By Carol A. Powell
On the night of May 29, 1897, officers of Yavapai County were returning to Prescott by rail from Flagstaff with two outlaw prisoners, James Fleming Parker and Louis Clair Miller. A large mob had gathered at the Prescott depot awaiting the train and there was great fear that they would do bodily harm to the prisoners, carrying out their threats to lynch the two. The mob, with cries of “hang them,” was restrained by the County Sheriff and five or six deputies well armed with Winchester rifles and six-shooters. However, the train stopped outside of Prescott, well away from the depot, and the prisoners were taken off the train and transported to the county jail by carriage, avoiding any confrontation at the depot.
The defendants were charged with the murder of E. Lee Norris, Assistant District Attorney and prominent citizen of Prescott. A bounty had been posted for their arrest, dead or alive.
After their arrival in Prescott, there was an application for a change of venue, stating that there was fear of violence toward the defendants and that there was concern that an effort to take the prisoners from custody would be made by the citizens. It was believed that the townsmen would hang them because of public bias, prejudice, and the feeling of animosity. The same feelings existed against the two by local law enforcement personnel, including Sheriff Ruffner and his deputies. Heavily armed law enforcement officers guarded Parker and Miller. The defendants were shackled, not permitted to take a bath, shave or change their underclothing. Change of venue was denied and twelve eligible jurors were found for jury service. One lone juror did save the life of Louis C. Miller; Jim Parker wasn't that lucky because he was the one who actually pulled the trigger that killed Norris. Parker was subsequently hanged.
As a genealogist, I found that anytime I looked for answers concerning this story, I would find more questions. One of the most interesting stories was the one about deputy John Fletcher Fairchild, a Coconino County lawman, and James Parker. It was taken from the book “Mountain Town” (referring to Flagstaff) which is a Wild West thriller, incidents of which have appeared in countless western novels and movies. It was the story of Jim Parker, train robber and killer. I had just begun tracing my husband’s roots and I began with his great-grandfather, John Fletcher Fairchild. When I found the book, “Mountain Town”, and reference to Fairchild, I was hooked. I was taking a course on genealogy and the teacher said not to expect to find anyone famous in our family tree, but I obviously disagree. I continued my quest concerning Fletch, as he was known.
In 1897, Fletch was a Coconino county lawman working out of Flagstaff when he crossed paths with Jim Parker. Parker and three accomplices forced a watchman to flag down a train near Peach Springs. They then seized the registered mail and, in the process, an express man shot and killed one of the robbers as they fled. Deputy Fairchild was bringing a prisoner from Kingman on another train when he arrived at the scene within moments of the robbery. He placed his prisoner in the hands of railroad police, obtained a horse, organized a posse and took out after the robbers. Fairchild was riding far in the lead when he came upon Parker and they conducted a running gunfight among the trees until it got dark. Deputy Fairchild had sent wires asking for help before he left the train with his posse. By dawn, other law officers with a posse and some volunteers found Parker and soon the outlaw was in jail.
Months later, Parker and two other desperate prisoners attacked the jailer and seized his keys. This is where the story involves another name on our family list. One of the other prisoners, Louis C.Miller, had traveled across the plains from Texas to Arizona with deputy Fairchild and, before the tale was over, the deputy would put his life and badge on the line to save the prisoner’s life. Deputy Fairchild was Miller’s brother-in-law! Fletch’s first wife was Louis Miller’s half sister, Pearl Howard.
If it hadn't been for Miller’s family, he probably wouldn't have made it to trial. Undoubtedly, his brother-in-law, Deputy John Fletcher Fairchild, was one of the armed men who accompanied Miller and Parker from Flagstaff to Prescott on May 29th of 1897. Saving Miller from himself proved to be a bigger job than saving him from the mob.
Louis Miller was a notorious citizen of Yavapai County. This story embodied all the major themes of southwest history. Louis had escaped from jail in Prescott with James Fleming Parker in 1897. During the breakout, Parker shot and killed E. Lee Norris. The details of Miller’s capture were interesting: he headed straight for his sister’s home in Jerome, then hid two miles away in the mountains. Miller would have been lynched if his sister, Minnie Hass, and their brother in-law, Fairchild, hadn’t conspired to have Louis turn himself in for his own safety. It was deemed advisable not to return him to Prescott that night, so a team of officers was secured and Louis was taken by his brother in-law, Fairchild, in a private conveyance to Flagstaff until things in Prescott settled down. Little could be learned from the people instrumental in his surrender, as they refused to talk. A statement that Fairchild was sent for by interested parties was denied, though many found his arrival in Jerome that night very opportune, to say the least.
Fletch Fairchild was typical of the thousands of courageous young men who helped tame the Wild West but whose names and stories have since been largely forgotten. For every Wild Bill Hickock or Wyatt Earp immortalized by the dramatic exaggerations of dime novelists and sensationalistic journalists, the west had dozens of men like John Fletcher Fairchild, who quietly did their duty with little fanfare, celebration or thanks.
The following letter explains the bond that Fletch had with L.C. Miller. Fletch met and married Pearl Howard, Louis Miller’s older half sister, in Texas, and later settled near Winslow, AZ.
In a letter dated May 7, 1985, Madeline Fairchild wrote:
“Papa (Fletch) and his first wife (Pearl Howard) had moved to Chavez pass, near Winslow (the ranch at Fairchild draw). They had two children, Frank and Annie, (Grandma Clara's mother) and were expecting a third. They had bought sheep.
’Chavez pass was thirty-five miles south of Winslow, in desolate country. Papa’s wife refused to stay in Winslow, though papa wanted her to. She developed a very bad cold, and at the same time they were out of wood. Papa left her in bed. He had to go a long way for wood, and was late returning. When he came in sight of the house, he saw her standing in the door with the cold wind blowing her nightdress, and pneumonia developed.
“He didn’t know what to do. The nearest doctor was in Winslow, and there was no one to leave (her with) but the two children. Their house was on an abandoned stage route, and luckily a couple going to Phoenix had missed the way and came by. The couple stayed, and papa rode to Winslow for a doctor. There was only one doctor in Winslow, and he had gone to Gallup! The Santa Fe sent an engine to Gallup and brought Dr. Cornish back. They hurried to Chavez pass but she was dead when they arrived. After papa’s desperate ride to Winslow his poor horse died of exhaustion.”
Pearl died ten years before her half brother, Louis Miller, became a part of one the biggest manhunts in Prescott history.
Please see Days Past articles dated December 14, 2003 and October 8, 2006 for further information about Parker, Fairchild and Miller.
Carol A. Powell is family historian for the Olmstead and Miller families.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(John Fletcher Fairchild) Reuse only by permission.
Fletch Fairchild, brother-in-law of Louis Miller, was instrumental in the capture of James Fleming Parker and Miller after the shooting death of Prescott Assistant District Attorney, E. Lee Norris during the jailbreak of the two escapees.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number:(h104pf)
Reuse only by permission.
The hanging of James Fleming Parker in Prescott, 1897.