August 14, 1898

Stone carver Nick Miller took his own life in Berryville (Carroll County). Born in Germany around 1846, Miller moved often after immigrating to the United States, as many stone carvers did. His artistry is found in cemeteries throughout northwest Arkansas. The tombstones he made—crisply legible well over a century later—employ typical mourning symbols of his time, yet Miller’s bas-relief motifs and deeply incised lettering exhibit an uncommon level of skill. On the day of his suicide, he sent for friends (only one man showed up) and swallowed cyanide that he purchased six years earlier for this purpose. He was buried the same day in an unmarked grave in Berryville’s city cemetery, within sight of a dozen tombstones he had carved and signed.