Kansas Charley

by Joan Jacobs Brumberg

Most Americans regard “kids who kill” as a modern phenomenon, but the tragic tale of “Kansas Charley” shows that violent boys are a long-standing problem. Charles Miller was a seventeen–year–old orphan who was hanged in Wyoming in 1892 for a horrific double murder committed when he was only fifteen. This true story takes us into a world of poverty and abuse, revealing the people and places that shaped Charley’s behavior, his crime and his punishment. The author brings to life a thought–provoking chapter in the history of the juvenile justice system.