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. His parents (a tailor and school teacher) had been travelling as part of a 300-vehicle wagon train headed for Sutter's Fort as part of the California Gold Rush. Some of Miller's descendants claim that he was born in New York and had sailed to California as a deckhand on a ship.
At the age of 11 Miller claimed to have ridden part of the route of the Pony Express carrying its mail, becoming the youngest rider to do so. 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. Miller claimed that during his service he survived two arrow wounds.
Miller's account has some doubtful elements. History writer Tim McNeese, in The Pony Express (2009), notes that any pony arriving at Sacramento and bound for Placerville can only have come from the west, either from Benicia or via steam boat from San Francisco, and that neither route was at significant risk of attack. He states that it was also unlikely that the home station at Sacramento had no spare riders. McNeese also considers it unlikely that Miller's destination would be the "swing" station at Placerville, where typically only spare horses would have been held, with the next home station being Sportsman's Hall. McNeese further considers it unlikely that Miller was appointed as a permanent rider on the Carson City to Placerville route which was more than 100 miles of difficult country. McNeese states that Miller might possibly have served as a short-term replacement.
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.