Craniofacial superimposition of Clell Miller

A forensic scientist says a skeleton with ties to Dr. Henry Wheeler, a central figure in Northfield’s storied James-Younger Raid of 1876, could be that of gang member Clell Miller.

In a presentation last month in Atlanta at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, James Bailey, Ph.D., a professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, said a process called craniofacial superimposition could not rule out that the skeleton’s skull belonged to Clell Miller.

Miller was one of two gang members slain on the street in Northfield during the failed attempt to rob the First National Bank of Northfield. Dr. Wheeler, then a medical student home for the summer, shot and killed Clell Miller; Anslem Manning, a local hardware merchant, shot and killed Bill Chadwell, also known as William Stiles.

Craniofacial superimposition can definitively exclude remains from a positive identification. Computer tomography (CT) scans were used to establish key reference points on the skull in question. Then a postmortem photo was superimposed over the CT scan of the skull to see how the reference points match. Dr. Gil Brogdon and Dr. Brandon Nichols, Forensic Radiologists from Mobile, Alabama, collaborated with Dr. Bailey and used Miller’s case study to familiarize the forensic science community with the technique and how it is used in historical cases.

Editor’s note: This is another poem by JYG member Frank Younger

I’ll tell you a story of pain and of glory,
A town that put up a fight,
And a band of brigands that numbered eight hands,
And the triumph of justice and right.

A gang straight from hell had a Miller named Clell,
Two Jameses, three Youngers and Pitts,
And a Chadwell called Bill. Men who rob and who kill.
Men of violence and cunning and wits.

They came up from Missouri, rode in with a flurry
Of shootin’ and cussin’ and dust
To raid Northfield Bank, to take gold from the Yank -
To take money held tightly in trust.