Morning journal and courier., 1882-03-04

| Paign Story and its Consequences, etc., | etc.
 1 HAYWOOD, Fayette O., ". Va, Feb. 21. 1882. i To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND CouHIEH:
 About four years ago happened to be
 one day at Salem, the establishment of the 1 sometime famous William F. Taylor. As I
 was talking to Taylor before the mill door. a | good looking, but very ragged, yoang man
 rode up, and after a few words with us car ried his grist into the m1ll. This I learned
 was great grandson of Patrick Henry, and
 himself named Patrick Henry. Old Colonel Henry, as he is always called, lives on the Old State road in the eastern end of Fayette He
 is fine looking old man, with a magnificent l presence and venerable but unkempt locks | In speaking, the courtly grace of his manner | causes you to overlook the little eccentrici- I ties of language common to those who have I not been able to secure what we call com
 mon school educaGap understand that
 "befo' the woh" Colonel Henry owned some l little property. The war took all but his land. Like many another family of good
 name that was reduced by the war, this
 grandson of Yirginia's illustrious orator is
 waiting for something to turn up. He and his family live in miserable little log hut whose roof was in such a state year ago
 that the bed on which lay his dying son was always under the drip. The condition of the family is extremely sad and would be pitiful, did the members appear to put forth the
 slightest effort to accomplish more than
 keeping the wolf from the door
 Ah0ut thraa Yho b1lHe published most sensational account of
 "How Southern Barbarians Treat Northern Capitalists" This was most highly col ored tale of how William F. Taylor. a
 wealthy Philadelphian, established himself in Greenbrier, and of how, on account of his
 Republican principles. his buildings were all burned and he himself was obliged to leave
 the State in a secret manner to escape assas-
 sinatlon. Such was the account published in the 1IiJtLJle, and 1t naturally excited intense
 indignation all through the States Now,
 was very well acquainted with Mir Taylor
 I frequently visited him at Salem and he
 once made stay at Haywood. I gained a
 pretty good knowledge of the character of
 the man and am perfectly acquainted with all
 the known facts connected with the burning
 of his buildings. Mir. Taylor came to West
 Virginia ten years ago, possessed, as he told
 me, with the idea of burying himself in the
 country and of deyoting himself and his in-
 come to the material and moral advancement
 of his neighbors. He bought a beautiful
 farm of three thousand acres, on which he
 built an unpretentious but comfortable cot
 tage, asteam saw and grist mill (cost SIS, ,OOo),
 the largest and best appointed priEats stable
 in the State. and various other out-buildings-
 He built a church, a school house and fitted
 up very handsome Sunday school room on
 an upper floor of the mill, and supplied it
 with library. He drained the grassy mead
 I--sT -n-Is-
 pense. He preached, he taught, he helped
 the unfortunate in business After eight
 years of this labor he had failed, as he ad-
 mitted, to make good citizen out of single neighbor. If he promised 8 thousand dol lars toward building 6 road, provided his neighbors would each work ten days, they all held back for full wages, expecting Taylor to build the road entirely at his own expense. Eight years of pbilanthropie endeavors failed to teach the average West Yirginian that it was possible for human being to suborIii- nate his own interests -te- those of the pub lie
 Mir. Taylor was Republican, but he never talked politics and few men knew what his politics were. In 1876, when many of the better class of Democrats in Greenbrier were dissatisfied with the regular nominee for the Legislature, they offered to run Mr Taylor on an independent ticket. That shows that there was no animus against the man for po- litical reasons We'll, in the winter of ISIS 9, Tsylor's dwelling house was burned to the ground one Sunday night. Every inmate of the house had gone to church and the logs had been piled on the open wood fire in the sitting room Three weeks after the fire NIT. Taylor spent two days at my house. In reply to my questions he told me that he knew that his house had been fired by man named Adkins, living at New Richmond, and that it had been done to gratify motive of personal revenge. When I asked why he did not take steps to have the man punished. he said he considered that the man was a mere in the hands of God, and had been sent to burn his house in order to show him that 1t was Gods will that he should abandon his enterprise in West Virginia On the Thursday after this the Taylor mills took fire shortly after work hours and were en- tirely destroyed. Speculation immediately became rife in Greenbrier and all through the adjacent counties Some thought 1t was accidental, some thought it had been done for personal revenge; but not even the men whe, like myself, had come from the North, suspected that 1t was case of politi- cal or even of class persecution. A few days before the fire I went over the mill and noticed two facts First the shavings from the planer were not car ried away, and strong south wind would have blown them in the direction of the un- protected furnace room. Secondly. in the upper story of the mill was a long shaft and on the floor were little spots of fine filings which had fallen from the half-oiled journals Of the shaft overhead. I mention these facts to show that there was some presumptiVe evidence that both the dwelling house and mill took fire accidentally.
 Taylor now left for the North While there he had an interview with the then United States Attorney General and to him he gave an account of his troubles This was a most unfortunate thing both for Taylor and for the whole State of West Hirznnf-- Some enterprising newspaper reporter got wind of the interview and forthwith the Tribune gave the whole thing to the public also saying that Taylor had asked protection for his property of the federal authorities. While Taylor was at the North, his stable, the largest and best appointed in the whole State was burned. Right on the heels of this fire, the Tribune article was reprinted in the newspapers of the State Public indigna- ton rose to 6 state of frenzy. The papers took up the refrain and Taylor was cursed and blackguarded from one end of the State to the other. In public and in private he was denounced, yiIifed, and his life threatened-and all because a northern paper said that he had asked for federal pro- lection. One or two northern residents of Greenbrier and Monroe, acting in the worst possible taste, appeared in the public prints speaking of the native West Virginians with loathsome laudation and painting Taylor blacker than the devil. In the midst of the uproar Taylor came back to his farm He quickly discovered the hornets nest which his northern sympathizers had raised about his ears, and like sensible man. he gave up the game without any mock heroics. He went back North.
 These are the bare facts as they appeared at the time. It remains to be said in justice to the people of this section. who as rule are a law abiding set, that circumstAntial evidence of an overwhelming character, and which 1 certainly believe would convince any honest jury, points to the fact that the three fires occurred, not by accident, but at the in stigation of one of Taylor's personal friends, who was desirous at any cost and at any risk of forcing him to leave the country. Per sonal regard for William F. Taylor prevents me from saying more than this in respect to what believe to be the true solution of very unfortunate mystery. NIT. Taylor has sold all his property in Greenbrisn and has left the country for good. The circumstan- ces which led to bis departure were depiora- ble and their result was a blow to both the reputatlon and the material prosperity of that section of country. It is also Q most disgraeeful fact thar proper efforts were not exerted to bring the guilty parties to justice. In spite of most elaborate accounts pub lished in the State papers, and in spite of the talk of the authorities, it is still a most curi- afxr far hat f..fHs rEs and