Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-08

the latter cut his way out of Missouri at the close of the rebellion, Thraillkill cnose to remain. He fought against Maxlms- ian and later joined his fortunes with those of Diaz when the latter was riding into power on the crest of wave of rev olution. dA=
 Thrailkill came originally from north west Missouri-from Ray county if l am not mistaken. He was a house painter and was working at his trade when the war broke out No one dreamed that he concealed beneath his quiet exterior the .ferocity which developed later.
 Before he joined Tod he was engaged to be married to a young woman, the daughter of a well-to-do farmer. One night in the fall of '6S the father was seq upon by a band of militia and foully murdered for no other reason than that he was suspected of being Confederate sympathzer. The daughter, who wit messed the killing, was bereft of her rea- son, and died 8 few days later, a raving maniac.
 ThraillSill vowed vengeance and began to kill Eighteen of the twenty men i'm plicated in the murder of the father of Thrailkill's. .fiancee died at his hands, and the others escaped only by quitting the service.
 At Centralla Thrailkill commanded Tods advance, and in the fight that fol- lowed he was credited with having Killed seven men.
 Fetch Taylor. who lives in San Fran cisco, was one of Quantrell's fiercest fighters Born in southwest Missouri on farm, he passed his boyhood much as other boys raised under similar circum> stances. He grew up powerful, deep chested. broad-shouldered young man, with the quicknesS of a steel trap and the driving power of an engine. Trained to the saddle from boyhood, he rode like a Centaur, and no man among the guer- riIlas was more deadly with revolver. Early in the conflict he lost an arm shot away by a bullet from a carbine- but he fought on with even greater pluck and determination.
 saw him two years ago In Joplin, MO, where, as a successful business man, he was living life of comfort, surrounded by host of warm friends.
 In the winter of 1863, with two com panions-Boon, Schull and Will Hulse- Taylor was neatly trapped near Inde- pendence. Surrounded in the house of friend by a detachment of federal troops, the three guerrillas were cut off from their horses and ordered to surrender. Rushing from the house, they reached their horses under a galling fire. Raw and untried, the horses became unman- ageable. The shouts of the men and the roar of the guns frightened them so that they plunged about until Taylor and his companions were unable to mount. Slashlng the halter which fastened his horse with knife Taylor leaped into the saddle and. firing a pistol with each hand, held the federals at bay until his companions could escape. As they dis appeared he gave his opponents a part ing volley and with a cheering cry, leap ed his horse over the orchard fence leav- ing the troops who had tried to surround him to gaze in open-mouthed astonish- ment at his rapidly retreating form.
 Later he rode alone into Lawrence disguised as a trader in live stock to in- vestigate the numerical strength of the garrison and report to Quantrell. The town at that time was filled with union troops, and every avenue was guarded by a cordon of pickets. Plentifully SUD- piled with money, Taylor remained week at Lawrence. He mingled freely with the soldiers, drank and dined with the officers, and in this way was ena- bled to gather all the information de- sired by his chief.taIt was a ticklish piece of work, for man even of Taylor's daredevil nature, but he carried it out with such boldness and cunning that no one in the doomed town suspected for a moment that the liberal, good-natured man who lounged about the bars and hotel corridors was other than he seem ed. ..-@4't4-' ;'s
 His report to Quantrell settled the fate of Lawrence and the day following his return to the guerrilla camp Quantrell