WHITE_SULPHUR_TRAIN

THE WHITE SULPHUR TRAIN ROBBERY

BY IRIS THOMPSON FRY

Click to view a picture of the WHITE SULPHUR HOTEL

My granddaddy, Alex Garner, known to all as Uncle Alex told of the great train robbery. I am using my recollections of his story using the actual names given by others. Back in the early 1900's, people around Lula knew Bill Miner whose real name was George Anderson. He and his cohorts, Jim Hanford and Charley Hunter came to Hall County with a purpose in mind. Miner had been in Lula earlier because he had been seen at Pittman's store getting kerosene. They flagged down the Southern Railway train around the area of White Sulphur in the early morning hours on a cold February morning. Miner and the boys boarded the train wearing red kerchefs. They immediately made threats demanding the keys to the safe but were told that they didn't have the key. The bandits made the crew unhook the Express car and pull the train about two miles. They quickly blew open the safe with dynamite, grabbed the money and ran. Grandaddy said that over fifty people gathered at White Sulphur Station before daybreak. Miner's gang hid out in the woods a few days on their way to Dahlonega. After they arrived in the hills they tried to say they were prospectors but nobody believed them. They split up with old man Miner hiding out in a cabin. The local sheriff posse raised up Miner's pillow to find a mail order gun, a bunch of money and jewels. He was taken to the Dahlonega jail before being brought back to Hall county. Rumor had it that Miner was a kind man and polite as could be. He kept his story that he didn't know what robbery they were all talking about. The sheriff soon found that Miner was a slick con artist who was wanted for robberies all over the United States and beyond. Gran reported that Miner had escaped from jail and drowned but later found he was from Jackson county, Ky. Miner had escaped from a penitentiary out west and folks did think he had died. All the while he was working his way to our little county of Hall. After Bill, Jim and Charley were captured they were brought to the Hall county jail where several folks would visit the jail and try to "get them religion." When the trial was held, the courthouse was packed full with folk standing outside. Miner was sentenced to twenty years for the White Sulphur robbery and sent to Milledgeville State Prison. According to a book that was written about the bandits, it was told that Miner escaped before six months. He was captured again, took up pneumonia and died. So, when you drive down old Highway 23 and get to White Sulphur remember the gentleman bandit, Bill Miner. Home folk still call the area near the bridge, Bill Miner Crossing.

This page was last updated Thursday, 10-Apr-2008 22:17:26 CDT.