Murder On A Train

Friday, September 19, 1930. The evening weather was chilly in Shelby, Montana, located almost 75 miles north and slightly west of Great Falls. Nighttime temperatures would drop to a few degrees above freezing. A couple dozen transient workers and casual drifters huddled around a bonfire near the Great Northern Railway yard. Among them were three men whose future would soon be tragically intertwined.

Shelby was a junction town, and “travelers” could snag a freight car going north, south, east, or west. Rail companies around the country differed in how they approached such freeloaders. On some, railroad “bulls” – company policemen – enforced strict “no ride” policies. But here, on the sparsely populated high plains, it was in the company’s interest to allow these men to ride. Most were following the harvest, which required a major influx of seasonal workers. No harvest meant no business for the railroad … hauling products out and bringing supplies in.

John Joseph Wright sought a ride south. His sister later said he might go to Canada, but perhaps he had missed the harvest peak there. A transplanted Englishman, Wright had served with the Royal Engineers in France during the Great War, attaining the rank of sergeant. He earned the Military Medal for gallantry, as well as two other lesser awards. After the war, he lived in a distant suburb of Manchester. (A full biography of Sergeant Wright can be found here.) Wright moved to the U.S. in 1921 and found work as a mechanic with a Packard automobile dealership in Chicago.

However, two years later, he was felled by an illness that rendered him unconscious for 54 days. Although doctors in Chicago did not identify the malady, his symptoms point to a case of Encephalitis lethargica. A substantial epidemic occurred during and after World War I, and Manchester, England was one of the harder hit areas. Estimates suggest that up to a third of all known cases ended in death.

While some made a full recovery, many ended up like Wright, with symptoms much like Parkinson’s Disease. He could no longer work as a mechanic, probably due to tremors, halting mobility, unusual fatigue, and memory problems. He also had speech difficulties and impaired hearing, and was very sensitive to artificial light. A sad come-down for a man of such valor and promise.

The men who preyed on him were at the opposite end of the spectrum. Thomas H. Groves, a native of Maryland, lied about his age and joined the U.S. Marines in early 1912, when he was seventeen years old. There, he had discipline problems and left the service after two years. Then he used a false name to join the Texas National Guard, but lasted only about five months in that organization. He later claimed that his crippled left hand was caused by an injury during the Great War, but there is no evidence to support that assertion.

His activities after about 1917 cannot be reliably traced. However, when he was captured in Montana, he at first gave authorities a fake name. An exhaustive newspaper search, using various aliases, suggests that Groves compiled quite a record in the interim: Petty theft in North Dakota; liquor and morals charges in Anaconda, Montana; and dealing drugs in Washington. He may have spent time in federal prison on a narcotics charges. All that was probably just the proverbial “tip of the iceberg.”

Harry E. Miller. Montana Prison Records.

 Groves’ accomplice, Harry E. Miller, was born in Illinois, in 1909. His divorced or widowed mother apparently couldn’t, or wouldn’t, handle him. Thus, he spent time in an Illinois orphanage and then an Iowa reform school before he was fifteen years old. By the time he was twenty, he had made his way to Seattle, where he was jailed on a disorderly conduct charge. He had a California license as a truck driver when he was captured in Montana. However, the most recent employment he could recall was as a waiter, for nine days, in Los Angeles.

The two said they had met around 1927, but they apparently did not team up until later. In 1930, they got together in North Dakota and began to make their way west. Thus, they too boarded the freight headed to Great Falls. Soon after the train left Shelby, Groves and Miller moved ahead over the cars and and began robbing other riders. One man hesitated when told to jump off, so Groves fired a shot from an automatic pistol to hurry him along.

The crooks continued forward and found Wright in another car. With his disabilities, the Englishman was probably slow to respond. Thus, the impatient Groves fired three shots, at least two of which hit their victim, killing him almost instantly. Wright had no money on him whatsoever.

The killers left the train at the first stop. Wright’s body was discovered shortly after that and an alert was transmitted to authorities from the next stop. His medals were found among his personal effects, so the front page headline in the Great Falls Tribune read, “Train Bandits Slay English Hero.”

The two crooks headed for Fort Benton on foot, getting car rides when they could. They were captured about twenty miles from their goal. As noted earlier, Groves first gave officials an alias. However, he soon admitted to his real name. Most importantly, he still had the automatic pistol in his possession, and said he had owned it for at least two years.

The Great Falls posts of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) conducted the funeral service for Wright. He was buried in the soldiers’ plot in the local Highland Cemetery. His medals were returned to his mother back in England.

The murder trials of Groves and Miller were held in December. Victims of the robberies identified the two from their clothing, build, and glimpses of their features. But the firearms work of private criminologist Luke S. May provided the crucial link. The Luke May Papers did not contain a lot about this case, but his findings can be recreated from newspaper and court reports.

By this time, May had handled more than 140 death cases, over ninety of which involved firearms. He could use so-called “class characteristics” – visible marks left by rifling and other design features – to identify the make and model of every commonly used firearm in the world. The death weapon was a 7.65 mm pistol of Spanish or French make. Groves loaded it with .32-caliber ammunition made in the U.S., a close-enough fit.

“Individual characteristics” – microscopic scratches and impressions unique to a given firearm – verified that Groves’ pistol had fired the fatal shots. May then presented greatly enlarged photographic images to explain the matches to the jury.

May was also an expert in bullet trajectory and wound analysis. Evidence showed that Wright had his arms upright, or at least out, when he was shot – as expected for someone being robbed. By law, all perpetrators of a felony when a death occurs are equally culpable. Thus, both Groves, the shooter, and Miller, the accomplice, were convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
                                                                                

References: Dr. Ava Easton, Encephalitis Lethargica, Encephalitis Society, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom (April 2014).

Paul Bernard Foley, “Encephalitis lethargica … epidemiology and symptoms,” Journal of Neural Transmission, Vol. 116, No. 10, Springer Science, Switzerland (October 2009) p. 1295-1308.

Luke S. May, Luke S. May Papers, Special Collections, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (1969).

Richard Nelson, Killed By Bandits: The Story of John Joseph Wright M. M., blog, gm1914.wordpress.com (January 26, 2017).

“[Possible Arrests of Groves Under Aliases],” Grand Forks Herald, North Dakota; Spokane Chronicle, Washington; Anaconda Standard, Montana Standard, Butte, Independent-Record, Helena, Montana (August 1920 – December 1928).

State v. Miller, 9 P.2d 474 Montana (March 21, 1932).

“[Wright Murder Case],” Independent-Record, Helena, Billings Gazette, Great Falls Tribune, Montana; Standard-Examiner, Ogden, Utah (September 1930 – March 1932).

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