{"id":22,"date":"2015-01-28T21:02:24","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T21:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/abealfreader3\/?post_type=chapter&p=22"},"modified":"2022-07-22T20:03:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T20:03:14","slug":"the-gentleman-bandit","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/abealfreader3\/chapter\/the-gentleman-bandit\/","title":{"raw":"The Gentleman Bandit","rendered":"The Gentleman Bandit"},"content":{"raw":"

Click play on the following audio player to listen along as you read this section.<\/p>\r\nhttps:\/\/media.bccampus.ca\/id\/0_r40wk7nr?width=608&height=70&playerId=23449753\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_87\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"223\"]\".\"<\/a> Bill Miner[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn the days before cars, people and goods travelled a long way on horses and trains. Horses and trains were easy targets for bandits looking to make easy money. Bill Miner was one of the most feared train bandits<\/strong>. He spent four years of his life here in British Columbia<\/strong>. This is the story of those four years.\r\n\r\nWanted posters<\/strong> with Bill Miner\u2019s face were put up all over the west coast of the United States<\/strong>. Bill needed to escape. He slipped across the border into Canada. George Edwards was the name he gave anyone who asked who he was. He went from town to town in British Columbia<\/strong>. He had no trouble making friends. He was a charming man. He played the fiddle. He showed people how to dance. He was known as a real gentleman<\/strong>. Nobody thought he could be a bandit.\r\n\r\nDuring this time, he got to know the area\u00a0around Mission, British Columbia.<\/strong> Many trains of the Canadian Pacific Railway, or the CPR, passed through the area. He knew where the trains were coming from and where they were going. He knew how often they passed. By talking to\u00a0the railroad<\/strong> workers, he found out what the trains carried.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_356\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"392\"]\"\"<\/a> CPR train[\/caption]\r\n\r\nOne day in September 1904, a CPR train stopped outside of Mission to fill up with\u00a0water. Bill and two men climbed onto the train with their faces covered. Bill pulled a gun on the man driving the train. He took the man\u2019s money and gold watch. Word spread to the passenger cars<\/strong> that the train was being robbed. The passengers hid their money and took out their guns. They were ready for the bandits. But the bandits unhooked the passenger cars<\/strong> from the train. The train went on without them. Next, the bandits made a worker open the train\u2019s safe. Inside was $7,000, mostly in gold. They took it all. Bill chatted with the man driving the train. He gave him his money and watch back. Then he wished him a good day and got off the train with his two men and the gold.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_164\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"550\"]\".\"<\/a> Gambling[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThis was the first time the CPR was ever robbed. It was in all of the newspapers<\/strong> across British Columbia.<\/strong> More wanted posters<\/strong> went up. But the posters did not describe Bill\u2019s face because it had been covered up. Bill went to Chilliwack. He played pool and poker. He even played poker with police officers<\/strong>. He didn\u2019t get caught. He spent his money freely and told people he made it from mining.\r\n\r\nTwo years later, Bill and two friends climbed aboard another CPR train. This time the train was near Kamloops. One of the men\u2019s masks slipped. Someone saw his face. Another mistake was made. They unhooked the passenger car<\/strong>, just like last time. But this time, they also unhooked the train car with all the money. They only made $15.50 from the robbery. They wished the workers a good night and got off the train, very upset.\r\n\r\nThe bad luck continued. About a week later, the police found the bandits in the woods making a meal over a campfire<\/strong>. A gunfight<\/strong> followed. It ended with Bill being arrested. Bill said his name was George Edwards but nobody believed him. He was brought to a prison in Kamloops. When he arrived, a local photographer named Mary Spencer took a photo. That photo was printed in newspapers<\/strong> all across Canada. Yet, not many people across British Columbia<\/strong> were\u00a0mad at Bill. In fact, many people were fond of him! They thought he was charming, bold, and handsome. They called him \u201cThe Gentleman<\/strong> Bandit.\u201d When Bill was brought to a prison in New Westminster, a crowd of fans was waiting to see him.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_166\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"500\"]\".\"<\/a> New Westminster prison[\/caption]\r\n\r\nBill was expected to stay in that prison until the day he died. But less than a year later, some friends dug a hole under a prison fence<\/strong>. Bill Miner got away. Nobody knows how he was able to escape the province unseen. It was like he disappeared into thin air. He left British Columbia<\/strong> and never returned.\u00a0British Columbians<\/strong> still talk about \u201cThe Gentleman<\/strong> Bandit\u201d to this day.\r\n

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Word Patterns<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nSometimes when you get stuck on a big\u00a0word, it helps to\u00a0look for smaller words inside of the big\u00a0word. Below are examples from this story:\r\n