimes.
Parker Anderson is an Active Member of Sharlot Hall Museum's Blue Rose Theatre.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (misc106p). Reuse only by permission.
Sheriff George Ruffner's Horse Sure Shot was taken by Parker in a jail escape with Miller in 1897. L.C. Miller was notorious on his own for various shootings and forgery. He was supposed to spend the rest of his life in the Territorial Prison, but after escapes and commuted sentences he disappeared in 1912.