Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-05-07

read it. Some one asked him IL he had
anything to say.
mo" was his answer. ST the peo-
pie can stand it, can"
Breakfast was brought the doomed
man about six o'clock 1t was not a
credit to Sheriff Stanley or Carroll
county. When men are about to die
it is the custom to let them have what
they want to eat. They are even
humored with all the delicacies of the
season, but no questions were asked
Taylor. His morning meal, served in
tin pan, consisted of two fried eggs
and three biscuits and tin cup full Of
coffee. There was no knife or fork.
not even spoon.
Taylor found a spoon finally on his
table, and wiping it on a newspaper
began to eat in a stocial, Indifferent
way. A gentle murmur of indignation
went the rounds of the reporters.
lis that all you wish, Mr.. Taylor?"
one OF them asked sympathetically.
'Yes, this will do" he answered re-
siRnedly.
But his eyes filled with tears and he
struggled to suppress his emotions.
This touch of sympathy from the men
who had been sent here to describe his
last hours and his ignominous death
moved him more than hate or bitter
ness.
TAYLoR's DYING STATEMENT TO THE
PUBLIC.
just two hours before he was to be
led to the gallows the doomed man
made statement to the public Col.
Hale and Mr.. ConI1ling had been talk
ing with him, and as they went to
leave he handed Col. Hale a letter adj
dressed to the public. 1t contained
this statement, his formal farewell to
the men who believed him guilty and
his friends who still stand by him:
ITO THE PUBLIC: I have only this addi-
tional statement to make. I ought not to suf-
Ter as am compelled to do. Prejudice and
perjury have convicted me. By this convic-
t1on my wife Is left q widow, my babies are
made orphans in q cold world my brothers to
mourn and my friends to weep. You hasten
my gray-haired mother and father to their
graves The mobs and that element hound
me to the grave. ] have hoped to live
at least until the good people realized the
injustice done me. but 1t can not be so. /
feel prepared to meet my God, and I now
wing my way to the great unknown, where
believe everyone is properly judged. I hope
my friends will all meet me in Heaven. be-
lieve I am going there Geod-by all
w. P. TAYLOR"
The note also contained this printed
certificate, given him by the priest and
signed his name.
II, the undersigned. desiring that in the event
OF my death the truth concerning the condition
Of my soul should be told at my funeral, do
hereby testify that 1 have been born again by
believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. If 1 die
tonight will go to Heaven"
Both messages were under date of
April 20. Before giving out this letter
Taylor wrote one on a scrap of news
paper and, signing it, handed it
through the bars to the reporters. It
ran as follows:
ITO THE PUBLIC:-The clamor for my blood
is soon to be satisfied by numbering me coolly
and deliberately under the guise of law 1t
may be you are not murderers. 1t is between
you and your God"
Taylor chose R. NJ. Kneisley, Virgil
Conkling's law partner, to attend to
the disposition of his body. Kneisley
had talk with him in his cell, in which
he calmly discussed the details and
asked him to accompany the remains
to the Yount cemetery, near Laclede,
Mo-, where the interment will occur.
s'Don't leave me-" he said, until the
last clod of earth has been placed upon
my grave"
During all this sorrowing talk he
never faltered, and was apparently not
as much affected as the lawyer.