Vern Miller served in World War One and was decorated for his service. We know he lived in South Dakota in 1914 but that is about all that is known about his younger days. He may or may not have been born in 1896 and his life appears to be quite ordinary during his younger years.
After the WWI, Miller returned to Huron in South Dakota. There he served on the police force for about three years and was later elected sheriff of the Beadle County. This was in 1920 and he and he only served as Sheriff for a short time. By 1922 he is a criminal for sure. He steals about four thousand dollars of public funds and skipped town. Some say that this crime was sparked by the fact that his wife had been hospitalized. Others claim that this was his first crime for crime's sake.
He was arrested during the following year and sent to prison becoming a model prisoner and confidant of the warden. When released from prison, in 1925, he was tempted by the money to be made in the bootlegging trade. It was the era of Prohibition. He appears to have eventually joined a clan of typical bootleggers and worked in and out of the gangster haven of St Paul, Minnesota. His personal life becomes more complicated; he leaves his wife, takes on a permanent girl friend (VI Mathis of Leola, SD), uses alcohol and drugs to excess, and finally turns to a life of abject violence. By 1932 he is being sought for the murder of two Minneapolis policemen.
In June of 1933 Vern Miller becomes the most wanted criminal in the country. He is identified as a participant in the "Kansas City Massacre." Three law enforcement officers and Miller's gangster buddy, Frank Nash, were killed in a massive shootout at the Union Railroad Station. Within a year Miller was found executed in a corn field in Illinois.
The efforts of J. Edgar Hoover created in the FBI as we know it today. Miller's actions were not the only impetus behind expansion of federal law enforcement efforts, but they were a vital ingredient. It was, after all, the Kansas City incident that enabled Hoover to raise funding to modernized federal law enforcement agencies.
"Vern Miller" is a name that seems too common, too pedestrian. Miller' name never reached the legendary status of others: names like Baby Face Nelson,Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ma Barker, Bonnie and Clyde, had names that easily remained in the public's memory.
Vern Miller was however ruthless and violent just like some of those more famous criminals.
After the WWI, Miller returned to Huron in South Dakota. There he served on the police force for about three years and was later elected sheriff of the Beadle County. This was in 1920 and he and he only served as Sheriff for a short time. By 1922 he is a criminal for sure. He steals about four thousand dollars of public funds and skipped town. Some say that this crime was sparked by the fact that his wife had been hospitalized. Others claim that this was his first crime for crime's sake.
He was arrested during the following year and sent to prison becoming a model prisoner and confidant of the warden. When released from prison, in 1925, he was tempted by the money to be made in the bootlegging trade. It was the era of Prohibition. He appears to have eventually joined a clan of typical bootleggers and worked in and out of the gangster haven of St Paul, Minnesota. His personal life becomes more complicated; he leaves his wife, takes on a permanent girl friend (VI Mathis of Leola, SD), uses alcohol and drugs to excess, and finally turns to a life of abject violence. By 1932 he is being sought for the murder of two Minneapolis policemen.
In June of 1933 Vern Miller becomes the most wanted criminal in the country. He is identified as a participant in the "Kansas City Massacre." Three law enforcement officers and Miller's gangster buddy, Frank Nash, were killed in a massive shootout at the Union Railroad Station. Within a year Miller was found executed in a corn field in Illinois.
The efforts of J. Edgar Hoover created in the FBI as we know it today. Miller's actions were not the only impetus behind expansion of federal law enforcement efforts, but they were a vital ingredient. It was, after all, the Kansas City incident that enabled Hoover to raise funding to modernized federal law enforcement agencies.
"Vern Miller" is a name that seems too common, too pedestrian. Miller' name never reached the legendary status of others: names like Baby Face Nelson,Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ma Barker, Bonnie and Clyde, had names that easily remained in the public's memory.
Vern Miller was however ruthless and violent just like some of those more famous criminals.
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If you would like to find out more about Vern Miller, then just visit Jan Vogel's site the history of the Upper Midwestvisit Jan's site.
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