As the title of his memoir states, Dowagiac’s Webb Miller “found no peace.”

Be it from the trenches of World War I or from the shores of India during Gandhi’s famed Salt March, the globetrotting journalist witnessed first-hand the depths of human brutality in his pursuit of the truth — the virtue the man based his life around.

While his journey may have been long and arduous, his dedication to shedding light on mankind’s worst moments helped shape the course of history.

Dowagiac resident and local Miller expert Jim Bussler shared some of the reporter’s most iconic stories during his presentation titled “World Wide Webb Miller” Wednesday at the Dowagiac Area History Museum.

The talk was part of the slate of activities for the 2017 One Story project, a community-wide reading program organized by the Pokagon Band, the museum and other Dowagiac institutions. Miller’s memoir, “I Found No Peace,” is one of the two books featured in this year’s program, along with “Images of America: Dowagiac,” a photo essay collection written by Dowagiac museum director Steve Arseneau and Ann Thompson.

Speaking to a packed house in the basement of the downtown museum, where an exhibit on Miller is located, Bussler talked about the journalist’s life, accomplishments and influences.

Miller was born Cub Webster Miller in 1891. Growing up in the unincorporated village of Pokagon outside Dowagiac, the farmer’s son had a fascination with reading from an early age, burying his head in a book while walking to and from the schoolhouse every day, Bussler said.

“He talks in his book about how he could hear the whistle from Round Oak [Stove Company],” Bussler said. “To him, that was like freedom. It signified everything to him that was out there, like the world. He would be working on the farm in Pokagon and he would hear the whistle, and it gave him a yearning to get out of dodge.”

While that noise served as the spark that lit his passion for travel, it was a copy of Henry David Thoreau’s seminal work, “Walden,” given to him by his neighbor that formed the basis of the philosophy he based the rest of his life around.

That philosophy was a dedication to the truth, later described by Gandhi as “Satyagraha,” Bussler said.

After working several jobs, including as a steamboat captain and as a schoolteacher, Miller began working as a reporter in Chicago in 1912. He began going by “Webb” at that point, as he felt it looked better as a byline.

In 1916, Miller became a freelance reporter and traveled to Mexico to cover U.S. Army General John J. Pershing’s hunt for Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. During his time embedded with the army, Miller witnessed the execution of one Villa’s men, which, as he recounted in his memoir, left him feeling “ill and paralyzed,” Bussler said.

“He wondered what was accomplished,” Bussler said. “He said he didn’t have an answer.”

Miller’s reporting on Villa landed him a job with the United Press, an international wire news service. In 1917, UP dispatched the reporter to Europe to cover World War I, where Miller witnessed such carnage and destruction that it left him disillusioned, Bussler said.

“Webb could find no meaning in what had happened,” Bussler said. “He believed it was a crusade to crush militarism, to smash autocracy, to end war forever. It only had succeeded in creating new wars.”

Miller was later nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his on-the-spot coverage of the gruesome execution of infamous French serial killer Henri Désiré (Bluebeard) Landru in 1922.

Miller’s most important reporting came after befriending Mohandas Gandhi during a trip to India in 1930. The reporter covered Gandhi’s Salt March and the raid of Dharasana Salt Works, where he witnessed the beating of around 1,300 protestors at the hand of police.

“Not one [protestor] raised an arm or a hand to defend themselves,” Bussler said. “The sickening sound of clubs whacking skulls could be heard, along with groaning from the crowd. Webb said they fell like tin pans, writhing unconscious. In a couple moments, the ground was covered in bodies and bleeding patches of blood.”

Miller’s coverage of the violence was instrumental in turning the world’s opinion against the British occupation of India, with Gandhi himself crediting Miller’s stories in helping him liberate the country.

The Indian leader was the first of many 20th Century dignitaries who signed Miller’s cigarette case, under the condition that Miller never use it to carry cigarettes again. Miller later collected the signatures of other world leaders he met, including Benito Mussolini, Franklin Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler (the case was later stolen from Miller’s son in Italy).

A few years after returning to the U.S. to complete his memoir, Miller resumed his travels, covering the Spanish Civil War as well as the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union.

In 1940, Miller died after hitting his head on a tunnel wall in the London Underground. Although some suspected (and continue to suspect) foul play in his death, investigators officially ruled his death an accident.

One Story continues next month with the “Spring In to Your Local Library Traditional Lifeways Workshop,” which will take place 10 a.m. to noon Sunday, May 13, at the Dowagiac District Library. The program ends with the Epilogue Feast from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 25, at the Pokagon Band Community Center.