The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-12-26
BOB TAYLOR, OF TENNESSEE.
How he won Wife and the .HOnOrs Of Con
gTessman

gresham,
On Wednesday the 10th inst, at Asl e.
vile, N. c., Congressman-elect Robert
Taylor was united in marriage with Miss
Sallie Baird, niece of Governor Vance,
of North Carolina. The marriage is the
conclusion of somewhat romantic story.
When Taylor was nominated by the
Democrats as their candidate for Con-
gress, Miss Baird promised him that, If
elected, she would marry him if deN
feated, it would be an indefinite time be.
fore their union could be consummated.
The district contains some of the strongt
est Republican counties in the State and
has always given Republican majority
Of twenty-five hundred or twenty,three
hundred. The prospect for Taylor at,
trining lis desires were, therefore, not
at all brilliant. Besides, he had as an
opponent Pettbone, one of the Repub.
lican cheitains of the State, an emgrant
from Michigan, possessed of unusual
shrewdness, In the Presidential contest,
as one Of the Republican electors, he
bore the banner Of his party as gallantly
as was possible, worrying the Democrats
C considerably. For Taylor he entertained
seemingly nothing but contempt.
Taylor's nomination was simply a
lucky stroke of fortune. In The Repub-
lican convention Taylor's brother, very
pronounced Republican, was the princi-
pal candidate for the nomination against
Pettbone; but the latter, after a bitter
fight, secured the honor, Republican
TayIor's friends were all angry, and the
Democrats conceived that it would be a
good thing to nominate his Democratic
brother, who would probably draw votes
from the Republican ranks. The plan
was carried out. Taylor was only TWEEN.
ty-eight years old, and in that region
had made considerable reputation and
popularity as fiddler. At the frequent
gatherings for dancing he was a most
welc come guest. dissemination seemed
to fire the young men with enthusiasm.
numbers of Republicans and two or three
Republican journals left the party ranks
and went over to Taylor's side. Petit
bone was accused Of being in with the
revenue and custom. house rings, which
had controlled politics in that section.
1t was an understood fact that federal
money was to be showered on the diss
trict. Taylor, as he afterward told his
friends, had only IS to commence the
canvass with, but once out, money and
assistance Of every kind poured in on
him, so that after the canvass was over
very little of the IS was spent. Petit
bone looked down on him with contempt,
and in the opening speech merely alluded
to him as the beardless boy who fd.
dies"
When it came to Taylor's rejoinder,
he appr cached the table with fiddle in
one hand and a carpet,bag in the other.
He commenced with the statement that
he was fiddler. Then laying the fiddle
and the carpet-bag side by side on the
table, he asked the crowd to choose be-
tween them, The point was taken up
and carried from one endIof the district
to the other producing any amount of
merriment at Pettibone's expense. Pet
tibone, afterward, never alluded to Tay-
lor's fiddle more than orce or twice,
Taylor also taunted Pettibone with the
fact that his regiment, at the close of the
war, dis banded with more men than it
had started with. The young Democrat
was a ready, eloquent speaker, and
never failed to awaken enthusiasm.
Frequently when the speaking was over.
he would entertain the crowd with mu.
sic from his violin, The district has its
share of moonshiners, and they, with all
their friends, were for Taylor, as Petit
bone was in with and supported by the
revenue men, the enemies of the moon
sinners, TaylOr's majority was nearly
fifteen hundred, making a Democratic
gain of one CoDgressmon from Tennes>
see. His father represented the State in
Congress just after the war. When
nominated, Taylor was advised to take
a very conservative course, but he an>
swered firmly that he proposed to make
the fight on straight out Democratic
nrincinles. He did 50 and wnn