The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-05-31
Murder InadeauateIy Punished.

Robert Taylor, citizen of Coffee
county, Tennessee, was recently tried
by court martial for brutality tortur-
ing and putting 10 death slave woman
named "Retter.' The court, consisting
of Capt. c. Thompson, 1Sths Michigan
volunteers; Captain Owen Griffith, I'D
Wisconsin volunteers; Captain James
Mutt, 9th Indiana volunteers; Captain
B. r May 22d Wisconsin volunteers;
First Lieutenant George Banman, 22d
Wisconsin volunteers, found the accused
guilty and sentenced him to five years
imprisonment The finding is thus re-
viewed by the President
The testimony in the case, as found
in the record, is brief and free from al
discrepancy of contradiction. The pris-
oner, it seems, alleged that an amount
Of money had been stolen from him
how mrch was not stated--but there
was not proof of any such theft, still
less anything to connect with it the
murdered woman, on whom his suspi-
cion fell Probably, however, from ap-
prehension of punishment, this woman,
whom he claimed to own, made an at
tempt 10 run away, was pursued by the
prisoner and his neighbors, captured
and brought back
The prisoner then procured a rope,
and, addressing himself TO the BY
ISLANDERS, asked if there was any one
.,.o,,,,t ,-Ir oo,,I1 - g., fo,,e- i-v,.1t
when a man named Womaek stepped
forward and tied it, The prisoner then
adjusted it around the neck of the wo-
man, and throwing it over the limb Of
a tree, in the sight of his own dwelling,
where were his wife and daughters, the
work Of murder began.
Finding that the woman protected
herself by selling the rope with her
hands, it was slackened and her hands
tied and again she was drawn up, so
that her toes barely touched the ground.
and in this position she was held by the
prisoner until from suffocation and ex-
haustion her head fell on one side
Through the interposition Of the pris-
oners wife and the bystanders, theTope
was then loosened, and an opportunity
given the woman to rivive. While this
torture was going on, 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 alledged TO have been lost I
She was now taken by the prisoner /
10 his lanyard, distant two hundred or
two hundred and fifty yards, and was
there stripped by him ofall her clothes /
except her chemise
In the language Of one Of the wit I
nesses she was then confined by cross Z
ing her hands and tying them together,
then putting them over her knees with /
a stick thrust under, holding them in 4
that position Thus pinioned, and lying I
alternately on her face and on her side, (
as the purposes Of her tormentor re I
quired, for some two hours and hall, \
with brief intervals, she was whipped /
by the prisoner with a leather thong, 4
Two inches wide and three feet long. (
having a knot on the end At the ex- !
piraiion of this tame, "some neighbors I
present said they thought be hsd whip I
ped her about enough for that time.
and he thereupon desisied She was (
then united, and assisted by one Of the +
neighbors toward the kitchen, stagger-
ing and falling several times from ex-
haustion on the way.
She succeeded, however, n reaching 4
the kitchen, on the threshold Of which
she fell, IN the presence Of the prison
ers vife, aud few minutes thereafter
expired The shameless character Of
the defence was in keeping with the
crime IL was insisted in the defence