The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1864-05-30


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= ADJUrAxT GsnRAL's OFTICR,
WASHINGTON. D. c., May 8. '64.
General Court Martial Orders. No. So
1. Before Military Commission, consist
ing Of Captain G. Thonpsop, 18th Nj
chigan Volunteers; Captain Owen Grit.
fifth, ED Wisconsin Volunteers; Captain
james Mutt, 9th Indiana Volunteers;
Captain B. B. May, 22d Wisconsin Vol
unteers; First Lieutenant George Ban.
man, ed Wisconsin Volunteers: and
which convened at Murfrsesboro', Ten
nessee, September IA, 1868, pursuant to
Special Orders No. 8, dated Post Head
quarters. Murfreesboro', September 9,
1868, was arraigned and tried-Robert
Taylor. a citizen.
Charye-'sMurder."
SpsciGcatios-"In this: That he, the
said Robert Taylor, citizen Of Coffee
county, in the State of Tennessee, did
beat a negro woman named "Retter," in
such manner that she died from the
effects of the wounds thus inflicted
This, on or about the 3lst day of August,
1868, at or near the residence of ssid
Robert Taylor. about three miles from
the town of Hillsboro, in Coffee county,
Tennessee"
To which charge and specification the
accused, Robert Taylor, citizen, pleaded
"Not guilty."
The Commission, having mutually con-
sidered the evidence adduced, finds the
accused, Robert Taylor, citizen, as fol-
lows:
Of the specifcation-"Guilty."
Ofthe charge-"Not guilty as charged,
but guilty of manslaughter."
SENTENCE.
And the Commission does therefore
sentence him, Robert Taylor, citizen,
"to be confined in the State Penitentiary
for period of Eve years ("
III. The proceedings, findings and sen.
tence in the foregoing case have been ap.
proved by the Major General command
ing the Department, and laid before the
President Of the United States, the fol.
lowing are his orders:
The testimony in the case, as found in
the record, is brief and free from all dis.
crepancy of contradiction. The pIis
oner, il seems, alleged that an amount Of
money had been stolen from him-hov
much was not stated-but there was no,
proof of any such theft, sill less anything
to connect with it the murdered woman
on whom his suspicious fell. Probably
however, from apprehension of punish
ment, this woman, whom he claimed Il
own, made An attempt to run away, was
pursued by the prisoner and his neigh
bors, captured and brought back.
The prisoner then procured = rope
and, addressing himself to the bystanders
asked If there was any one present whc
could tie ia hang-knot," when a mar
named Womack stepped forward and tied
it. The prisoner then adjusted it around
the neck of the woman, and, throwing il
over the limb of tree, in the sight of hi.
own dwelling, where we're his wife and
daughters, the work of murder began.
Finding that the woman protected her.
self by seizing the rope with her hands, j,
was slackened and her hands tied, and
again she was drawn up, SO that her toe.
barely touched the ground, and in thi,
position she was held by the prisoner I'M
I'll from sufocation and exhaustion hel
head fell on one side. Through the In
terposition of the prisoners wife and the
bystanders, the rope was then loosened
and an opportunity given to the woman
to revive. While this torture was going
on, the prisoner declared his object to BE-
to compel the woman to confess the theft
charged upon her, but she stoutly denied
any knowledge of the money alleged to
have been lost.
She was now taken by the prisoner to
his lanyard, distant two hundred or two
hundred and Fifty yards, and was there
stripped BY him of all her clothes excep,
her chemise.
In the language of one of the witnesses
she was then confined by crossing hel
hands and tying them together, then put.
ting them over her knees with I sticl
thrust under, holding them in that posi-
ton. Thus pinioned and lying alter.
nately on her face and her side, as the
purpose of her tormentor required, fol
some two hours and half, with briet in.
tervals. she was whipped by the prisone,
with leather thong. two inches wide
and three feet long, having knot on the
end. At the expiration Of this time
"some neighbors present said they though,
he had whipped her about enough 70,
that time" and be thereupon desisted.-
nShe was then united. and assisted by on,
of the neighbors towards the kitchen
staggering and falling several times from
exhaustion on the way
She succeeded, however, in reaching
the kitchen, on the threshold of which
she fell, in the presence Of the prison re-
wife, aud few minutes thereafter expired
The shameless character of the defense
was in keeping with the crime. 1t VA,
insisted in the defense that the woman,
death was produced by some cold water
of which, in her heated and exhausted
condition, she had drank; and. in n.