The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1874-11-13
A TEXAS VENDETTA.

journals have at intervals puDlShed ac-
counts of the Taylor-Sutton 1mbroglio,
but so meager have been the reports
that the public have invariably lost
track of the affair altogether until some
new horror connected with it refreshed
their memories. At no time have the
full facts been published, and the pub
lie can have no idea of the magnitude 1t
has assumed or of the number OF lives
lost.
It is understood that the trouble
originated in Alabama, near twenty
years ago, when one of the Iaylors
killed a Sutton in a drunken ahray,
the particulars of which I have been
unable to learn, Two years later the
Taylors moved to Texas and settled IN
Dewitt or Goliad county. The SUIT
tons followed soon after, and settled IN
the same neighborhood, where they
lived in peace until the close of the late
war, each party being in ignorance of
the proximity of the other.
The stealing of a horse by young
William Taylor and companion named
Jim Sharp, from a neighbor of Sutton's,
was the immediate cause of the resump-
place in the fall of '65, and number of
citizens, including old William Sutton,
pursued the thieves into Bastrop
county, where they were overtaken and
killed. From that time until the pres
ent there has been open warfare be-
tween the two families, and gradually
the neighbors for miles around, have
been drawn into the quarrel, until the
principals and their adherents number
some twelve or fifteen hundred persons.
1t is said that near fifty men have been
killed since the war in the frequent col
hsions which have taken place, but the
following is list of all the deaths of
which could get any reliable informa-
ton /:
In November, 1866, Buck Taylor,
uncle of William Taylor, and John
Chisholm were killed by the Suttons ia
Wilson county for strongly denouncing
the killing of Taylor and Sharp. q
have no record of those killed during
succeeding five years.)
In 1871, C. s. Bell, a State police
man and Sutton man, killed Hays
Taylor in Goliad county.
In 1872 Dobey Taylor was killed in
Kerr county by a Sutton man whose
name have been unable to learn.
| In the same year Messrs. Cox and
Dayton, both Sutton men, were am
bushed and killed by gang of Taylor
men near Helena, Karnes county.
Shortly afterwards, Jack Helm, a no.
torious desperate, a Sutton man, of
State police notoriety, killed Mark
| Taylor near Yorktown, Dewitt county,
and was himself killed two weeks after
by the Taylors in Atascosa county. It
is safe to say that Helm killed ten or
fifteen me in 1971-72 under the pro-
lection of his position as Lieutenant of
State police.
In the spring of this year both parties
collected their adherents and took the
field with the intention of settling the
matter by exterminating each other. 1t
very soon became apparent that the
Suttons were largely in the majority,
and the Taylors being unable to openly
cope with them, resorted to a guerrilla
mode of warfare. After much maneuv-
ering and little fighting, the Suttons
succeeded in completely surrounding
the Taylors, and but for the lnterfer-
ence of friends of both parties, there
would not have been Taylor left to
tell the story. After some parley, old
William Sutton was induced to agree to
q conference in which it was decided
that they should go to the county seat
(court being in SESSION. and get the
District Judge to draw up articles of
agreement, which were to be signed
and sworn to by all concerned. With
out delay they rode in a body to the
county town (to the terror of the citi-
zens thereof and the Judge and officers
of the court, who thought that the
demonstration was being made against
them), entered the Courthouse, and
called on the Judge to suspend the bus
mess of the court and draw up the nee
essary agreement. The Judge was de-
lighted to oblige the gentlemen, and at
tended to the matter at once /; names
were signed, oaths taken, and the best
of feeling seemed to prevail. The citi-
zens of Goliad and Dewitt counties
were wild with Joy; great was the
handshaking, and numerous were the
toasts drank to the permanency of the
compact. For time all went well ;
both parties seemed in earnest and
moved about freely, without fear OF
being waylaid and murdered, g blessing
they had not enjoyed for nearly ten
years. In the following month (March)
old William Sutton, the veteran actor
in this great tragedy, accompanied by 8
friend named Slaughter, went to In
dianola and took passage on the steam
ship Clinton for Galveston. While sit
ting in conversation on tina deck of the
steamer, young William Taylor, aged
20 years, stepped up and shot them
! both dead. Taylor escaped to the
wharf, mounted his horse, and rode
through the town whooping and yelling
like madman. He was afterward ar
rested in Northwestern Texas, taken &c
Indianola, and afterwa:d sent to Gal
weston for safe keeping, as the authori
ties feared that he would be either re
leased or lynched if kept there. On the
25th of last month (September) he was
sent to Indianala for trial, under guard
of the Lone Star Rifles and Washing
ton Guards, of Galveston, but got {
continuance until next term of court
He was remanded to Galveston Jail
where he now lies. About a month
after the killing of Sutton young
!. Scrap Taylor, the only brother of Will
! lam, was arrested and put in jail in D,
Witt county on a charge of cattle-steal
ing, and was taken out in the night b.
a mob and shot. William Taylor would
certainly have shared the same fate bu
: for the action of the authorities in send
: ing him to Galveston. Capt. McNally, o
= State police fame, has been at the seen
: : of action with body of militia, assist
: ing the impotent Sheriffs of the severa
counties to execute the laws. Tt
: probable that this ter rible vendetta
at an end. The Taylors (what few ar
!. 1eft) are scattered over the frontiers c
this State and Kansas, and it is nc
: likely that they will ever get togethe
/" again in sufficient numbers to dare t
= return to their old haunts and the ds