Gentleman Train Robber: The Daring Escapades of Bill Miner

by Stan Sauerwein

A cunning and formidable opponent of the law, Bill Miner spent half his life behind bars and the other half planning and executing robberies to fuel his love of fancy clothes and the good life. Described as the master criminal of the West, the dashing thief carried out Canada's first train robbery in 1904.

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2005

About the author

Nate Hendley was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1966 but grew up in Waterloo, ON.

From 1985 1989, he attended Trent University in Peterborough, ON, and graduated with an Honours BA in Cultural Studies.

In 1991 he returned to school to study journalism at Conestoga College in Kitchener, ON. Shortly thereafter, he began freelancing.

Since the early 1990s, Nate has written hundreds of news articles, features, profiles, investigative pieces, advertorials, corporate stories and public relations items. His writing credits include The National Post, The Globe and Mail, Marketing Magazine, eye weekly, The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Journal, etc.

He is particularly adept at writing about political, social and cultural issues, automotive, high-tech and business topics and health-related concerns.

In addition to his work as a journalist, he is a published author, formlery with Altitude Publishing, and now with Five Rivers.

Nate has also published two childrens books with Jackfruit Press of Toronto: Jean Chretien: The Scrapper Who Climbed His Way to the Top (2005) and William Lyon Mackenzie King: The Loner Who Kept Canada Together (2006).

His latest book, Bonnie and Clyde: A Biography, was published by the Greenwood Publishing Group in spring, 2007. This marks his first book by an American publisher.

Nate is the Ontario Regional Director of the Professional Writers Association of Canada. PWAC is a national organization that represents the interests of freelance writers.

Nate lives in Toronto with a demanding cat."

Reviews

[Taveri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting account of the robberies and jail escapes of Billy Miner. Interesting that he kept getting caught, kept going to jail, kept escaping and kept on robbing in California and Colorado. Perhaps the most interesting was his being responsible for the first Canadian train robbery where they tricked the train crew into leaving thf safe open through a fake telegraph. The crew left the safe open but moved the money into a smaller safe. The robbers blew that safe and got a piddly amount while leaving 40,000 in banknotes on a shelf. They got away (intitially) when someone trailing them weren't believed that they had headed back to Princeton, BC. Another disbelief was when one of the train crew ran away from the robbery scene and reported it to the nearest station. The Station Master wouldn't accept a robbery ocurred (because the CPR had never been robbed before) and wouldn't alert the authorities. After escarping Canadian prison Miner went on to perform the first train robbery in Georgia.

In 1982 a movie came out, about Billy Miner, titled the Grey Fox.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Escapades of Billy Miner