Bronco Charlie Miller

Julius Mortimer "Bronc(h)o Charlie" Miller (December 1850 – 15 January 1955) was an American horse tamer and Pony Express rider. He was born on the trail in California to parents travelling west for the California Gold Rush. At the age of 11 Miller claimed to have become the youngest ever Pony Express rider, claiming to have done so after witnessing a horse arrive without its rider at the station in Sacramento. Miller then worked as a horse trainer, from which he earnt his nickname, including a period working on Teddy Roosevelt's cattle ranch. Afterwards he became a performer demonstrating roping techniques, horse riding and knife throwing. On his travels he met and married Carrie Potter, who joined and became a target girl in his act.

Miller was known as a teller of "tall tales", though many of them were true. He stated that he joined the Canadian Army and fought in the First World War and also volunteered to serve in the Korean War. Miller claimed an acquaintance with many Old West figures including Bill Hickok, Jim Bridger, Calamity Jane, George Custer, the Marquis de Morès and Sitting Bull.

Early life and Pony Express

Julius Mortimer Miller was born ("between two buffalo robes") in a covered wagon at Shasta, California. Miller claimed that in July 1861 he was outside the Pony Express station in Sacramento when a horse arrived without its rider. He was told that the rider was likely killed in a Native American attack and Miller begged for the opportunity to replace him, explaining that he was familiar with the route to the next station, Placerville. Miller stated that this request was granted and that after successfully delivering the mail he was appointed by the Express to carry the mail between Carson City and Placerville until the service ended in October.

It was not uncommon for men to falsely claim to have been Pony Express riders. Though young men were preferred by the Express and other appointments included 14-year-olds Billy Tate and the future showman Buffalo Bill.

Horse training and Wild West shows For the 20 years following his involvement with the Pony Express Miller worked breaking-in horses (he derived his nickname from the term used for a bucking horse) and ran a riding stables. He afterwards moved to the Eastern United States where he met future president Teddy Roosevelt, working as a horse trainer on his Dakota cattle ranch. Roosevelt claimed to have taught Miller how to break-in a horse. In later life Miller joined Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party. In a memoir published in 1934 Miller claimed to have carried dispatches in the 1877 Nez Perce War and to have driven a stage coach in Montana. He claimed to have known the Old West figures Bill Hickok, Jim Bridger, Calamity Jane and George Custer and to have worked for the French rancher the Marquis de Morès.

Miller later became a showman, playing the role of cowboy, riding horses and demonstrating roping techniques. He performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show including in a performance for the 1887 Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Whilst touring with the show in Glen Falls, New York, he met 20-year-old Carrie Potter and the pair started dating. Carrie's parents disapproved of the relationship but the couple soon married, with Carrie stating that she was 27 years old on the marriage certificate (Miller was 40 at this point). Carrie joined Miller on tour and became part of his show, as a target girl for his knife throwing segment. Carrie continued to follow Miller on tour, giving birth to three children. The children contracted diphtheria and all died within the same week in 1896. Carrie blamed the constant travel involved with the showman's life for their children's deaths, and when she became pregnant again in 1898, returned to Glen Falls. Miller continued as a travelling showman, though returning regularly to Glen Falls. The couple had another child, a daughter, in 1903.

In 1927 he constructed a cabin in Oakdale, New York. As the last surviving Pony Express rider he attended a 1935 ceremony in New York to mark the retirement of the last of the United States airmail service's open-cockpit aircraft. Carrie died on 28 March 1936.

In 1942 Miller sold his World War I bonds, for $500,000. In his later years he became a painter and also made wood carvings. Some of his works are held in the collection of the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls.

Miller was admitted to Bellevue Hospital in New York City in December 1954, suffering from pneumonia. He remained a popular figure and received 20-50 items of fan mail per day whilst in hospital. He died in hospital on 15 January 1955. At the time of his death his son Harold Dewey Miller and daughter Mrs Maurice Spector were both living in Glens Falls. Miller was buried in Glens Falls Cemetery on 19 January.