Bill Miner was known as a 'gentleman and bandit'. He was reputedly the first robber to use the phrase: "Hands up!" No one was harmed during his exploits and he never failed to wish his victims a good day! He came to BC and settled at Aspen Grove (under an alias) where he was known as a friendly fellow who played his fiddle at local dances and took children for rides on his horse.

Following a train robbery at Mission, the Canadian Pacific Railway, Dominion Express Co. and the BC Government offered rewards for the capture and conviction of the three robbers. The only clues the police had were that a similar robbery occurred near Portland, Oregon the year before, and the leader was very polite. Two months later a CPR train was stopped by three men near Monte Creek, east of Kamloops. This time the bandits were not as lucky. During the robbery, the leader knocked off his mask and a guard got a good look at his face.

The three were tracked to Douglas Lake where a posse came upon them eating lunch. At Kamloops no one could believe that Bill Miner was the man the police wanted, and even with the evidence produced the jury was unable to reach a verdict. However, during a second trial, he received life imprisonment at the BC Penitentiary at New Westminster. After a year in prison Miner escaped and disappeared. Bill Miner died in 1913 at the Georgia State Penitentiary hospital following two other attempts to escape from the prison where he had been sent for yet another train robbery.

Resources:

Bill Miner on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Miner

Outlaw Bill Miner website: http://www.outlawbillminer.com/main.html

NFB vignette about Bill Miner on YouTube: http://www.videosift.com/video/Hands-Up-The-Story-of-Bill-Miner