I think everyone knows about the Kelly gang and their infamous iron suits, but since body armor was even used (albeit quite rarely) in the US Civil War, as well as body armor still being a thing with cuirassiers in Europe at the time, were there any gunmen known to also wear body armor at that time as well in the American West? The image of what I'm referring to is the breastplate that Ray McCoy wears in Call of Juarez. I'm sure the answer is more complicated than a simple yes or no, but I'm very intrigued.
While Ned Kelly in Australia is one of most well known user of improvised body armour, he was not unique- another person from the time period who did the same was Jim Miller, but less overtly. For those not aware Ned Kelly was an Australian bushranger/outlaw (1854–1880) who was most well known for creating steel armour and helmets to protect himself and his gang members from fire-
800px-Ned_kelly_armour_library.JPG (800×1272) (wikimedia.org)
Jim Miller was well known for wearing a long black coat, but not known to the public underneath of which he concealed metal plates.
Miller (1861-1906) started out as a deputy sheriff and town marshal in Peso's, Texas. He was involved in a feud with another Pesos Sherriff, Frazer, and Frazer jailed him twice, first for murder, which was acquitted, and then for theft. (1)
By 1894 the men hated each other, and on at least two occasions shot each other, with both times Frazer using a revolver and Miller a shotgun- Frazer hit Miller's chest during both engagements, but the armour plates underneath prevented his death. (2) Frazer lost his bid for sheriff and left the town, only for Miller to hunt him down to a saloon in Toyah, Texas and decapitate him with his shotgun while Frazer was playing cards. He then threatened to kill several witnesses and the judge for his case died of food poisoning.
To escape his legal issues, Miller moved to Mephis, Texas and joined the Texas Rangers, during which time he began to advertise in papers as a hitman, charging $150 per death. He was involved in more murders, but the one I was able to find sources for was in 1904, for Frank Fore, from the Daily Ardmoreite-
"The Ardmoreite published yesterday a special from Fort Worth concerning the shooting of Frank Fore in that city, and from the Telegram we take the following account giving the incident in detail:
About 9 O'clock this morning Frank Fore, aged 50 years, was shot twice, and in a few moments Jim Miller walked into the courthouse and calling Deputy Sheriff Ralph Purvis aside, surrendered to him.
The whole thing was done so quickly it is hard to tell just exactly what happened... The shooting occurred in the toilet room of the Delaware hotel.
Two shots were fired. One entered Fore's left breast, just below the nipple, and the other passed though his left hand. The wound on the hand was inflicted as Fore threw up his arm to shield his face from the second shot. Fore fell back on the floor... As he fell his pistol fell to the floor, but whether it dropped from his pocket or he had it in his hand at the time could not be stated by any one who was present at the time." (3)
Miller was killed while himself and several other hitmen-for-hire were hired for a vendetta between local ranchers and Allen Bobbitt of Ada, Oklahoma, a former Texas Ranger himself for $1,700 dollars, split between 4 hitmen. Bobbit was ambushed while taking a wagon to his home, and shot twice in the side by Miller's shotgun, but he did not bleed to death immediately and was able to tell his wife the murderer was Miller, which was backed up by Oscar Peeler, a farmhand hired to show Bobbit's location to Miller for the murder.
Jim Miller, Jesse West, Joe Allen, and Berry Burrell were all arrested in Texas and transferred to a jail in Oklahoma. A large mob of townsfolk, according to the the Daily Ardmoreite, Monday, April 19, 1909 (4) , broke into the jail and lynched the 4 hitmen-
"At three o'clock this morning the guards at the jail, Deputy Sheriffs Walter Goyne and Bud Nestor, were surprised and overpowered by the advance agents of the mob numbering between 150 and 200 determined men. Nestor attempted to make resistance, but was at once made to understand that no interference would be brooked and was beaten over the head with the butt end of a revolver.
The keys to the cells were secured and the four men, Miller, West, Allen and Burrell were taken out of the jail and to an old abandoned livery stable in the rear where they were strung up one at a time to the rafters of the building. Their hands were tightly bound behind them with bailing wire and the first man to swing was Miller, and the others were hauled up in regular order. West was the only one of the quartette to offer any resistance and he put up a desperate fight when he learned what the mob was after. He was beaten into submission after a fierce struggle which lasted only a short time, and later when his body was cut down he was badly cut and very bloody from the beating.
Three others charged with murder were in jail at the same time, young Peeler, nephew of Miller and two men charged with the killing of Town Marshal Zeke Putman, at Allen, were not molested.
While the mob was carrying out its bloody work two of their number were left at the jail to guard the officers and to prevent them giving an alarm until the lynchers had completed their work. The deputies under guard were warned not to make an outcry or to stick their heads out of the window for thirty minutes, or they would be instantly shot.
Shortly before the mob appeared at the jail other members visited the electric light plant and forced the employees on duty to cut all wires controlling street light service in the city so that their work might be done without fear of detection or interruption.
Some few of the members of the mob were masked, while the others appeared with nothing to conceal their identity. It is believed by some that the mob was organized by friends and neighbors of Bobbitt, while others are of the opinion that many residents of Ada had a hand in it. Certain it is however that no member of the crowd has been apprehended and apparently no efforts have been made to establish any identities."
Sources-
O'Neal, Billplop (1979). Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters.
Metz, Leon Claire (2003). The Encyclopedia of Lawmen, Outlaws, and Gunfighters.
