Charles W. Miller

1863 - 1923

Goshen’s 9th Mayor

1888 - 1890

Indianapolis

Friends Seek C. W. Miller

[By United Press]

Indianapolis, Ind. Feb. 1—Charles W. Miller, former attorney general of Indiana and one time United States district attorney here, has disappeared, friends of the family admitted today.

Miller, an attorney and a director of the National city bank of Indianapolis left his office about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Bonds and other valuable papers found on a dresser in the Miller home indicated he went home from the office and then left the house.

Friends said Miller’s law practice had been heavy during the past few weeks and he had been working many hours each day at it. Henry M. Dowling, a law partner, said he did not know where Miller is.

It is said the man’s financial condition was all right and no reason could be assigned for his disappearances. An all night search through places he frequented was unavailing.

Charles W. Miller was for- many years a prominent resident of Goshen, having served one term as mayor. Mr. Miller came to Goshen in 1885, a year following his graduation from the law school at the University of Michigan. In 1892 he formed a partnership with Francis E. Baker, now judge of the United States circuit court of appeals. In 1899 when Mr. Baker was elected to the supreme court of Indiana, Mr. Miller formed a partnership with J. S. Drake, now judge of the Elkhart circuit court and later S. C. Hubbell, now of South Bend, was admitted to the partnership, and the firm became known as Miller, Drake & Hubbell.

In 1888 Mr. Miller was elected mayor of Goshen on the republican ticket, and was at that time the youngest mayor in the state of Indiana. He was for many years actively interested in republican politics of the state and in 1892 he was elected attorney general of Indiana and two years later was reelected. In 1906 Mr. Miller was a candidate for the republican nomination for governor but was defeated by a narrow margin. In the same year he secured the nomination for congress from thirteenth district, but was defeated by Henry L. Barnhart. Soon after, Mr. Miller moved to Indianapolis, where he has been engaged in the practice of law.

Mrs. Miller is a sister of Mrs. John W. Egbert and Miss Hattie Perkins, of Goshen.

Goshen Daily Saturday News~Times February 17, 1923

C. W. MILLER TO BE INTERRED IN

GOSHEN TUESDAY

FUNERAL SERVICES TO BE

HELD IN ST JAMES 

EPISCOPAL CHURCH

No Reason Known for Suicide of

Charles W. Miller at Indianapolis Friday Evening.

The body of Charles W. Miller, former attorney general of Indiana and United States district attorney and for many years a prominent resident of Goshen, who committed suicide last Friday evening, at Indianapolis, will be brought to this city fur burial tomorrow. Miss Hattie Perkins. a sister of Mrs. Miller and W. W. Fobes went to Indianapolis yesterday to make arrangements for bringing the body to Goshen.

The body will arrive in Goshen at 12:05 o’clock over the Big Four and will be accompanied by about forty friends from Indianapolis in a special car. The body will be taken to St. James Episcopal church, where services will be held at 1:30 o’clock, with the Rev. Duncan Weeks, pastor of the church, officiating. The body will be taken to Oak Ridge cemetery for burial and services at the grave will he conducted by thirty-third degree Masons William Geoke, of Fort Wayne. One of the most prominent Masons in Indiana will preside at the Masonic ceremonies.

There will he no church services at Indianapolis. nor will the body be on view there, it has been announced

Among those who will come to Goshen in the special car- from Indianapolis will be former Senator Albert J. Beveridge, who was a very close friend of Mr. Miller, and Henry M. Dowling, Mr. Miller’s law partner at Indianapolis. The Indianapolis party will return on the afternoon Big Four train, to which the special car will be attached.

Many Close Friends Here.

Although he had been a resident of Indianapolis since 1909, Mr. Miller had in Goshen a great number of very close- friends, and the first announcement Saturday afternoon that he was missing from his home brought a flood of inquiries Nothing more was learned until nearly nine o’clock Saturday evening when a message reached Goshen to the effect that his body had been found in a hotel and that he had committed suicide. The news produced a profound shock, despite the fact that the announcement of his disappearance had to some extent prepared his friends for the more severe blow.

Mr. Miller was one of the most popular residents the city of Goshen has ever known, and there were few residents of the city with whom he was not personally acquainted. Although he enjoyed many honors and reached the height of his profession, his political ambitions received a severe blow when he lost by the narrowest of margins the republican nomination for governor of Indiana in 1908, and then after securing the nomination for congress in the same year, was defeated in the election by the democratic candidate. His defeats of that year were said to have been caused largely by widely circulated reports of financial ruin brought to others by a firm with which he had been connected. As a matter of fact Mr. Miller himself had at that time already paid all of the debts of the firm, taking upon himself the responsibility of not only his own share but also those of his partners in the business venture

This strain upon his financial resources, coupled with the heavy expense of twin state campaigns in the same year, practically wiped out his accumulations of many years of a lucrative law practice here and when he went to Indianapolis to reside it is said that he was almost penniless. Mr. Miller since then had prospered, however and it is believed that his estate will amount to several hundred thousand dollars. At his home were found $40,000 in bonds which he had taken from a safety deposit vault and $2,500 in currency which he had Friday withdrawn from a bank. He owned the home where he lived, and was largely interested in banking interests at Indianapolis, Mr. Miller also carried a very large amount of life insurance.

Among those who will come to Goshen to attend the funeral services will be former Senator and Mrs. Albert J. Beveridge, Henry M. Dowling, Mr. and Mrs. James W. Noel, Mr. and Mrs. L. O. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Wilson, and Mr. and Mrs. W. C. Bobbs.

Published in the Indianapolis Star this morning were expressions of the deepest regret by ex-Senator Beveridge and James W. Noel, who had been associated with Mr. Miller in the prosecution of the dynamite case. Mr. Beveridge, in speaking of his friend of twenty years, said that when Charles Miller died, Indiana and the country lost one of their best and noblest citizens. 

The pall bearers will be I. O. Wood, Charles E. Gorham, Judge James S. Drake, H. H. Gortner, Judge F. E. Baker, Frank P. Abbott, Dwight Hawks, and Harry Whitmer.

Goshen Daily News~Times, Monday February 19, 1923 page 1&6

______________

Indianapolis Feb. 19 – Charles W. Miller ex-Attorney General of Indiana and ex-United States District Attorney was found dead in a room in the Hotel English early Saturday evening by detectives who had been called upon to conduct a search since he dropped out of sight Friday afternoon. He had taken his life by cutting his throat with a razor and drinking a large quantity of poison. Coroner Paul F. Robertson said friends attributed Mr. Miller's act to a nervous breakdown resulting from overwork

Mr. Miller was known nationally for his prosecution of members of the iron workers union for dynamiting outrages in 1912. He was a member of the law firm of Miller and Dowling

Mr. Miller disappeared shortly after 6:00 Friday afternoon and was last seen by a friend in a Pennsylvania Street drugstore where he supposedly purchased the razor and poison which he used in taking his life. Earlier in the afternoon he had gone to his home 2051 north Alabama Street, where he the left the contents of a safety deposit box said to contain approximately $40,000 in bonds and his own purse containing $13

About 4 o'clock Friday afternoon Mr. Miller had drawn $2,500 from the Farmers’ Trust Company. This was found out with him in the at his home, it was said together with the bonds left for Mrs. Miller

Page 6