Bill Miner - Prison photo -  Library and Archives Canada. (2019, September 16) The Gentleman Bandit Arrives in Canada The rugged landscape of British Columbia in the early 1900s was a land of opportunity, not just for pioneers and prospectors, but for a man with a particular set of skills and a long history with the law. Enter Ezra Allen Miner, better known as Bill Miner , an American outlaw seeking a fresh start and new ventures. Approaching his sixties, with decades of experience in stagecoach and train robberies in the U.S., Miner crossed into Canada looking like any other mild-mannered man named George Edwards. But his quiet demeanor masked the cunning mind of a master criminal. Miner, known as the "Gentleman Bandit" for his polite nature and his supposed invention of the phrase "Hands up!", was a relic of the Old West. After serving over thirty years in San Quentin, he found the world had changed. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), a powerful symbol of Canad...