Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-30
!. SMITH TAYLOR.
HIS Arrest in 81. LOuis-HEis Arrival
Here and H.ORgment in Jail-Hnter-
view wish the Prisoner and His Cen
fessf0n.


: Eits Arrest In 81. LOuis-His Arrival
Here and IOdgment in JaiI-Tnter
view with the Prisoner aud His Con
fessiOn.
j. Smith Taylor is the son Of worthy ant
respectable parents, and was born in tbs
county of Hart, State of Kentucky. Hav'
ing been raised far from town and toll re-
mote" his early life, he says, was as pure
and as free from faint as the clear streams
which danced around his iarther's home.
He is now twenty-five years old, and when
the war blaze was kindled in Kentucky, he
babe farewell TO fond mother and Joined
the 9th Kentucky Confederate infantry at
Bowling Green, while Gen. Albert Sydney
johnson was there Being sick, when the
army retreated to Tennessee, he was left
behind, but afterwards came through the
lines and Joined his regiment, and fought
with it through those bloody days at Muir
freesboro. He was discharged from the in
fantry, and acted as & guide to Ellsworth
in his celebrated raid into Kentucky, and
was connected with his scouts from that
time till near the close Of the war. He is
a member of the Presbyterian Church, and
has been school teacher, and also studied
medicine, though has not completed his
medical course. He is man ofgoOd address
and pleasant manners, and does not look
! like a criminal. He is over six feet high,
with greyish-blue eyes, light hair and light
| thin whiskers, and weighs about us
| pounds. His bearing is evidently that Of
a man who has seen good society, though
exhibiting no signs of having been raised
in high life.
HIS VERSION OF THE SHOOTING OF PARRISH.
He had brought some stock from Ken
lucky for sale, and had sold some to the
Bondurants living in the bend twelve
miles above the city. Parrish had lost
some stock, and had said that he believed
the stock sold to Bondurant were stolen,
and that he intended to recover them. |
Taylor and Parrish met out in the field, |
and some words ensued and, stung to the |
very quick by being called a horse thief |
he drew pistol and fired wounding Par
IRISH seriously. Bondurant was present at |
the time of the firing, and saw the whole |
transaction; IT was an act of impulse, and |
not premeditated at all. The report that |
he was concealed behind a stump when he |
fired, he says, is false in every respect.
After the shooting he fed to Kentucky |
and was arrested, on information sent from /
Nashville, and lodged in Jail in Bards-
town, where he remained for several DAYS.
Thinking that kind of life too sedentary
for one who had made such bold raids with
Morgan, and not being much pleased with
the boarding department, he, in connection
with another prisoner who had been con-
demned, got possession of saw, and came
out Of the Jail through a loop-hole of
retreat" made by vigorous but quiet work
with the saw. He then remained in
Kentucky for some time, and went TO St.
Louis about the first of August, and was
living there quietly till his arrest.
HIS VERSION OF HIS ARREST.
After the shooting of Parrish, Governor
Brownlow offered a reward of two hundred
and fifty dollars for his apprehension, and
detectives Joe Cheatham and Ryan COM
menced working for his arrest. Their in
structions sent TO st. Louis caused his ar
rest He says officer Cook came to his
room and requested him to go to the Chief
of Police, and he asked him what the
charges were, to which Cook replied that
he did not know, but that they were local
charges. He told Cook that be aust go
with him to his room to get his hat, to
which Cook objected, when he (Taylor) |
drew his knife in order that he might in
Iimidate Cook and close the door, He
went through the back door into a back
porch or court, and on reaching the back |
porch he met Cook, who, without saying |
anything, fired upon him and burst an
other cap at him. Taylor says it was his
intention to have stopped, but as Cook con-
tinued firing he walked out on the street
and walked down below the Sisters Hos
pital, and in the porch of the Green Tree
Hotel he surrendered. His object in going
down the street was not to escape, for he |
did not regard that it was possible to es-
cape from that densely populated part OF
the city, but to find a place where he could
surrender without being shot. The place
he selected was one where they could not
see 10 shoot him till they were in few feet
of him. i
He says the political prejudices against ,
him at home, have caused him all this trouble. J
On account of his warm espousal Of the /
Southern cause, he made many enemies /
among the lower class of men whe pre-
tended to be for the Union and thus such /
feelings exist against him there, that he I
has not been there much since the war He t
says, he is conscious of having lived a !
blameless life up TO the time of this I'M. t
fortunate affair, and is anxious TO have a /
trial '
The Mr.. Bondurants who purchased the e
horses of him last spring, visited him yes t
terday, and they testify to his good reputa-
ton before the shooting of Parrish. He
was dressed in halfworn Confederate
gray coat, and hrownish cashmere pants
and brown felt hat. He says, if he had
cell to himself and had books to read, he
could endure the torture of prison life with
much better fortitude. His case will per
haps come up before this term of the Grim
Inal Court. Gen. Bate is employed to !
him.